Tiffany Briscoe, seen here earlier in the season, drilled a hard-hit single to center Wednesday. (John Fisken photo)
The final score wasn’t pretty, but some of the plays were.
It’s easy to look at the scoreboard and see that visiting Lynden Christian drilled Coupeville 21-6 Wednesday in a softball game shut down after five innings, and make assumptions.
Many of those assumptions would be wrong.
The Lyncs did smack the ball around at a pretty strong clip, but the Wolves (1-4) didn’t just fold up and meekly go down.
With stellar defensive play from first baseman Kyla Briscoe and third baseman Monica Vidoni, both newcomers to the corner infield positions, CHS did its best to limit the damage in the field.
Briscoe made a beautiful snag on a liner in the fifth, then proved it wasn’t a fluke, making an unassisted putout on a hard grounder on the very next play.
Vidoni, filling in for the injured Hailey Hammer, knocked down several balls hit her way, following the ball and successfully gunning down the runner.
The game’s best web gem might have belonged to Wolf catcher Lauren Rose, however.
With the bags juiced in the first and two runs in, a pitch got away from the freshman.
Never blinking, she whirled, scrambled after the bouncing ball, nabbed it and spun and fired to pitcher Katrina McGranahan, who slapped on the tag for the inning-ending out.
Rose also had the key hit during Coupeville’s best extended offensive surge.
The Wolves used six walks and Rose’s rocket of an RBI single down the right field line to rally for four runs in the second inning.
“Lauren is really hitting the ball well right now,” said Wolf coach Deanna Rafferty. “I can’t say enough good things about how she’s playing for us.”
The Wolves had a patient eye, drawing 12 walks in the game, but struggled a bit when it came to making contact, scraping together just three hits.
Vidoni beat out an infield single, Rose thumped her base hit and Tiffany Briscoe crushed a single to center field that a Lynden outfielder got the tip of her glove on, but was unable to haul in.
With Hammer, the team’s primary power source, having missed two games (she’s expected back Friday to face South Whidbey), the Wolves took another body hit late in the game.
Plucky second baseman Jae LeVine took a shot off of her ankle, but, after going down to her knee for a bit, recovered to stand upright, hands above her head in a classic “Rocky” pose her fans know by heart.
She was a bit gimpy after the game as she ran out to rake the infield, but her mile-wide smile was still intact, a good sign for a team with a young, thin roster.
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