Marenna Rebischke-Smith walked four times in a doubleheader Thursday, as the Coupeville JV softball team closed its season. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
It was a lot … of everything.
The Coupeville High School JV softball team capped its season Thursday with a home doubleheader against 2A Burlington-Edison, and you would have gotten a lot for your money, if you had been made to purchase a ticket.
By the time the teams were done, four hours and three minutes had passed, with the first pitch coming at 3:56 PM in partial sunshine, and the ump finally calling things a tick or two before 8 PM.
Along the way, the teams played to an 18-18 tie in game one, before Burlington pulled out a 15-12 win in the nightcap, though only three innings were played, so it’s your call if you want to consider it official.
And a tie?!? This ain’t soccer.
Anyways, if we take it as a tie and a loss, Coupeville’s JV closes its season at 3-7-1.
The wins came against 3A Oak Harbor, 2A Lakewood, and Concrete’s varsity team.
But back to the numbers from Thursday for a second, where 24 hitters combined for 63 runs, with 21 hits and … 61(!!) walks.
The only thing keeping us from still being out there on the prairie, flashlights pointed at the field?
The five runs per inning rule used at the JV level, which was reached in 11 of the 16 frames played.
Game 1:
Mckenna Somes had the hottest bat of any Wolf, rapping out five of her team’s 12 base-knocks on the day, and three of those came in the opener as she blasted a double and a pair of singles.
Coupeville pitcher Kylie Van Velkinburgh added two singles, while catcher Audrianna Shaw played the long-ball game, belting both a double and a triple.
The Wolves used 11 batters and 10 of them eked out at least one walk, with Lily Leedy, Amanda Thomas, and Morgan Stevens leading the way with three free passes apiece.
After a bit of a slow start — CHS found itself down 12-3 at the game’s halfway point — the Wolves got clicking, throwing down five runs in each of the third, fourth, and fifth innings.
In the third, it was a merry mix of walks, steals, wild pitches, and passed balls, while in the fourth Coupeville mixed in some timely hits.
Somes scampered to first on an artfully-dropped bunt single, Shaw unloaded on a long three-bagger, and Van Velkinburgh punched an RBI single, before coming around to slide under the tag and score on a bang-bang play at the plate on a passed ball.
Still trailing 17-13 with an inning left in a game scheduled for five frames, the Wolf defense clamped down in the top of the fifth.
Coupeville gave up just one run, and that one came on a disputed play, where Wolf shortstop Abby Meyers appeared to make the tag on a runner scooting by, only to have the game’s lone ump rule against her.
Undaunted, the Wolves made their final stand a memorable one, scoring the maximum five runs in the bottom half of the fifth to knot things at 18-18.
Chloe Wheeler plated a run with an RBI ground-out, Somes absolutely smoked an RBI double down the third-base line, and then our old friends – walks, passed balls, and wild pitches – helped out.
Burlington had a chance to hold on to the win, and was just an out away, but Shaw took off from third on a passed ball and beat the throw back to the pitcher by a razor-thin margin.
It was a great comeback, though the decision not to play extra innings put a slight damper on things.
But, we were already pushing the two-and-a-half-hour-mark, and there was a second game on the docket, so, it is what it is.
Game 2:
After a brief break, the teams went back to their walk-fest, with Burlington scoring five runs in each of their three innings.
Coupeville matched the visitors in the second and third, but a two-run first inning proved to be fatal when everyone ran out of a reasonable amount of daylight.
Somes was right back at it, spanking another pair of singles, while Ivy Leedy, Stevens, and Lily Leedy all added base-knocks, with the last of that trio clubbing a resounding double.
Heidi Meyers opened the nightcap by making a sensational running snag on a quickly dropping ball right in front of second base, matching an equally eye-popping catch made by lil’ sister Abby in the opening game.
With almost all of Coupeville’s runs coming via passed balls or wild pitches, the biggest offensive highlights in game two were a couple of well-executed slides into home.
Ivy Leedy and Marenna Rebischke-Smith had the best, at least in terms of style points, but the entire Wolf lineup hit the dirt in solid style throughout the afternoon.
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