Taylor Brotemarkle loves the longball. “Bow! Bow before your homer-hittin’ ruler!!” (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
Hide the men and the children, cause Taylor is terrorizing her fellow women.
Launching an epic home run down the left field line — her very own “Brotemarkle Bash” if you will — Coupeville’s electrifying senior shortstop fired the first, but not last, shot Tuesday as the Wolf softball crew unloaded on visiting Orcas Island.
Sinking the Vikings 14-0 in a game mercy-ruled after five innings, the win lifts CHS to 9-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League action, 14-1 overall.
The weather Tuesday?
It was vintage prairie “spring,” with overcast skies and deviously icy wind gusts which sent infield dirt spraying into pitcher’s faces and terrorized anyone brave enough to wear shorts.
The way the Wolves played?
Also vintage, but a whole lot hotter.
Brotemarkle, boppin’ to her own rhythm, strode to the plate like Beyonce claiming the stage, emphatically ending the game with one swing leading off the bottom of the first.
Bat met ball, ball went a long way, and halfway around second base and haulin’, Coupeville’s exuberant star realized the orb wasn’t coming back and she could break out her homerun hustle, and not her ankling-for-a-triple sprint.
From there, the Wolves rained pain on Orcas, racking up 10 runs in the opening frame.
The Vikings only escaped things thanks to two pretty sweet catches by their very-active center fielder and Coupeville giving up an out by having a runner leave base early.
Before that, Teagan Calkins and Madison McMillan walloped back-to-back bombs, Capri Anter smacked a laser off the rival third-baseman’s body, and Adeline Maynes and Mia Farris artfully dropped base knocks that evaded the gusty winds (and any Orcas gloves).
And Brotemarkle? Once is not enough.
Coming back to the plate for a second go-round in the first, she launched a missile into left, settling for a two-run single this time.
To which Calkins responded, “I too like to collect the RBIs. It is my passion!” and promptly laced a two-run hit of her own, the ball scalding the bag at third as it sailed by.
From there, the Wolves backed off on the bats a bit, picking up another run in the second, and three more in the third, with McMillan ripping a two-run triple that was hit so powerfully it punched a hole in the wind to get through.
Or at least that’s how it looked.
Toss in a sensational throw to nail a would-be bunter, in which McMillan curled the ball right around the Viking player’s head and into the waiting glove of Ava Lucero at first, and Gordon and Nancy’s granddaughter had herself a day.
As did everyone in a Wolf uniform, from Danica Strong lofting a truly picture-perfect pinch-hit single to straightaway center to Sydney Van Dyke plating a pair of runners on nicely executed sacrifice plays.
Plus, you had Wolf hurlers Adeline Maynes and Haylee Armstrong buzzing the Viking hitters.
And then Haylee Armstrong flew away like Superman.
Maynes whiffed eight in four nearly flawless innings, with McMillan and Lucero erasing would-be bunters and Anter hauling in one potentially tricky fly ball with a casual flick of her glove.
Enter Armstrong in the fifth, stomping in from the bullpen (or left field) and striking out a pair of Vikings wrapped around Brotemarkle snagging a grounder and almost ripping Lucero’s glove off her hand with a cannon shot of a throw.
Tuesday stats:
Capri Anter — One single
Haylee Armstrong — Two walks
Taylor Brotemarkle — One single, one home run
Teagan Calkins — Two singles
Mia Farris — Three singles
Ava Lucero — One walk
Adeline Maynes — Two singles
Madison McMillan — One double, one triple
Danica Strong — One single
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