Taylor Brotemarkle (left) and Chloe Marzocca both scored as Coupeville thumped previously undefeated Darrington. (Jackie Saia photo)
“We started pretty fast and kept our foot on the gas.”
Kevin McGranahan had his Coupeville High School varsity softball team primed for Tuesday’s showdown with undefeated Darrington, and it showed.
Pounding out 13 hits, with nine of those base knocks being for extra bases, the Wolves made quick work of the visiting Loggers, rolling to a 15-3 victory.
The win lifts CHS to 4-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 6-4 overall, while Darrington falls to 3-1 in conference action.
The home game, played on a day when the sun peeked out over the prairie, the rain stayed away, and the wind made but the smallest of rustles, kicks off a busy week for Coupeville.
The Wolves travel to La Conner Thursday to face a winless Braves squad, then head off to Onalaska Saturday for a doubleheader against a tough non-league foe.
Based on win/loss records, Tuesday’s tilt with Darrington might have been expected to be a tightly-contested affair.
It was not.
Wolf hurler Allie Lucero struck out the side in the top of the first, kicking off a day in which the senior would record nine K’s, and then the offense went to work.
Coupeville crunched four doubles in the bottom of the first en route to grabbing a 3-0 lead, with Mia Farris, Taylor Brotemarkle, Allie Lucero, and Maya Lucero all finding their groove.
The hits kept coming in the second frame, as 8th grader Haylee Armstrong led off with a triple, launching a gorgeous line drive to deep centerfield that brought to mind memories of former Wolf hitting star Chelsea Prescott.
The middle school masher, who worked her way into the starting lineup with her defense, is proving her bat is ready for prime time as well, something her coach noted.
“We had big hits all over today, but none bigger than the one from the smallest girl out there today,” McGranahan said with a big smile.
Two batters later Armstrong tapped home after freshman catcher Teagan Calkins bopped a double down the third-base line, and the rout was on.
Darrington briefly cut its deficit to 4-1 in the third, scoring on a botched play in which a Logger got caught in a two-out rundown, only to escape when the Wolves threw the ball away not once, but twice.
While that play might have given McGranahan and his assistant coaches a touch of angina, it was soon washed away by the glory of the Wolf bats.
Coupeville plated eight runners in its half of the third inning, before tacking on three more in the fourth to firmly put the game into mercy rule land.
Jada Heaton and Farris walloped doubles in the third, while Darrington fell apart in a wild mix of errors, walks, wild pitches, and mental meltdowns.
The defining play might have been Calkins, alertly scampering to first on a dropped third strike.
A smart move from a young gun who already plays like a grizzled veteran, it kept the Wolf rally at full tilt and never gave the Loggers a chance to recover from their mistakes.
Tuesday stats:
Haylee Armstrong — One single, one triple
Taylor Brotemarkle — One double, two walks
Teagan Calkins — Two doubles
Mia Farris — Two singles, one double
Gwen Gustafson — One single
Jada Heaton — One double
Allie Lucero — One double, one walk
Maya Lucero — One double, one walk
Madison McMillan — Two walks
Sofia Peters — One double
