Maya Lucero, ready to fling heat. (Jackie Saia photo)
How bad do you want it?
That’s a question the Coupeville High School softball squad will have to ask, after taking an unexpected loss Tuesday on Friday Harbor.
Despite back-to-back out-of-the-park home runs from lethal leftie Allie Lucero, the Wolves fell just short, losing 13-12 in a game they led 6-0.
The conference loss, the first CHS softball has absorbed since rejoining the Northwest 2B/1B League in 2020, drops Kevin McGranahan’s team to 1-1 in NWL play, 3-3 overall.
The biggest sting, however, is who beat the Wolves.
With three 2B schools in the seven-team NWL, only one of that trio advances to the playoffs, and it’s based off head-to-head play.
So, while there’s a lot of season left to play, Coupeville’s pathway to the postseason just got a lot smaller.
As in, the Wolves have to beat Friday Harbor in their two remaining matchups — Apr. 18 in Coupeville and May 4 back on the road — or its regular season and done.
But what about La Conner, the third 2B school, you ask?
The Braves have been outscored 113-28 across their first five games, including a 20-2 loss to Coupeville in which the Wolves created 10 of their 12 outs by choosing to have runners step off base early.
So, moving along…
Tuesday’s showdown started in favor of Coupeville, with the Wolves looking like they would bust things wide open.
Yet they came up just short of delivering that knockout punch.
CHS put two runners aboard in the top of the first, but failed to bring either one around, while doubles from Sofia Peters and Gwen Gustafson staked the visitors to a 1-0 lead after two frames.
Wolf hurler Maya Lucero shut down Friday Harbor with ease coming out of the gate, and then she and her teammates surged in the third.
Sending 10 hitters to the plate, Coupeville tallied five runs to push its advantage out to 6-0.
Taylor Brotemarkle cracked a double, Madison McMillan mashed a two-run triple to deep center, and Allie Lucero, Gustafson, and Mia Farris all followed with precision hits.
Toss in walks to Teagan Calkins and Melanie Navarro, with the latter wearing a pitch, and thoughts of ten-running another foe were in the air.
And then things fell apart, first slowly and then quickly.
“We went all the way to Friday Harbor, but forgot to pack our defense,” Kevin McGranahan said. “A huge inning fueled by too many errors to count, and we dug a hole we couldn’t climb out of.
“Our inconsistent defense caught us in a big way today.”
The Wolverines only picked up a lone run in the bottom of the third, but went on a tear in the fourth, pushing eight more across as CHS struggled to field the ball.
Another four scores in the fifth inning shoved the lead out to 13-7, putting increased pressure on a suddenly scrambling Coupeville squad.
Allie Lucero launched the first of her two taters in the top of the fifth, then came back around to do it again leading off the seventh.
Both of her round-trippers vanished high over the right field fence, eliciting ooh’s and ah’s from a pack of Friday Harbor teens hanging out around the camera streaming the game back to Whidbey.
The second Lucero launch sparked a final-inning rally which almost caught the Wolverines.
Brotemarkle crushed a two-run double to left to pull Coupeville within 13-10, before a runner zipped home off of a passed ball and McMillan pasted an RBI triple.
With the tying run at third and the go-ahead score lingering at first, the Wolves needed just a pinch more magic, but came up a batter short.
Now the real work begins.
Tuesday stats:
Taylor Brotemarkle — One single, two doubles
Teagan Calkins — One single, two walks
Mia Farris — One single, one walk
Gwen Gustafson — One single, one double
Allie Lucero — Two home runs
Maya Lucero — Two singles
Madison McMillan — One single, two triples
Melanie Navarro — Two walks
Sofia Peters — One double, one walk
