Coupeville fab frosh Emma Cushman made an impressive debut as a varsity starter Wednesday in a rivalry win over Oak Harbor. (Julie Wheat photos)
Welcome to the Emma Cushman era.
Making her debut as a varsity softball starter Wednesday, the Coupeville High School freshman came up huge in the Opening Day spotlight, pulling off two big plays — one on offense, the other on defense — to spark the Wolves to an extra-innings win over the huge school from the North.
Those invaders in purple and gold rep 3A Oak Harbor and were the only team to beat 2B Coupeville during the regular season in 2025, edging them 5-4 in O-Town.
Jump forward to 2026, transport the action to the cold prairie of Cow Town, and it was time for Cushman and Co. to return the favor, capturing a come-from-behind 4-3 victory which will reverberate long and loud.
While Wednesday’s baseball game between CHS and OHHS was a varsity vs. JV affair, the softball clash was straight up varsity vs. varsity, with the visiting Wildcats led by the potent duo of hot-hitting Layla Suto and fastball-flinging Reese Wasinger.
While the rain, and most of the wind, stayed away, fans on both sides of the battle were buried in jackets, blankets, gloves, hats, and anything which could hold off the cold nibbling at their very souls.
What heat there was, came on the field, as Wasinger and Wolf sophomore hurler Adeline Maynes went fastball-to-fastball in a pitcher’s duel where both whiffed 15 rival batters across eight innings of work.
After 1-2-3 innings for both teams to start things, Oak Harbor struck first, pushing across two runs in the top of the second thanks to some well-executed small ball.
A single which landed just out of reach of the infielder’s grasp followed by a throwing error on a bunt got the Wildcats primed, and the visitors pushed both runners across thanks to a note-perfect sacrifice bunt and a well-placed RBI groundout.
Coupeville put a runner aboard in both the second and third, but Chelsi Stevens and Haylee Armstrong were left stranded on the basepaths, leaving things at 2-0 headed into the top of the fourth.
Enter Cushman.
Once again using small ball to push a runner around to third, Oak Harbor then blasted a two-out fly to right-center that had extra bases (and an RBI) written all over it.
Except Cushman, playing like a 20-year vet and not a fab frosh who only nabbed her starting slot in the hours before the first pitch, came flying left to right and snagged the rapidly descending ball in mid stride, plucking it off a gust of wind and spiking the Wildcats through their collective hearts.
The highlight reel catch sent the Wolf bench into a tizzy, but Oak Harbor responded with its own defensive gem in the bottom half of the fourth, throwing out a runner at the plate to keep CHS scoreless.
It wasn’t until the bottom of the fifth that the Wolves finally broke Wasinger’s spell, pushing three runs across to claim their first lead of the game.
Ava Lucero got things jumping with a leadoff double, before 8th grader Cami Van Dyke laid down a beautiful bunt single and Armstrong walked to jam the bases full.
Something had to break, and it did, as Sydney Van Dyke swatted a hard-hit grounder, with the throw home pulling the Wildcat catcher off the plate, giving Coupeville its first run of the season.
Teagan Calkins smashes a base hit.
Runs #2 and #3 came quickly, as “The Red Dragon” flexed some prime-time muscles.
Wolf catcher Teagan Calkins, the veteran leader on a young squad, turned on a nasty Wasinger pitch and cranked a two-run single to left and just like that Aaron Lucero’s squad was in front 3-2.
Which held up until the top of the seventh, thanks to an Oak Harbor runner being nailed at the plate in the sixth.
An out away from defeat, Oak Harbor turned a single, a sac bunt, and a mistimed throw to third to knot things back up at 3-3, but you can’t deny destiny.
Coupeville held fast in the top of the eighth, with Cami Van Dyke slickly fielding a hard smash and throwing out the runner at first by a step for the third out, even as the potential go-ahead run screamed for home.
Which brings us to Cushman’s second big play.
It was set up by Maynes cranking a one-out double to right-center in the bottom of the eighth, followed by Ava Lucero being intentionally walked.
Which makes perfect sense.
Do you want to face Lucero, a battle-hardened varsity vet with an often-explosive bat, or Cushman, who was, and I’ll repeat this for those of you in the cheap seats — making her first-ever varsity start?
Well, either way, you’re going to lose.
If she was nervous, Cushman never showed it. She just did exactly what her coaches asked her to do — drop a bunt.
An absolute gem of a bunt, I might say, angled exactly to the very fleck of infield dirt where the most danger would be created.
It could have been a sacrifice, put runners at second and third, with Cami Van Dyke coming to the plate.
Except Cushman’s pool shot hit flawlessly, and an Oak Harbor defender, likely tired and bone-deep cold, snatched it up and threw wide of first base.
Cushman’s feet came to rest on first base, safely, and Olivia Martin, pinch-running for Maynes, came flying around third and danced home with the winning run, sending the Cow Town faithful into a celebration which could be heard from one end of Whidbey to the other.
Over to the side, big smile on his face, was Aaron Lucero.
“I love one-run games. But I really love one-run wins!”
Wednesday stats:
Capri Anter — One walk
Haylee Armstrong — Two walks
Teagan Calkins — One single
Ava Lucero — One double, one walk
Adeline Maynes — One single, one double
Chelsi Stevens — One single
Cami Van Dyke — One single
Sydney Van Dyke — One single
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