Sofia Peters helped out the Coupeville JV softball squad Thursday, with the Wolves beating Island rival Oak Harbor. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Melanie Navarro can’t be contained by your puny walls.
Delighting her home fans, the Coupeville High School slugger cleared the fence for the second time this season, cracking a thunderous three-run homerun to spark the Wolf JV to a 12-11 win over visiting Oak Harbor.
The victory lifts the CHS diamond queens to 2-1, with their triumphs coming against 3A and 2A foes.
Not bad for a lil’ 2B school.
Not that either Wolf softball squad, varsity or JV, enters games worrying about the size of the school their opponents come from.
As always, the Coupeville JV went into play with their eyes firmly set on nabbing a win, something coach Katrina McGranahan loves to see.
“Oak Harbor was a great competitor, and it was awesome to play someone who challenges us,” she said. “Without that challenge we wouldn’t know where we need to work.”
The Wolves rang up five runs in the bottom of the first — with 60% of that total coming around to score on Navarro’s tater — and eventually built an 8-2 lead.
Oak Harbor kept chipping away, however, cutting the margin to 8-7 before surging ahead 11-10 heading into the bottom of the fifth, and final, inning.
Coupeville had an answer, pulling out the win thanks to big blows off the bats of Katie Marti and Jada Heaton.
“Jada had a beautiful shot to deep right field, maybe about two feet from the foul line,” McGranahan said. “It was a great hit and a hit we definitely needed.”
The Wolves rapped out nine hits off of Oak Harbor pitching, but played a complete game, bringing top effort on both sides of the ball.
“Everyone did an amazing job batting, and I think everyone made it on base or hit the ball at least once,” McGranahan said.
“Offense wasn’t the only place we did great things,” she added. “We also were outstanding on defense.”
Wolf catcher Teagan Calkins, already making an impact as an 8th grader, had “two amazing diving tag outs at home plate, which stopped them from scoring any extra runs,” and second-baseman Maya Nottingham “had a great backhand that was deep in the hole!”
McGranahan also praised the play of newcomers Alondra Cruz and Edie Bittner, who “are brand new to the sport and both of them had balls in play.”
A fastball-flinging ace in her own CHS softball days, the JV coach also appreciates seeing young Wolves like Jada Heaton embrace life in the pitcher’s circle.
“Jada is an up-and-coming pitcher,” McGranahan said. “She has been working hard to learn how it’s done and taking it on with a huge smile and a ton of effort.
“Today she had her first game experience as a pitcher, and though it was short lived I think very beneficial for her.
“I’m proud of her and so happy she is willing to learn this difficult position. We will continue to work on it and she will continue to grow and be great.”
Navarro, Heaton, Taylor Brotemarkle, and Marti each collected two hits against the Wildcats, with Mia Farris adding a base-knock to the cause.
“All in all, it was a great game and I love seeing the progress they make,” McGranahan said.
