Scout Smith had a double and three RBI Friday. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
In the moment, this one stings.
When you’re repping an itty-bitty 1A school, playing on the road against a large 2A school, and hold the lead for much of the afternoon, losing a game in the final moment is not what you planned for, hoped for, or fought to accomplish.
So, in the moment, falling 7-6 to Port Angeles Friday, with the tying and winning runs coming in on a wild play in the bottom of the seventh, is a killer for the Coupeville High School softball squad.
But as bad as it stings, and it surely does, you don’t want to forget what the Wolves have accomplished, and what heights they can still achieve.
CHS finished the regular season 11-7 despite a patched-together schedule which had them playing 10 of 18 on the road and a third of their games against 2A schools.
They also swept Klahowya to claim the Olympic League title, their first conference crown since 2002.
That sends them to the West Central District 3 playoffs May 18-19 as a #1 seed, two wins from a trip to state.
The key for the Wolves will be to spend the next week focusing on everything that has gone right, not allowing a few down moments to consume their thoughts.
While tweaks are always necessary — Coupeville has uncharacteristically struggled on defense in recent games, while its big bats are in a bit of a slump — the team is in prime position to make a playoff run if the players embrace their destiny.
Districts are played on turf fields, while the Wolves have spent the regular season on grass, so the squad will head to NAS Whidbey this coming week to get in practice time on the different surface.
When they look for positives from Friday’s game, they can point to a sweet catch in left by Nicole Laxton, who elevated to snare a long drive right before it cleared her head.
The way Mackenzie Davis came charging out of the far dugout on foul balls over the backstop, then floored it, cleats clattering on asphalt to beat Roughrider rivals time and again who had a shorter distance to run, but a lot less heart.
Mollie Bailey’s funky drumming, as the fab frosh kept up a lively beat with her drum sticks when not in the game.
Or they can study Scout Smith’s at-bats, as she was the lone truly consistent Wolf at the plate against PA.
First time up, a note-perfect bunt which set up the game’s opening run.
Second time, a thunderous two-run double which shot down the line in left field and curled inwards at the last possible moment to tear a chunk out of fair territory.
Third time, an RBI ground-out to stretch Coupeville’s lead out to its largest margin.
Where the Wolves did have issues Friday was in keeping a consistent offensive attack going, and then preventing the Roughriders from scraping their way back into the game.
CHS got on the board in the first thanks to a little luck and some nice hustle from Lauren Rose.
The senior shortstop led off the game by slapping a liner that banged off a glove for an error, took second when the throw skipped past the first-baseman, then scooted to third on Smith’s bunt.
Perched on third, Rose bounced up and down, then shot home on a passed ball, making the local scoreboard operator get to work early.
Unfortunately, Coupeville’s offense stalled out for a bit after that, and the Wolves fell behind 2-1 after two innings.
A triple to right from Kiana Watson-Charles, the first of two epic blasts from the PA sophomore, was big.
But a successful double steal by the Roughriders and a ball airmailed into right by Coupeville on another play were the real killers.
The Wolves fought back in the third, putting together their one sustained offensive attack of the game.
It started when freshman Coral Caveness out-hustled a throw to first after PA dropped a third strike.
After Emma Mathusek reached on a fielder’s choice in which PA’s only choice was to look one way, then the other, then hold the ball, CHS got back-to-back two-baggers from Rose and Smith.
Smith’s blast gave Coupeville the lead, before an RBI ground-out from Sarah Wright staked the Wolves to a 5-2 lead.
With Katrina McGranahan humming in the pitcher’s circle — she finished with 10 strike-outs — CHS held the Roughriders scoreless in the third and fourth.
Mathusek singled and came around on Smith’s run-scoring ground-out to push the lead to 6-2 heading into the bottom of the fifth.
That, though, was when Watson-Charles took over the game.
She mashed the stuffing out of the ball, driving a two-run home-run over the left-field fence to cut the margin to 6-4, then came on to pitch.
Retiring all six Wolves she faced across the sixth and seventh innings, Watson-Charles gave PA a fighting chance, and the Roughriders jumped on the opportunity.
They plated a run in the sixth to cut the lead to 6-5, but CHS escaped further damage when first-baseman Veronica Crownover made a nimble, unassisted put-out on a hot grounder for the third out.
There was no escape in the seventh, however.
PA used a single, a Coupeville error (on a hard-hit ball by Watson-Charles) and a walk to load the bags with one out, then won the game on the kind of shot you usually see on a pool table.
The ball came off a Roughrider bat and skittered wildly past the pitcher’s circle as the tying run charged home.
In the rush to make the play, Coupeville’s throw home skipped wild, as well, allowing the winning run to also tap the plate.
In the immediate aftermath, it was a rough way to lose the regular-season finale.
But, this is a talented Wolf team, full of players capable of great things. Their moment is still there, waiting to be seized.
“This was a tough game for us,” said Coupeville coach Kevin McGranahan. “We have a lot of things to work on this week and we will definitely give districts our best.”
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