Haylee Armstrong and friends dodged bad weather Thursday and captured a season-opening win. (Photo courtesy Michelle Armstrong)
All in all, a pretty solid debut.
Dodging some tricky weather, overcoming the absence of an ill star, and outlasting a rival repping a much-bigger student body, the Coupeville High School varsity softball squad made new head coach Aaron Lucero a winner Thursday afternoon.
Getting a big-time performance from freshman pitcher Adeline Maynes, and key offensive contributions from everyone in the lineup, the Wolves thunked visiting Lakewood 8-4.
The non-conference win, coming against a 2A school, kicks off a run in which the 2B Wolves will play four straight bigger schools to start the season.
Up next is a trip to 3A Oak Harbor Saturday, then treks off-Island to play 1A schools East Jefferson and Meridian.
Thursday’s victory came despite Mother Nature throwing her annual early-season hissy fit.
The skies unleashed over the prairie about an hour before game time, delivering a mix of rain and hail, but Coupeville’s field held up under the assault.
“I’m glad our field drains well, but we still had to put down about 600 pounds of Field Dry and the game got started a bit late,” Aaron Lucero said with a chuckle.
“Not exactly what I normally do for pregame!”
When Coupeville took the field, it did so without starting centerfielder Mia Farris, who was home battling strep throat, but the Wolves never missed a beat.
They jumped on Lakewood for five runs in the bottom of the first inning, putting the first six batters on base to stake their claim as the dominant team.
Haylee Armstrong and Taylor Brotemarkle got things going, reaching on back-to-back errors, before Teagan Calkins, Madison McMillan, Sydney Van Dyke, and Jada Heaton smoked base knocks to make the scoreboard jump.
Chelsi Stevens pushed the fifth run across on an RBI groundout, and the visitors were rocked on their heels.
Lakewood couldn’t catch up to the smoke being thrown by Maynes, who opened her second season as the varsity ace by whiffing nine batters.
Coupeville pushed another run across in the second, and had the bases juiced in the fourth thanks to three straight walks but just missed out on busting things wide open.
A bang-bang defensive gem in the top of the third kept Lakewood at bay, with Maynes snagging a comebacker, getting the out at first, then watching approvingly as Ava Lucero pegged a throw to home where catcher Teagan Calkins was waiting.
“The Red Dragon” slapped the tag on the incoming runner to complete the double play, and the Wolves rolled into the fifth inning up 6-0.
While Lakewood took advantage of a brief CHS letdown to slice the deficit back to 6-4, Maynes shut down the rally, then her teammates tacked on two insurance runs.
Capri Anter and Stevens delivered big hits in the bottom half of the fifth, with Ava Lucero and Armstrong picking up RBIs.
That set up Maynes, who closed with a bang, retiring eight of the final nine batters to seal the win.
Aaron Lucero, who made the jump from Wolf assistant coach to head coach after former main man Kevin McGranahan moved across the country, came away pleased with a lot of what he witnessed.
“When we needed a bunt down to advance runners we did; we executed baserunning for the most part, and our defense was solid,” Lucero said.
“We pressured the defense every opportunity we could, and we really did the “little things” to be successful.
“I’m excited for this team for their commitment to excellence.”
Thursday stats:
Capri Anter — One single
Haylee Armstrong — One single
Taylor Brotemarkle — One single, two walks
Teagan Calkins — Two singles, one walk
Jada Heaton — Two singles
Madison McMillan — Two singles, one walk
Chelsi Stevens — One single
Sydney Van Dyke — One single
