Cami (left) and Sydney Van Dyke are part of a potent Coupeville lineup which has outscored foes 71-10 through the first five games. (Julie Wheat photo)
Haylee Armstrong can slam a door shut.
The Coupeville High School junior delivered two noteworthy catches in center field late in Thursday’s softball game on Friday Harbor, before coming in to retire six of the eight hitters she faced as a pitcher to seal a 7-1 victory for the Wolves.
Coming on the heels of a 17-3 home win over the same foe a day earlier, the season sweep of a key rival gets Aaron Lucero’s sluggers to 2-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 5-0 overall.
Thursday’s royal rumble went in a different direction than Wednesday’s prairie blowout.
For one thing, it was nothing but blue skies above Friday Harbor. Almost spring-like.
For another, the Wolverines managed to escape without getting severely dinged in any inning like they did Wednesday, even holding CHS scoreless in three frames.
Still, the Coupeville bats had their moments, with seven hitters combining to rap out 13 base-knocks, including five of the extra-base variety.
The Wolves got on the board in the top of the first when catcher Teagan Calkins crashed another inside-the-park homerun — “The Red Dragon” also hammered a four-bagger Wednesday — followed by an RBI double from starting pitcher Adeline Maynes.
The fireball-chuckin’ sophomore whiffed nine across five-plus innings of work, only getting into a bit of trouble in the sixth.
With Coupeville playing cleaner defense than it had a day before, Friday Harbor wasn’t able to push a runner across until the bottom of the sixth, and then, only one.
By that time, the Wolves were up 7-0, having added three runs in the second and a single tally in both the fourth and sixth.
The second-inning onslaught started with 8th grader Cami Van Dyke lashing a missile of a single off a glove.
From there, CHS piled up a double to left from Armstrong, a single from Sydney Van Dyke, and a two-run double to deep right field off the bat of Chelsi Stevens.
The run in the fourth came courtesy some smart base-running from the wise old vet, as Calkins crashed into third on a single by Stevens, then snuck home when she caught the Friday Harbor defense not paying attention.
In the sixth it was back to the big hit bonanza, with a Calkins double and a Capri Anter triple creating Coupeville’s final run.
Haylee Armstrong is on a tear this season. (Jackie Saia photo)
On a day when everyone in the Wolf lineup made a solid contribution, Armstrong delivered the exclamation point.
She made a catch on the run heading for the wall in center, then two batters later came charging towards the infield to snag a rapidly falling ball before it could touch grass.
When Friday Harbor opened the sixth with a pair of singles and a walk, Aaron Lucero decided to change things up, moving Maynes to second base and tapping his arm to bring his version of Mariano Rivera out of the bullpen.
If the bullpen was located in center field.
Armstrong came skipping in, slapped on her face mask, practiced a mean mug or two, then revved her arm up to turbo mode, striking out five of the eight hitters she stared down, before getting the game’s final out on a fly ball.
With Coupeville’s aces combining for 14 strikeouts, the gauntlet has been laid.
“Adeline did great and Haylee came in with the heat,” Aaron Lucero said. “Great duo. Great job all the way around.”
Thursday stats:
Capri Anter — One single, one triple
Haylee Armstrong — Two singles, one double
Teagan Calkins — One double, one home run
Ava Lucero — One walk
Adeline Maynes — One single
Chelsi Stevens — One single, one double, one walk
Cami Van Dyke — Two singles, one walk
Sydney Van Dyke — One single, one walk
Eyeballing another victory. (Jackie Saia photo)
