The best there ever was, and the team that’s chasing their records.
Separated by 15 years, but united by drive and desire.
Every time Katrina McGranahan stares down a batter from the pitcher’s circle, Hope Lodell chases down a fly in the gap, or Veronica Crownover crushes a ball so hard it leaves a dent, they are mirroring the most successful team in Coupeville High School history.
The high-scoring 1969-1970 boys basketball squad is arguably the most dominant ever to wear CHS uniforms, but the 2002 Wolf softball sluggers achieved heights never seen, before or since.
An 8-0 start, then later a 12-game winning streak, before finishing with four wins in five games at the state tourney to finish 24-3 and owners of a 3rd place trophy.
And all of that in the program’s first year playing fast-pitch.
This season, Coupeville has slapped foes around, winning its first seven games en route to an 8-1 start.
Heading into a three-games-in-three-days test this weekend (Thursday at home vs. La Conner, Friday at Klahowya, Saturday at home vs. Lynden Christian), the current Wolves have matched the best start in program history.
Only now they’ll need to rip off 12 straight wins — pushing their win streak to a program-record 13 — to stay even with the 2002 sluggers, who opened 20-1.
No pressure…
The numbers are equal — 16 players and five people on the coaching staff, including volunteers — both bash the ball and are led by a core of successful, veteran three-sport athletes.
That being said, there is one huge difference between the 2002 and 2017 squads, and it’s not just the fact the ’02 players wore shorts as part of their uniforms.
Her name is Sarah Mouw, and, with all due respect to the current sluggers, none of you are Sarah Mouw … yet.
When she and her family (including lil’ sis and future track state champ Amy) moved from Iowa to Cow Town right before her senior year, CHS sports took a giant leap.
I would argue (and win the argument) no transfer student has ever impacted sports in Coupeville the way Sarah Mouw did.
Meshing her talents with holdovers like Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby, Tracy Taylor and Erica Lamb (all perennial All-Conference players in multiple sports), she led CHS to state three times during the 2001-2002 school year.
Volleyball, basketball and softball all won league titles with Mouw leading the way, with basketball (6th) and softball both achieving the best finishes at state in the history of those programs.
When the Wolves took the diamond that spring, everything was in flux.
The Northwest Conference switched from slow-pitch to fast-pitch, and the two teams which had dominant pitchers, Coupeville and Archbishop Murphy, dominated.
Mouw and ATM hurler Kristen Linscott, who went on play college ball for Claremont Mudd Scripps, were co-MVPs, while the Wolves landed four other players on All-Conference teams.
Ellsworth-Bagby (SS) and Lamb (OF) were First-Team picks, with Ellsworth-Bagby a four-time honoree, while Lindsey Tucker (2B) and Taylor (OF) were Second-Teamers who should have been First-Teamers.
Randy Dickson rounded out the awards, being tabbed as Coach of the Year, an honor he shared with assistants Kim Meche and Jim Wheat and volunteers Dale Folkstad and Bruce Berg.
As the 2002 team reaches its 15-year anniversary, a look back at its season for the ages reveals how dominant the Wolves were.
CHS beats Sultan 24-5 — The first fast-pitch game in school history is a rout, as the Wolves torch the Turks for 11 runs in the fourth inning. Mouw and Ellsworth-Bagby combine for five RBIs.
CHS beats La Conner 11-1 — Mouw and freshman hurler Heather Davis combine to toss a one-hitter.
CHS beats Concrete 9-1 — Taylor goes 3-3, while Mouw tosses a no-hitter.
CHS beats ATM 6-5 in 8 innings — The only extra-innings game of the year, as the Wolves rally for two in the bottom of the seventh, then win on a walk-off RBI single from Lamb.
CHS beats ATM 6-5 — Different game, same score. This time Coupeville takes an early lead, then holds on for the win.
CHS beats Sequim 11-5 — Six straight wins.
CHS beats Orcas 20-1 — Davis is in the circle and throws her own no-hitter.
CHS beats Friday Harbor 3-2 — A thriller lifts the Wolves to 8-0.
Lamb, Christine Larson (her bloop single is the only CHS hit) and Tucker touch home as Coupeville builds a lead early, before things get dicey at the end.
Having surrendered a run in the sixth, the Wolves give up another in the seventh and Friday Harbor has the tying run at third with one out. Then disaster (almost) strikes.
A Mouw pitch gets past catcher Brook Croghan, but she alertly tracks the ball down and flips it back to her pitcher for a bang-bang play at the plate. The Wolves get the call, then Mouw mows down the final batter for her 13th K of the afternoon.
ATM beats CHS 5-1 — The first fast-pitch loss in school history arrives in game #9, as Linscott whiffs 12 Wolves.
CHS beats Friday Harbor 12-5 and 18-2 — The big bounce-back, as the Wolves rampage to a doubleheader sweep.
Total freakin’ domination, as Wolves rap out 33 hits. Lamb collects four hits, five steals and two RBIs in game two, while Mouw, Croghan, Ellsworth-Bagby and sweet-swingin’ Carly Guillory all have three-hit games.
CHS beats ?, ? and ? — The Whidbey News-Times somehow misses reporting on three games and I don’t have a time machine.
CHS beats Orcas 24-3 — Ellsworth-Bagby drops in four hits as the Wolves improve to 14-1. It’s feast or famine, as Coupeville gets 11 runs in the first, none in the second, then 12 in the third.
CHS beats La Conner 11-1 — Mouw with three hits and three RBI.
CHS beats Concrete 11-1 — Lamb with three hits, Croghan triples.
CHS beats Concrete 19-5 — Larson whacks two triples and misses a third only because she doesn’t see Dickson waving her in and stops at second.
Tucker, Ellsworth-Bagby and Mouw all collect three-baggers as well as Wolves bring the pain and reach 17-1.
CHS beats La Conner 18-8 — Wolves wrap the regular season with a 23-hit barrage. Tucker is high woman with four.
CHS beats Seattle Christian 12-4 — Coupeville opens Tri-District play by swatting a big city squad.
CHS beats University Prep 4-0 — The win which clinches the first trip to state in program history. 20-1 and 12 straight heading into match-up #4 with ATM…
ATM beats CHS 8-0 — Dickson rests Mouw (who will pitch all five games at state), while ATM keeps Linscott in the circle.
CHS beats Cle Elum 8-0 — Wolves make a flawless debut at the state tourney.
CHS beats Royal 3-2 — Showcasing its grit, Coupeville rallies for three runs in the bottom of the fifth after falling behind 2-0 and moves into the state semifinals.
Adna beats CHS 4-0 — Wolves stay close, but fall to the eventual state champs, who go on to shred ATM 6-1 in the final.
It’s the sixth of seven state titles for Adna softball (1987, ’90, ’92, ’94, ’95, 2002, ’15). The Pirates just miss in 2016, losing by a run in the championship game.
CHS beats Okanogan 6-1 — No back-to-back losses for the 2002 Wolves.
CHS beats Napavine 11-6 — Trailing 6-1 late, Coupeville rallies for 10 runs in the fifth as Kristin Gwartney lights the fuse with a key two-run single.
The 2002 Wolf squad, which also included Laura Crandall, Angel Black, Andrea Larson, Ashley Ginnetti, Samantha Roehl and Caitlin Harada, set a standard which hasn’t been touched since.
Taking into account we’re missing three games, they outscored foes 247-80.
But, through the first nine games of the season, the 2017 squad is scoring at a better rate than the 2002 team, with a 99-91 edge.
Though, this year’s team has also surrendered more runs (49-30), so it’s a bit of a toss-up.
After Mouw, Ellsworth-Bagby and Taylor graduated in 2002, Wolf softball took a few steps back.
Coupeville finally made it back to state in 2014, when this year’s seniors — Jae LeVine, Robin Cedillo and Tiffany Briscoe — were freshman playing for David and Amy King, but the Wolves went two-and-out.
But now, this season, a squad which starts four juniors and two sophomores, is off to a historic start, tying the 2002 unit for the best-ever record through nine games.
Can they keep it going? Can Kevin McGranahan’s young guns join Mouw and Co. as immortals?
Only time will tell. Swing away.
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