Adeline Maynes and friends are off to a 2-0 start on the softball season. (Julie Wheat photos)
Patience and power.
Playing on the cold, rain-splattered turf at Lakewood Thursday, the Coupeville High School softball squad mixed a ton of walks with some timely hits to make it two wins against big school rivals.
A day after storming from behind on their home prairie to knock out 3A Oak Harbor in extra innings, the Wolves unloaded on the 2A Cougars, ending things early in a 21-3 game called after five innings due to the mercy rule.
Now 2-0 on the young season, Aaron Lucero’s squad, which reps a 2B-sized school, is off until a road trip Mar. 21 to Bellingham to square off with 1A Meridian.
That’ll give the young Wolves time to fine-tune things and defrost, in some order.
“The game was getting rough, players turning into popsicles and we wanted to get done,” Lucero said.
“Proud of the team for fighting through horrendous conditions, maintaining composure, and getting the job done.”
A day after facing a flame thrower in Oak Harbor ace Reese Wasinger, Coupeville had to adjust to slower speeds from a group of Lakewood pitchers who struggled with chucking a slick ball which was looking to shoot off in random directions.
The Wolves happily accepted all 22 walks offered up by their rivals.
But they also connected on 10 base hits, keeping the runners churning around the basepaths until Lucero took his foot off the gas pedal late, giving up some free outs by having players leave base early.
The tone of the game was set early, as CHS sent 11 batters to the plate in the top of the first, scoring six of them.
Haylee Armstrong started things off with a sharply hit single, Sydney Van Dyke scampered to first on a dropped third strike, and Teagan Calkins walked, priming the well for cleanup hitter Chelsi Stevens, who immediately smacked a two-run double to left field.
Chelsi Stevens, master of the bunt, or the thunderous base hit.
Tack on a sac fly from Adeline Maynes and a two-run single to right from 8th grader Cami Van Dyke, and the floodgates were open.
Coupeville kept delivering rib shots to the Lakewood pitchers, or, in the case of Haylee “The Ankle Breaker” Armstrong, just whacked low, wicked liners which tore chunks of flesh off the leg of any Cougar hurler unable to dodge in 0.3 seconds.
It was one of two painful moments for the hosts, as later a batter in pursuit of a hit took a spectacular fall midway down the line to first, then kissed sweet, sweet wet turf as Wolf first baseman Ava Lucero calmly tracked down the wayward ball and recorded the out.
There was a moment when it looked like the Lakewood player might have to be taken out behind the barn and put out of her misery, “Of Mice and Men”-style (read a book!), but her body survived — if her dignity maybe didn’t.
The Wolves pushed eight more runs across in the second inning, with Stevens and Armstrong spraying RBI-rich hits — the latter cleared the bases with a long single — before getting five consecutive walks to end the frame.
The third inning was the one bright spot for Lakewood, with Coupeville held scoreless (the horror! the horror!), while the Cougars eked out their only runs of the afternoon.
But once the teams rolled into the fourth, things clicked back into place, with CHS tacking on seven more runs across the final two innings, while its outfielders twice threw out Lakewood runners trying to pick up an extra base.
Ava Lucero, defensive dynamo.
Coupeville’s final four runs came courtesy of a two-run single off the bat of Capri Anter and a two-run double from Ava Lucero, one of the few players with pep to spare as the cold and rain sapped the will of everyone involved.
Still joyfully bouncing around and whipping balls back to Wolf hurler Adeline Maynes with undisguised glee, the coach’s daughter put a punctuation mark on the win with a display of defensive prowess in the bottom of the fifth.
First, she backpedaled through the raindrops to snare a high pop fly, before stepping forward and calmly snagging a liner to mark the game’s final out.
Along with beating a big school rival, Coupeville did it by getting something from everyone on the active roster.
Aaron Lucero was able to play all 13 players in uniform, with 11 Wolves getting aboard thanks to a hit or walk.
Seven different sluggers recorded an RBI as well, with Stevens, Armstrong, and Anter leading the way with four apiece.
The game featured the season debut of Emma Leavitt and the CHS softball debut for Zariyah Allen and Marina Jadwin, who are both new to the sport.
Plus, the Lakewood coach provided pizza for the Wolves. So, winner, winner, pepperoni dinner.
Thursday stats:
Zariyah Allen — One walk
Capri Anter — One single, three walks
Haylee Armstrong — Three singles, one walk
Teagan Calkins — Five walks
Emma Cushman — Two walks
Ava Lucero — One double, one walk
Adeline Maynes — One single, three walks
Olivia Martin — One walk
Chelsi Stevens — One single, one double, three walks
Cami Van Dyke — One single
Sydney Van Dyke — One single, two walks
Hot-hitting cousins Capri Anter (left) and Haylee Armstrong dress for success. (Photo courtesy Michelle Armstrong)
