Part of a Wolf softball squad which went 14-5 and can return everyone next spring. (Michelle Armstrong photo)
Coupeville won the battle, but Toledo won the war.
A very-young Wolf softball squad played the first inning to precision Saturday night at Fort Borst Park in Centralia.
Unfortunately, the winner-to-state, loser-out playoff game went a full seven frames, and the Riverhawks rebounded from a 3-0 deficit to eventually claim an 11-4 victory.
With the win, Toledo, which is 19-6 after going 3-2 in the District 1/4 tourney, is off to the big dance.
Meanwhile, Coupeville, which was required to pop in at the very tail end of another district’s tourney, instead of being fully rewarded for being the #1 team from their own area, finishes 14-5.
The Wolves, who regularly started three 8th graders and two freshmen this season, and have no seniors, can return everyone on their roster.
And, even in defeat, they fought until the final batter, showcasing the hustle and grit which defines Kevin McGranahan’s diamond program.
Saturday’s game pitted a Toledo team which was playing its third game of the day against a Coupeville squad which hadn’t played in a week.
For an inning, at least, the fresher team looked sharper.
Wolf hurler Adeline Maynes, one of those 8th graders, mowed through the Riverhawks in the top of the first, picking up two strikeouts and a groundout to fellow middle school classmate Sydney Van Dyke.
Hefting their bats for the first time since they carved up South Whidbey in the regular season finale May 10, the Wolves immediately stung Toledo.
Taylor Brotemarkle gets medieval on the softball. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Haylee Armstrong took the first pitch she saw and ripped it into left field for a single, before Mia Farris clobbered a double in the same direction.
With two runners on and nobody out, Taylor Brotemarkle lofted a precision sac fly to plate the game’s first run, before Madison McMillan went nuclear.
Punching a hole in the dark, foreboding clouds which hung over the field, the junior third baseman cleared the fences with a two-run tater, and Coupeville was up 3-0 just four batters in.
And then the batting display turned off. Big time.
After McMillan’s epic blast, the Wolves went two complete rotations through the lineup — a full 18 batters — before getting another hit.
Van Dyke, Danica Strong, and Brotemarkle eked out walks during that dry spell, but with no base knocks, there were no more runs for a very long time.
It wasn’t until two batters into the bottom of the sixth that Coupeville finally broke the hitless skid, with sophomore catcher Teagan Calkins mashing a fences-clearing home run of her own.
Teagan Calkins goes yard. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Capri Anter accounted for the Wolves final hit, cracking a long single into an opening in the outfield defense in the seventh inning.
But that was it for CHS, as it started with three hits in the first four batters but finished with just five base knocks and three walks total.
That 3-0 lead held up for a bit, with Toledo scratching out a run in the second, then sliding ahead 4-3 thanks to several well-placed hits in the top of the third.
The deficit was still just a run well into the fifth, but that was when the Riverhawks found their groove, peppering the ball around the field and plating six runs to turn a nailbiter into a bit of a runaway.
One final tally in the sixth made it 11 unanswered runs for Toledo, before Calkins walloped her final moon ball of the season to get one back for Coupeville.
“The Red Dragon” then ended her second high school diamond campaign by gunning down a runner trying, and failing, to steal second base, as the Wolves refused to go meekly into the stormy night.
While the loss brings a close to the season, Coupeville’s young guns can exit heads held high.
They went undefeated in Northwest 2B/1B League play, reclaimed their conference crown from Friday Harbor, and held their own against a tough non-league schedule.
Wins against Onalaska, Nooksack Valley, and Sultan were big, and a two-game sweep of next-door neighbor South Whidbey especially sweet.
And, as mentioned, EVERYONE on the roster can come back.
The “core four” — current juniors Farris, Brotemarkle, Jada Heaton, and McMillan — will be seniors next spring, while their younger teammates achieved success early and can continue to grow.
The pitching staff of Maynes, Armstrong, and Anter have four, three, and three seasons remaining respectively, a particular bright spot for one of Coupeville’s most-successful programs year-in, year-out.
Haylee Armstrong fires BB’s. (Claire Kalwies-Anderson photo)
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