Jada Heaton (left) and Taylor Brotemarkle combined for five hits Tuesday afternoon as Coupeville obliterated Friday Harbor. (Jennifer Heaton photo)
Redemption is theirs.
A year after losing twice by a single run to Friday Harbor and watching its stranglehold on the Northwest 2B/1B League slip away, the Coupeville High School varsity softball squad is back.
In a big way.
A Wolf team which starts three 8th graders, and two freshmen, drilled its biggest rivals for the second time this season, rolling to a 13-1 road win Tuesday.
Coupeville, which has outscored Friday Harbor 26-1 this season, now sits at 5-0 in league play, 8-2 overall.
And while they haven’t clinched any league titles — two tilts in a six-day span against Darrington in late April still loom large — the Wolves are in control of their own destiny.
Coming off a non-conference loss to Forks, which finished second at the 2B state tourney in 2023, Coupeville showed an ability to quickly move on and focus on the task at hand.
And that task was beating the crud out of the softball, as the Wolves erupted for five hits in the top of the first — including a double and two triples — and never slowed down.
Haylee Armstrong opened things by rocketing a shot over the head of the shortstop for a single, before swiftly coming around to score when Mia Farris crunched a triple seconds later.
Another single past the shortstop — this one from Taylor Brotemarkle — made it 2-0, before Teagan Calkins launched an RBI double, and the suddenly nuclear-hot Jada Heaton lashed an RBI triple to deep right field.
CHS pitcher Adeline Maynes was in no mood to allow Friday Harbor to get back in the game, firing BB’s as she picked up two of her eight strikeouts in the first inning.
Backing their 8th grade ace, the Wolf hitters kept the numbers flipping on the scoreboard, tacking on two more runs in the second, another three in the third, and a final four in the fourth.
After starting her day off with a quiet walk, junior third baseman Madison McMillan started flexing like a WWE wrestler, twice clearing the bases with a three-run base knock.
The Wolf cleanup hitter finished with a season-high six RBI, scaring the locals, who ran for cover and refused to come back out as long as The Mad Masher was in the immediate vicinity of a bat.
Madison McMillan hits the softball so hard she leaves a dent in it. True story. (Jackie Saia photo)
While McMillan was writing tales to be told when Friday Harbor parents need to scare their young children in coming years, everyone in the Coupeville lineup contributed.
Heaton lashed a single, double, and triple, while Armstrong cracked three singles to lead the hit parade.
Brotemarkle, Calkins, and McMillan each had two hits, Farris launched her triple, and Ava Lucero and Capri Anter combined to eke out three walks.
The lone Wolf not to get aboard on this day was Sydney Van Dyke, but she made her presence felt on defense, where she played with precision at second base.
Coupeville will take a brief pause from league games the rest of the week but has a pair of non-conference road rumbles ahead on the schedule.
The Wolves travel to Blaine Friday and Granite Falls Saturday for contests against teams from bigger schools, offering a major challenge.
Wolf sluggers (l to r) Bailey Thule, Haylee Armstrong, and Teagan Calkins bask in the afterglow of another win. (Michelle Armstrong photo)
