Freshman catcher Teagan Calkins smacked two hits Thursday, while also playing strong defense behind the plate. (Jackie Saia photo)
Iron sharpens iron.
So, you play a strong non-conference schedule and the on-field battles with good teams will help you hone your own skills.
But it also means you may take some losses along the way, especially if your team is stocked full of younger players still finding their way.
Such is the case for this year’s edition of the Coupeville High School varsity softball squad, which played an 8th grader, a freshman, and five sophomores Thursday against visiting Cedar Park Christian-Bothell.
And while the Wolves also had five seniors in the lineup, that group lost a season-and-a-half to the pandemic at the start of their high school run.
It makes for an interesting science experiment for CHS coach Kevin McGranahan, who saw his team make some very good plays Thursday, and some far less noteworthy ones.
By the time the nearly three-hour game, full of prairie wind and rain, was done, Coupeville absorbed a 15-5 loss.
But the non-conference defeat, which drops the Wolves to 4-4 on the season, didn’t become a blowout until the latter stages and went the full seven innings.
Cedar Park was only ahead 4-1 entering the top of the fifth but broke through for another 11 runs across the final three frames.
A series of Wolf errors, mixed with balls which rode the gusty winds to find holes in the defense, hurt late, but Coupeville never gave up.
Mia Farris and Haylee Armstrong, patrolling the outfield while trying to stay upright in the wind, both tracked down hard-hit balls and made solid catches while on the run.
Equally adept at reading the swirling gusts was freshman catcher Teagan Calkins, who twice fired off her face mask and sprinted to the backstop to snatch foul balls out of the air for crucial outs.
Combining defense with grit, Wolf relief pitcher Gwen Gustafson — shortly after being drilled in the leg with a hot liner back up the middle — flung herself forward to spear a bunt attempt which went airborne instead of to the ground.
To go along with its often-inspired defense, Coupeville racked up five hits and 14 walks, with Madison McMillan and Taylor Brotemarkle being plunked by wayward fastballs.
The Wolves had runners aboard every inning but came up just short of breaking things wide open.
Sometimes it was CPC making strong defensive plays — picking a straying runner off of third or turning a double play on a wicked Farris liner which was two inches away from being an extra-base hit.
Other times, it was Coupeville stopping itself, as the Wolf hitters went chasing after pitches out of the strike zone.
“Don’t help her out!” McGranahan cautioned his sluggers, but some bad pitches proved to be too enticing, and CHS ended every inning with runners still aboard.
Farris tapped home with Coupeville’s first run in the bottom of the third by getting creative.
The sophomore sensation walked, stole second by a mile, then scooted to third on a passed ball and sailed home on a wild pitch.
The Wolves picked up a run in the fifth, with Maya Lucero lashing a two-out RBI single that plated Calkins, then scored two more in the sixth.
Starting that mini rally with two outs and no one on base, CHS picked up a single from Calkins and a walk from Brotemarkle, before McMillan crunched a two-run double to center.
Coupeville’s final run came in the seventh, with Farris punching an RBI single into a gap, sending Jada Heaton hustling home.
The Wolves have a chance to get right back in a winning groove with a Northwest 2B/1B League clash Saturday against winless Concrete.
Originally scheduled to be a road game, it’s been moved to Coupeville, which has a slightly better weather forecast that day.
First pitch is 1 PM.
Thursday stats:
Taylor Brotemarkle — Two walks
Teagan Calkins — Two singles, one walk
Mia Farris — One single, one walk
Jada Heaton — Three walks
Allie Lucero — Three walks
Maya Lucero — One single, two walks
Madison McMillan — One double, one walk
Melanie Navarro — One walk
Coupeville Sports 