It could be a toss up on what was more memorable in the Coupeville High School softball game with Bellevue Christian Wednesday, March 23 — the howling, bone-freezing wind that sliced through the field or the Wolves’ impressive comeback.
The Coupeville players, coaches and fans will take the 17-16 win in eight innings.
As for the weather, this was no little wind on the prairie. The gale blew in from right field and made every fly ball and throw an adventure.
What would have been routine pop-ups to the short stop ended up bouncing off Terry Road. Base runners easily stole second as the catchers, throwing into the wind, were lucky if their tosses to second reached on one hop and within a zip code of the base.
And, pity the poor pitchers. Coupeville’s Katrina McGranahan walked eight batters and hit three more. (She also struck out 12.) Bellevue Christian’s hurler had a tougher time, walking 13 and plucking seven.
The Wolves, however, weathered the weather and mounted three comebacks to claim the win.
Coupeville scored first, picking up two runs in the first inning on RBI singles from McGranahan and Sarah Wright.
McGranahan struggled in the second inning, walking five batters and hitting another as the Vikings scored five runs.
BC added another run in the third to go up 6-2.
Coupeville scored six runs on only two hits (from Lauren Rose and Mikayla Elfrank) in the bottom half to regain the lead.
Bellevue Christian scored five times in the fourth, once in the fifth and three times in the sixth to take a commanding 15-8 lead.
Coupeville came roaring back in the bottom half of the sixth; this time most of the damage was done with base hits and not free passes.
Rose, Elfrank, McGranahan, Wright, Kailey Kellner and Heather Nastali all singled during the six-run rally that made it 15-14.
McGranahan then put the Vikings down in order in the top of the seventh (the only 1-2-3 half inning in the game) to keep the Wolves to within one.
In the bottom of the seventh, Veronica Crownover led off with a single. Jae LeVine took over as a pinch runner and stole second base. With two outs, Elfrank doubled down the left-field line to send the game to extra innings.
In softball, each extra inning begins with a runner on second base (the person who made the final out the previous inning).
A Coupeville error allowed a second runner to get aboard, then a ground out scored one run and moved the other runner to third base.
The next Viking lofted a fly ball to center field. Hope Lodell navigated the wind, made the catch and threw a strike on the fly to home plate to nail the runner trying to score, ending the inning.
Wright started the bottom of the eighth at second base. Lodell walked and Kellner reached on an error to load the bases. Tamika Nastali was hit by a pitch and LeVine walked to plate the tying and winning runs.
Coupeville upped its record to 4-1; BC suffered its first loss after two wins.
Rose led the Coupeville offense with three hits, three runs and three RBI. Elfrank finished with two hits, two runs and three RBI. McGranahan had two hits, two runs and two RBI. Wright added two hits and four RBI.
Coupeville plays at Friday Harbor (0-0) at noon Saturday, March 26.
(Jae LeVine looks in a throw in Wednesday’s game. Photo by John Fisken.)
