By DAVID SVIEN
Special to the News-Times
These Wolves carry big bats, and they know how to use them.
Belting nine extra-base hits Friday, including three out-of-the-park home runs, the Coupeville High School softball squad decimated host South Whidbey 15-3.
The non-conference victory, brought to a close after five torrid innings by the ten-run mercy rule, lifts CHS to 16-1 heading into its regular-season finale, which was set for after publishing deadline on May 6. Former league rival Granite Falls visit as the Wolves celebrate Senior Night for Chloe Marzocca, Madison McMillan, Jada Heaton, Mia Farris and Taylor Brotemarkle.
The sage veterans, and their very-ready-for-prime-time younger teammates, are part of one of just two teams in 2B with only a single loss this season.
That lone blemish was a 5-4 defeat to 3A Oak Harbor, way back on March 15, and everything after it has been good times.
Case in point, Friday’s clash with a very-solid Falcon diamond squad, which sits at 8-8 after its loss.
While South Whidbey, a 1A school, may have a bigger student body than CHS, the Wolves run deep in talent.
Freshman hurler Adeline Maynes, already an ace in her second high school diamond campaign, was firing BB’s Friday, whiffing nine while scattering just three hits.
And she got solid defense from her support crew, for the most part, with middle infielders Sydney Van Dyke and Brotemarkle gunning down runners to cap things in the final inning.
But it’s the bats which once again captivated the always-enthusiastic Wolf fan base, as Aaron Lucero’s sluggers made contact, and drove through the ball with a vengeance time and again.
Coupeville scored in every inning, jumping on the Falcons for four runs in the top of the first to set the stage.
Walks to Brotemarkle and McMillan mingled with base knocks for Teagan Calkins, Van Dyke, and Haylee Armstrong, and the Wolves were off to the races.
But the biggest blows were yet to come.
Mia Farris was the first to strike, crushing a two-out solo shot in the second.
It was her second over-the-fence tater in as many days, as she also went yard Thursday while on Orcas Island.
Coupeville pushed two more runs across in the third to get the lead out to 7-0, then had its one brief burp of the afternoon.
South Whidbey took advantage of a brief defensive letdown to net three runs, before Maynes dug in and declared, “No more for you.”
She retired the final seven Falcon hitters, with the last out a decisive strikeout to set off a team-wide celebration.
Back at the plate, the Wolves threw down four runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to stretch the margin back out, with Van Dyke and McMillan joining “Mia the Magnificent” in the “I love the longball” club.
Van Dyke sent a two-run missile screaming out to left, clearing the fence for the first time in a varsity game, while McMillan’s mammoth shot — a bases-clearing grand slam — almost made it over to South Whidbey’s football stadium.
“Maddie’s was a smash,” Aaron Lucero said. “She got every ounce of that ball.
“I think it was still rising as it left the park.”
While Coupeville and South Whidbey are not currently in the same league, or classification, as in many past years, the rivalry always remains important for bragging rights.
“There are certain teams that I get just a bit more excited for, and they’re one of them,” Aaron Lucero said with a smile.
“I know most of their team from summer ball and they have solid players. Excited for our team.”
