Needing a win to keep its season alive, the Coupeville High School fastpitch team defeated host Meridian 5-1 Friday, May 13, to advance to the district tournament.

At district Saturday at Sedro-Woolley, the Wolves dropped a pair of 7-3 games, first to eventual champion Friday Harbor, then to Lynden Christian in a loser-out game.

After struggling through a winless season as the only 1A school in the otherwise 2A Cascade Conference, Coupeville headed into the 1A postseason and put in a competitive performance.

The Wolves picked up their first win at Meridian, thanks in part to the arm and bat of Alexis Trumbull and a steady defense.

Coupeville scored in the top of the first inning when Trumbull doubled and scored on singles from Autumn Stevenson and Bessie Walstad.

The Wolves committed their only error in the bottom of the first that helped the Trojans even the score.

Meridian (6-15) threatened to take the lead when it loaded the bases with one out in the fourth. Trumbull relieved starting pitcher Stevenson and fanned two hitters to snuff the rally and blank the Trojans the rest of the way.

The Wolves pushed across three runs in the fifth and one in the seventh to snag the win.

With one out in the fifth, Madi Roberts walked, Trumbull doubled and Stevenson grounded out, scoring Roberts. After walks to Walstad and Breeanna Messner, two runs scored on a error off the bat of Sydney Aparicio.

In the seventh, Walstad and Aparicio hit back-to-back doubles to plate the final run.

Coach Jackie Calkins said, “This was the cleanest game we’ve played all year…At the plate they were selective and jumped on strikes.”

Friday Harbor led 4-0 when Coupeville scored two in the top of the third to narrow the gap. Roberts singled, Trumbull reached on an error, then Stevenson and Walstad ripped RBI singles.

The Wolverines got the two runs back in the bottom of the third and scored again in the fifth to hold off Coupeville.

The Wolves had just five hits, two by Stevenson.

Against Lynden Christian (12-9), Coupeville (1-18) built a 3-0 lead before base-running mistakes and defensive breakdowns crippled the Wolves.

In the second, Walstad and Messner reached on errors and scored on Aparicio’s double.

In the third, Roberts singled, moved to third on a pair of wild pitches and scored on Trumbull’s single.

The Lyncs scored four in the fourth to take the lead. Two errors, a walk, an illegal pitch and no one covering first on a bunt fueled the rally.

Aparicio finished with two doubles and two RBI, Roberts collected two singles, and Walstad and Chevy Reyes each doubled.

The Wolves started six freshmen and an all-ninth grade infield at district.