Falling behind 3-0 after the first half inning of play, the Coupeville softball team was forced to play seven innings of catch up in Wednesday’s Cascade Conference game against South Whidbey.

Still trailing 9-8 in the bottom half of the seventh inning, Coupeville pushed a pair of unearned runs across the plate to notch its first victory of the season — a come-from-behind 10-9 win over the Falcons.

“We took care of a couple of little things and that made the difference in the game,” coach Jim Wheat said. “We had a brief meeting and talked about what was going on and the girls went out there and got things done.”

Coupeville’s Nikki Griffin hit two batters with pitches in the first inning when the Falcons scored three runs on the benefit of just one hit.

“We came back,” Griffin said. “My control was terrible, but my defense had my back today.”

In the game, Griffin hit a total of four batters, walked two and gave up 11 hits while striking out just one South Whidbey hitter.

South Whidbey scored again in the top of the second inning to lead 4-0, but Coupeville came back in the bottom half of the inning when Michelle Pelzer sliced a double into right field to drive in two runs.

The Falcons added another run in the top of the third, but the Wolves battled back in the bottom half of the inning to tie the score 5-5 on three hits, a stolen base and an infield out.

The Falcons scored a single run in the top of the fourth and three more in the top of the fifth to lead 9-5, but a three-run Coupeville rally in the bottom of the fifth inning shaved the margin back to one run, 9-8.

In the fifth, the Wolves bunched together two hits, an infield error, two stolen bases and a pair of infield outs to score their runs.

In the decisive bottom half of the seventh inning, Megan Smith led off with a single, stole second and raced all the way home on a throwing error by South Whidbey’s catcher and another by the centerfielder to tie the score.

Griffin then singled and Rachel Martinez was sent in as a courtesy runner.

With one out, Martinez stole second and galloped home with the game-winning run on a two-base throwing error by the Falcons’ catcher.

“We did awesome, we’re so happy,” an elated Coupeville catcher Mandi Murdy said after the game.

Murdy had two hits, scored three runs and had a pair of RBI.

Ashley Manker and Pelzer each drove in two runs for Coupeville and Smith had two hits and scored three runs.

Coupeville’s next home game is at 4 p.m. April 20 against Lakewood.