Coupeville senior Teagan Calkins ended her high school softball career with a majestic two-run double at the 2B state tourney. (Jackie Saia photo)
Suns out, guns out.
After a season largely played under clouds, whipped by prairie winds, and chilled by low temps, Teagan Calkins and the Coupeville High School softball squad found the heat waiting for them Friday in Yakima.
And while the bicep-flexing Wolves couldn’t quite match last year’s success at the 2B state tourney, winning one of three games this time around after earning two big dance victories in 2025, they did end the campaign on a particular grace note.
It came when Calkins, AKA “The Red Dragon,” AKA Coupeville’s only senior, AKA perhaps the best Wolf player to ever wear the uniform, got one final at-bat and promptly crushed the ball into the fading sun for a career-ending two-run double.
The big bash wasn’t enough to save CHS from elimination, which came two batters later, but it was a perfect swan song moment for the heart and soul of the program.
Finishing 19-4 a year after going 20-3, the Wolves, who started twice as many 8th graders (Cami Van Dyke and Zariyah Allen) as seniors, can return everyone but Calkins next season.
The goal for Aaron Lucero’s squad?
To make a third straight run to state, while continuing the proud tradition built up by the most successful CHS sports program of the past decade.
As one season fades out, here’s how the final day went down:
Game #1:
Coupeville’s opener against Kittitas got away from the Wolves early, though they rallied late to prolong what became a 17-5 loss mercy-ruled after six innings.
CHS put two runners aboard in the bottom of the first but couldn’t get either one home, before the Coyotes broke things open in the second.
With the bags loaded, a little chopper down the line became something far more dangerous, as an airmailed throw carried far enough away to allow all four Kittitas runners to come crashing home to score.
Eventually down 5-0 by the time the frame was done, Coupeville looked like it might have an answer.
Wolf second-baseman Capri Anter turned a double play to end the top of the third, before Calkins smashed an RBI triple to plate Haylee Armstrong with their team’s first run.
Capri Anter fires a pitch. (Bettie Sifuentes-Hart photo)
Unfortunately, that’s where things took another bad turn, as Kittitas escaped with an inning-ending strikeout before exploding for eight runs in the top of the fourth to shove its lead out to 13-1.
Things seemed destined to end in just five innings, but Coupeville showed some grit, pushing four runs across — three of them after being down to its final out with the bases empty — to force another frame.
Adeline Maynes whacked a leadoff double to kick things off, before Armstrong, Calkins, Chelsi Stevens, and Sydney Van Dyke connected on consecutive base knocks, getting CHS back to within 13-5.
That’s where the rally would end, with the Coyotes tacking on four more runs to advance to the quarterfinals, where they promptly lost to #1 seed Freeman.
Game #2:
Thanks to an extra-innings game between 1B schools slowing down access to their next field, Coupeville started its second contest an hour late but still came away with a positive result.
Facing a familiar foe, the Wolves proved you can beat the same team four times in one season, with the games played in four different towns, as they knocked off Northwest 2B/1B League archrival Friday Harbor 10-5.
After winning on the Wolverines home field, in Cow Town, and at the District 1 championship game in Mount Vernon, CHS added Yakima to the list in a game which started as a pitcher’s duel and finished as a battle of the bats.
Neither team scored until the third inning, when Friday Harbor snuck ahead 1-0.
That was it, however, with the Wolves standing tall on defense to keep the mini rally from becoming a major rally.
Maynes scooped up a grounder in front of the pitcher’s circle and threw out a runner coming home, before Armstrong unleashed a laser from center to nail a straggler headed into third base a touch too slow.
Sparked by the defensive dynamos, the Wolves revved up the offense in their half of the frame, erupting for five runs to go in front.
Ava Lucero delivered the biggest hit, punching a two-run single to right field, while Stevens and Maynes also connected on crisp run-producing base knocks.
Another RBI single from Stevens an inning later stretched the lead to 6-1, but Friday Harbor, as scrappy as ever, wasn’t going down easy with the end of its season roaring into sight.
The Wolverines cut the deficit back to 6-5 in the top of the fifth, but ran themselves out of more, with players cut down at home and third thanks to base-running miscues.
With both teams staring at elimination, the game stayed a one-run affair until the sixth, when Coupeville seized the final momentum.
Maynes whiffed all three batters she faced in the top of the inning, before crunching an RBI single past the third baseman to cap a four-run rally in the bottom of the frame.
Her decisive hit came on the heels of a two-run single back up the middle from Stevens and a run-scoring single off the bat of Anter as the Wolves set what would be the final margin.
Friday Harbor did get two runners aboard in the top of the seventh, but Sydney Van Dyke corralled a hot shot to third for a key force-out, before Anter swept up a final grounder, pegging the ball to Ava Lucero to end things.
Having updated the big board, the Wolves bask in their win. (Shannon Leatherwood photo)
Game #3:
For two-and-a-half innings, it was a nailbiter. Then things went to pieces.
Trailing just 1-0 headed into the bottom of the third, Coupeville surrendered 13 runs during a miserable frame and eventually fell 18-2 to River View in a game mercy-ruled after five innings.
Calkins, working her magic from behind the plate, made a marvelous throw to short-circuit a potential steal of second early in the game, but a CHS offense which has been potent all season stalled out against the Panthers.
By the time the Wolves got their first hit of the game — a fourth-inning single from Ava Lucero — they were trailing 14-0.
Coupeville loaded the bases, with walks to Sydney Van Dyke and Anter wrapped around Lucero’s smack but came up empty when River View’s pitcher escaped by inducing a fly out.
Four more runs pushed the Panther lead to 18-0 before CHS made its final stand.
Needing to get at least one runner aboard to ensure Calkins would make another trip to the plate before graduation, the Wolves eked out back-to-back walks thanks to Emma Leavitt and Armstrong.
Cue the final bow, as both relative youngsters came flashing around to score when “The Red Dragon” sent one final, majestic bomb sailing into the great blue yonder.
Current Wolf diamond dandy Haylee Armstrong gets a photo op with future Wolf star Halle Black. (Michelle Armstrong photo)
Awards:
After each game, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association issues a sportsmanship medal to a player from each team.
Coupeville’s honored trio were Maynes, Calkins, and Ava Lucero.
Pitching stats:
Coupeville mixed and matched with its three hurlers, with Maynes recording 14 strikeouts to lead the way. Armstrong picked up two K’s while Anter added another one to the team tally.
Hitting stats:
Capri Anter — One single, one walk
Haylee Armstrong — Five singles, three walks
Teagan Calkins — Three singles, one double, one triple, three walks
Emma Leavitt — One walk
Ava Lucero — Two singles
Adeline Maynes — Three singles, one double, one walk
Chelsi Stevens — Three singles, one double
Cami Van Dyke — Two singles
Sydney Van Dyke — One double, two walks
The Wolves hang out with their biggest fan. (Christina Baker photo)
The work is already underway.
Coupeville Sports 