Lady Braves drop two tough road tests

A pair of upset bids weren’t in the cards for the La Conner High softball team last week.

So Lady Braves head coach Loran James decided to shuffle the deck – or, rather, the La Conner lineup – a bit.

James made wholesale defensive changes in a 19-9 non-league setback at 1A Coupeville on Thursday, prepping his young club for this week’s slate of four key NW2B contests.

The Lady Braves were scheduled to play a doubleheader at Concrete Tuesday before returning home for an April 24 twinbill opposite Orcas.

Faced with four games in as many days, James knew several of his players would likely have to play multiple spots by week’s end.

The best opportunity to work on new positions in game situations would be a game itself.

Especially a game, like that at Coupeville, which doesn’t figure in NW2B standings.

It proved to be a matchup closer than the final score indicates.

La Conner trailed the hosts 13-9 as late as the fourth inning. The Lady Wolves pushed across a single marker in the fifth, then clinched matters with a five-spot in the sixth.

The Lady Braves had bolted to a 6-0 lead in the opening frame, taking advantage of walks and Coupeville fielding errors.

First baseman Jayna Whited delivered the lone hit of the rally, a two-out, two-run single to right.

The Lady Braves pushed across a single tally in the second and two more in the fourth.

But the Lady Wolves, despite issuing 15 free passes, clawed back into the contest. The home club strung together seven hits in the bottom of the first to claim a 9-6 lead.

The victors two runs each in the third and fourth.

All told, a potent Coupeville attack pounded out 15 hits, led by Katrina McGranahan’s triple, two singles, and two RBIs.

At Friday Harbor, La Conner again faced an opponent able to score in bunches.

The Lady Wolverines posted crooked numbers in four of the game’s five innings.

Friday Harbor scored four runs apiece in the first and second stanzas, tallied twice in the third, and tacked on another three runs in the fifth.

La Conner answered with solo runs in the first, second, and fifth frames.

Whited again was a major contributor on offense. She tripled to right with one out in the first, then plated on a Sarah McCormack single.

Whited later brought in Haley Hakenson, who had led off the second with a single, via a bases-loaded walk.

McCormack rounded out La Conner’s scoring in the seventh. She got aboard courtesy a two-out error, then motored home on a Riley Banaszak double.

Pitcher Kahnessha Casey and shortstop Kalona Casey joined Whited, McCormack, Hakenson, and Banaszak on the Lady Braves hit parade.

La Conner entered the week with a 3-2 conference mark and sitting in third place in NW2B standings. Friday’s home doubleheader with Orcas is set to get under way around 2:45 p.m.