Coupeville Sports

Carson Risner (left) and Aaron Trumbull and the photo that launched a web site.

Aaron Trumbull was having a bad day.

That’s the truth behind the best sports photo that local mom/insurance whiz/shutter bug Shelli Trumbull has snapped in recent memory. As much as I like her pic of baseball coach Chris Tumblin glaring down an ump, and her photo of Wolf softball catcher Kenzie Kooch in the aftermath of a close playoff loss is a haunting image, it was this pic that HAD to be the header for coupevillesports.com.

As seen above, it captures Wolf hurler Aaron Trumbull and catcher Carson Risner in a light moment, sharing a private joke on the pitcher’s mound. But, as I said, it was a light moment that started out a bit darker, as we reveal in this EXCLUSIVE edition of “Behind the Photo.“

We let Risner set up the moment for you:

“Aaron and I watched a comedian on my i-pod before the game and when we were done watching it, I told him that if he was having a hard time on the mound that I would call a timeout and tell him one of his jokes. I didn’t even have to tell him the joke, we were already laughing. Joke was not appropriate to share.“

And from Trumbull’s perspective:

“Well, I was having trouble throwing accurately, so I was getting frustrated and that was only making me throw worse, so coach (Willie) Smith told Carson that if I got angry and walked a batter, to call a time out to come talk to me.”

“So I ended up walking a guy and Carson came up to me and told me he was glad that I didn’t hit the guy, because I was throwing as hard as I could. I smiled at that, but he told me a joke that I can’t really remember, but it definitely made me laugh and that’s what I need on the mound, relaxation.”

“So the next batter, I either struck him out out or it was a grounder to the infield. For the rest of the time I threw, I threw a lot better because he’d repeat the catch-line of the joke every time we went to the field and it relaxed me completely. I guess a joke is all you need to change the way you play a game.”

So, now you know, and knowing is half the battle.