Coupeville Sports

       Aaron Curtin grabs a souvenir — crunch-time hero Drew Chan (2) — and heads off to the celebration. (Shelli Trumbull photos)

Wolf coaches Chris Tumblin (left) and Willie Smith bask in the glow.

     “Hi, I’m Drew Chan. I’ve come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass … and I’m all out of bubblegum.”

Drew Chan had a senior moment.

Capping Coupeville High School’s second straight come-from-behind Saturday thriller, the Wolf second baseman ripped the biggest hit of his career at just the right moment.

Down to his final strike, and with his squad down a run, Chan belted a two-run single up the middle, sending his team into hysterics and visiting Port Townsend into despair. Scoring Aaron Trumbull and Jake Tumblin, the base hit lifted Coupeville to a thrilling 3-2 win.

Now 2-2 on the season as they head into a three-game tussle with arch-rival South Whidbey, the Wolves played superbly all afternoon.

Ben Etzell got the start on the mound and was dealing the high, hard cheese, whiffing five in three innings of work, before giving way to Aaron Curtin and Trumbull, who kept the heat coming.

The defense was rock-solid behind them, as center fielder Wade Schaef nailed a runner at home with a dead-eye throw in the top of the fourth.

Then things crumbled a bit for one inning, and it looked like a strong afternoon wouldn’t be rewarded. Four errors in one inning — the top of the sixth — left Coupeville staring at a 2-1 deficit.

Enter Chan in the bottom of the seventh, who might as well have pointed at the center field fence, Babe Ruth-style, and chuckled, “I got this, boys!”

Trumbull and Tumblin were causing havoc on the bases, giving the Redskin hurler a bit of angina.

Having collected his second hit of the game, a single, Trumbull had gone to third on a pair of wild pitches, while the dazzlingly quick Tumblin walked and stole his third base of the afternoon.

His head bouncing like a bobble doll, as he tried to keep an eye on the runners, the Port Townsend pitcher got two quick strikes on Chan, then made one fatal error.

The senior swung, the ball erupted off the end of his bat and Wolf Nation went bonkers, the noise sweeping across the street to where the Coupeville softball squad was romping to its own victory.

After that, all that was left was for Aaron Curtin to bear-hug Chan and his entire team to bum-rush the field and swarm their captain.

Chan-tastic!