Aaron Curtin brings the heat. (Shelli Trumbull photo)
For being the losing coach, Willie Smith was in a pretty good mood Wednesday.
While his Coupeville High School baseball squad came out on the short end of a 3-1 game at home against Cedarcrest, the baseball lifer could appreciate a game played at the highest level by both teams.
“Great game today, old-fashioned pitcher’s duel,” Smith said.
While a series of miscues in the top of the sixth cost them the game, the Wolves acquitted themselves nicely in the just-wrapped three game series with one of the Cascade Conference’s genuine power teams.
Coupeville won the opener (Cedarcrest’s only league loss in 10 games), then rebounded from a tough blowout loss to battle down to the wire in the rubber game.
Now 5-5 overall, 3-5 in league play, the Wolves face defending 2A state champs Archbishop Thomas Murphy (9-1) next week, then get three-game series against Granite Falls and Sultan, who are a combined 2-17.
They then wrap the regular season with a final game against badly-slumping Lakewood.
If it plays like it did against Cedarcrest, Coupeville could make a strong run down the backstretch of the season.
Wednesday, it was the arm of Aaron Curtin that carried the Wolves, as the sophomore hurler matched zeros on the scoreboard with Colton Sandhofer through the first four innings.
Cedarcrest finally eked out a run in the top of the fifth, but Coupeville immediately responded in the bottom half of the inning.
The Wolves scratched out their run in true small-ball fashion, as Korbin Korzan rapped a single, stole second, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Aaron Trumbull, then dashed home on a squeeze bunt by Drew Chan.
The tie was short-lived, however, as the visitors took advantage of a brief defensive letdown in the sixth. Back-to-back failed pick-off attempts and a misplayed ball in the outfield let in two runs, and that was all Sandhofer needed.
Still, even in defeat, Smith was full of praise for his pitcher (Curtin struck out six in a complete game effort) and proud of his scrappy squad pushing Cedarcrest to the limit.
“Aaron was really the key to us being in the game, that and good defense for all but the sixth,” Smith said. “In spite of that inning, I really felt it was a well-played game and our hitters made some good adjustments after the first inning.
“Overall, I was very pleased with the series and especially our pitching and defense in games one and three.”
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