Coupeville Sports

CJ Smith, about to take off for another stolen base. (Shelli Trumbull photos)

Ethan Marx cleared the bases with a three-run single in the first Saturday.

Cole Payne slams the door shut on the Falcons.

It was over quick.

The Coupeville High School JV baseball squad came out swinging the big sticks Saturday morning, pounding away for seven runs in the first two innings on its way to an 8-5 win over visiting South Whidbey.

The home game, coming on a cold, crisp, thankfully non-windy day on the prairie, was the first of the season for the young Wolves, and the first JV baseball game in several seasons for CHS.

With a pack of freshmen having turned out this year, Coupeville coach Willie Smith has two squads for the first time in the last four seasons.

And, with all of the varsity players on hand to offer frequent and vocal encouragement to their younger counterparts, the continued growth of the CHS program took another big step forward.

The offensive attack was on-point from the first batter for the Wolves, as sophomore Cole Payne thumped a lead-off double to straight-away center field.

After a passed ball moved Payne to third, he skipped home on an RBI single from CJ Smith, who promptly stole second himself. Walks to Kyle Bodamer and Clay Reilly juiced the bags, and then the runs really started coming.

Gabe Wynn slapped an RBI single up the middle to give Coupeville a 2-1 lead, then fellow frosh Ethan Marx unloaded with a shot down the right field line, clearing the bases.

The third guy coming home, Wynn hit the ground hard, sliding around a sweeping tag from the Falcon catcher and smacking his hand emphatically on the plate with his team’s fifth run.

The Wolves added two more in the second, when junior Korban Korzan crunched an RBI double, then later scored on a passed ball. Wynn capped the scoring in the fourth with an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

With CHS not having a full nine-man JV roster, Korzan and fellow junior Aaron Trumbull came down from the varsity to get brief stints in on the mound. The duo combined with freshman Jonathan Thurston and Payne to share mound time.

Payne, channeling his inner Mariano Rivera, slammed the door shut in the seventh. With the bases loaded, he recorded back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat and earn the save.

The game marked the high school debut of Wynn, Thurston, Reilly, Marx, Jimmy Myers and Aiden Crimmins.