Coupeville Sports

   CJ Smith got the start Saturday and pitched well, but was betrayed by a leaky defense. (Shelli Trumbull photos)

Cameron Toomey-Stout was an offensive machine for the Wolf JV in their doubleheader.

When the Coupeville High School baseball squad is good, it’s very, very good.

And when it’s not, well … that’s when the agonized screaming begins in earnest.

There were more lows than highs Saturday, as five errors on “very routine plays” allowed a chunk of unearned runs to scamper home in a 10-4 non-conference loss at Archbishop Thomas Murphy.

The defeat, coming to their former Cascade Conference nemesis, dropped the Wolves to 2-3.

“What’s been very frustrating, and especially this game, is that we make great plays in the field but can’t seem to make the routine plays,” said Coupeville coach Willie Smith. “When we begin to have a more consistent approach and consistent belief in our abilities then we will begin to play to the high level that we have shown we can play at.”

There were moments to make any coach’s heart swell with pride, such as Aaron Curtin making a spectacular dive at third, coming up firing to gun down the runner at first by half-a-step.

The Wolves also put together a Josh Bayne to Aaron Trumbull to Carson Risner relay from right center to first to home to nail a Wildcat at the plate and got a nifty play from Hunter Smith, who threw out a runner from deep in the hole at shortstop.

But those were overwhelmed by a missed fly ball and multiple booted balls in the infield, which allowed ATM to stay alive and eventually open a large lead.

The Wolves answered with eight hits of their own and seemed to be mounting a come-back in the top of the seventh before it sputtered out.

Bayne walked and stole second, Cole Payne singled, then Curtin unloaded a scorching two-run triple.

Kyle Bodamer followed with an RBI single, but the three-run rally died there as a ground-out and a bam-bam play at third ended the day.

JV heads to the border:

The Wolf young guns went their own way, heading out to Blaine, where they were swept 5-4 and 10-3 in a doubleheader.

In the opener, Coupeville got strong pitching from Jonathan Thurston and had the tying run at second in the seventh before falling just short.

The night-cap featured a stellar catch from Jacob Zettle, who snagged a deep drive to right to end an inning.

Josh Poole, Jimmy Myers and Nick Etzell shared pitching duties in game two, while Joey Lippo (three hits, four runs scored) and Cameron Toomey-Stout (four hits, two RBI, two runs) paced the day’s offense.