Coupeville Sports

Hawthorne Wolfe socked a double, one of Coupeville’s four hits Friday afternoon. (Morgan White photo)

They’re still the gold standard.

Friday Harbor High School is the big dog of Northwest 2B/1B League baseball, a point driven home by the Wolverines ten-running visiting Coupeville Friday afternoon.

Scoring in every inning, with nearly half their runs coming with two outs, the hosts waxed the Wolves 11-1 in a game mercy-ruled in the fifth inning.

With the win, Friday Harbor improves to 4-0, while second-place Coupeville slips to 3-2, with both losses having come against the league leaders.

CHS will get right back at it, with a road doubleheader at Orcas Island next Tuesday, and it still has two more games scheduled against the Wolverines late in this pandemic-shortened season.

Playing on a gusty early-spring afternoon, with a few rain drops streaking the cameras Friday Harbor used to stream the contest, Coupeville didn’t look all that bad.

But Friday Harbor took advantage of every small miscue, while playing fairly-flawless defense behind solid pitching.

An RBI double into the gap and a long sac fly in the bottom of the first staked the Wolverines to an early 2-0 lead, and they steadily extended the margin.

Friday Harbor tacked on just a solitary run in the second, as Wolf hurler Cody Roberts escaped danger with a couple of big strikeouts, but a breakdown in the third was fatal.

With two on and two out, Roberts pumped a third strike past a flailing Wolverine slugger, but the wind caught the ball at the last second and sent it skittering far away from catcher Sage Sharp’s glove.

Given second life, Friday Harbor took advantage, plating three runners after the weather-related mishap and effectively busting the game open.

Coupeville snagged its lone run in the top of the fourth, thanks to Jonathan Valenzuela and Daniel Olson connecting on back-to-back base-knocks around a couple of steals from the former.

Friday Harbor’s announcing crew on the stream struggled mightily with Peyton Caveness and Hawthorne Wolfe’s names — calling the latter “Hank” at one point, but reserved their mightiest tongue twisting for Valenzuela.

Which is just sad.

He has the EXACT SAME LAST NAME as one of the most famous modern-era Major League Baseball players.

A man who played 17 years, went to six All-Star games, won a World Series, and is the only player to ever win Cy Young and Rookie of the Year honors in the same season.

You might have heard of him — Fernando Valenzuela was, and still is, a beloved legend in two countries.

And that last name ain’t that hard to pronounce.

Anyways, back on the blustery diamond, Friday Harbor escaped in the fourth thanks to a double play, before tacking on a solo run in their half of the inning, then four more in the fifth to end things.

Roberts and Olson, who came on in relief in the third, combined to fan five Wolverine hitters, while Wolfe, Xavier Murdy, Valenzuela, and Olson each had a hit for the CHS offense.

The big bop was a two-out double to left-center in the third from Wolfe, but unfortunately, Coupeville’s speedy leadoff hitter was left stranded.