The race is on. (Julie Wheat photos)
Every play mattered.
Coupeville and La Conner clashed in two high school baseball games over a three-day period this week, with each home team pulling out a one-run victory.
Tuesday that meant smiles for the Wolves on a cold Central Whidbey prairie.
Thursday the mood was a bit more somber under blue skies on the mainland, as the Braves got a bit of revenge with a 3-2 win to earn a split in the season series.
The loss, which snaps a four-game winning streak for Coupeville, drops Steve Hilborn’s squad to 5-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 7-3 overall.
The Wolves, who travel to Forks Saturday for a non-conference tilt, sit a game off of NWL top dog Mount Vernon Christian (6-0) at the halfway point of the season.
CHS doesn’t face MVC until the final week of the campaign but was hoping for a triumph Thursday to stay even with the idle Hurricanes.
But, while the Wolves came close, they left too many runners stranded in a low-scoring affair, while La Conner found the crunch-time hit it needed to come out on top.
That game-winning blow came off the bat of Angus Poprycz, who laced an RBI single to right field in the bottom of the sixth inning to bust up a 2-2 tie.
Coupeville put the potential tying run on base in the top of the seventh, thanks to senior Aiden O’Neill eking out his third walk of the afternoon.
Unfortunately, after stealing second base he never got any closer to home as the Braves defense clamped down.
Leo Rodriguez takes his cuts.
The Wolves had opened the scoring way back in the first, with Leo Rodriguez laying down a bunt single, before coming around to tap home thanks to a sac fly from Camden Glover.
La Conner answered with a run in the second and another in the third, benefitting from a couple of CHS errors, while the visitors went scoreless from the second through the fifth.
Coupeville had runners at second and third in the third, after a walk to O’Neill and a single from Chase Anderson, but a fly out ended the rally before it could get interesting.
In the fourth, the Wolves again had multiple guys aboard, with Carson Grove ripping a hit and Riley Lawless earning a free pass, but once again La Conner escaped at the last moment.
CHS finally knotted things back up in the sixth, with Glover reaching on an error, stealing second, and scoring on an RBI single from Grove.
But that was it for the Wolves in a game where runs were at a premium.
While Coupeville had several miscues in the field, it did pull off a nice double play, with Glover, Anderson, and Lawless teaming up for the twin-killing.
On the mound Glover scattered three hits across six innings of work, racking up eight strikeouts along the way.
Thursday stats:
Chase Anderson — Two singles
Carson Grove — Two singles
Riley Lawless — Two walks
Aiden O’Neill — Three walks
Leo Rodriguez — One single
Coupeville Sports 
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