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   Dane Lucero, seen in an earlier game, threw a complete game and drilled three hits Wednesday as Coupeville rolled to a 12-2 win. (John Fisken photo)

It was the perfect cap to the league season.

With nine of 14 players rapping out a hit Wednesday, the Coupeville High School baseball squad rolled host Port Townsend 12-2 to claim its fourth win in the past five games.

The victory lifts the Wolves to 6-3 in Olympic League play, 11-8 overall.

CHS finishes second behind Klahowya (8-1, 10-5) and well ahead of Chimacum (3-5, 5-7) and Port Townsend (0-8, 0-13), who still have a game to play against each other.

The Wolves wrap the regular season Thursday with a trip to Langley to face non-conference foe South Whidbey (4 PM), before opening the playoffs with a home game May 9 against Bellevue Christian.

While everyone chipped in Wednesday, sophomore hurler Dane Lucero was the focal point, tossing a complete game and giving up no earned runs while using just 60 pitches.

He greatly aided his cause at the plate, going 3-3 with two doubles, a single and a walk.

Taylor Consford and Clay Reilly backed Lucero up with two hits apiece (Reilly crunched a double), while Hunter Smith, Aiden Crimmins, Joey Lippo, Kory Score, Nick Etzell and Matt Hilborn each added a base-knock.

Coupeville put the game away early, jumping out to a 7-0 lead after an inning and a half of play and never looked back.

The game was cracked open with a five-run second inning, a rally that started with two outs and no one on base.

After the RedHawks whiffed the first two Wolves, CHS responded with a string of hits, a couple of walks and a timely error off of a shot bashed by Lippo.

That plated two, coming on the heels of a two-run single from Consford and an RBI hit by Reilly.

Port Townsend scraped out two runs of its own in the second, but Coupeville put the hammer down, scoring three in the fourth and another two in the fifth to end the game early thanks to the mercy rule.

In the fourth, the Wolves got back-to-back RBI doubles from Lucero and Reilly, before Lippo slapped a hit to plate another run.

Lucero put Coupeville over the top in the fifth with his final hit, a two-run single.

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   Jacob Zettle crunched a triple and two singles Monday, while also playing stellar defense. (John Fisken photo)

They fought till the final frame.

Storming back from a five-run deficit Monday, the Coupeville High School JV baseball squad had the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base in the final inning, but came up just a hair short of a miracle.

Despite rapping out nine hits, including three from slugging outfielder Jacob Zettle, the Wolves fell 9-8 at Klahowya in their season finale.

That it got so close at the end was a win in itself, as Coupeville watched an early 3-2 lead turn into a 9-4 deficit headed into the top of the sixth.

The Wolves rallied, however, sending 10 batters up to hit, and plating four of them.

Gavin Straub, Ulrik Wells and Elliott Johnson all eked out walks, while Zettle and Gavin Knoblich delivered key singles.

The big blow in the inning was a double off the bat of Jake Pease.

Back within one, CHS juiced the bags in the seventh off of two walks packaged around another single by Zettle.

It wasn’t to be, though, as Klahowya bore down and got the final two outs of the afternoon, stranding the tying run at third.

Even in a loss, there were strong points.

Zettle punched a triple to go with his two singles, while joining James Vidoni in making running snags on balls blasted to the outfield.

Pease and Kyle Rockwell both had RBI doubles, with Pease and Knoblich racking up two base-knocks apiece.

Shane Losey rounded out the hit attack with a single.

Ultimately the edge in the game came down to fewer errors by the Eagles.

“Both teams hit the ball pretty well,” said Coupeville coach Mike Etzell. “They played cleaner defense and had us by one run when the dust settled.

“Add some more focus on D, increase the baseball IQ, stick to swinging at strikes, and I like the future of the young Wolves.”

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Scout Smith (7) gets down with her bad self. (John Fisken photos)

Clay Reilly sets the target.

   “Spring” … when baseball players everywhere freeze their buns off while camped out in the dugout.

   Klahowya’s two-time league MVP, Amber Bumbalough, is fast on the tag, but Scout is just a hair quicker with the slide.

Wolf first-baseman Kory Score lobs the ball back to his pitcher.

Joltin’ Jae LeVine is here to whack base hits and never, ever miss a photo op.

“My base!” Scout can’t be caught by mere mortals.

Scout Smith is sneaky quick.

The Coupeville High School freshman has stolen six bases this spring, which puts her fourth on the team.

What makes that number truly pop is, unlike the three girls ahead of her on the list, she’s not a regular starter.

Smith just takes advantage of every opportunity she gets, something she demonstrated as a pinch-runner in a big win over Klahowya Monday.

Interspersed in the following photo essay, which captures action from both that softball game and Coupeville’s baseball clash with the Eagles, are three pics of Scout being Scout.

It’s an image you’ll be seeing a lot of in years to come.

 

To see more photos from these games (purchases fund college scholarships for CHS student/athletes) pop over to:

Softball — http://www.johnsphotos.net/Sports/2017-Coupeville-Softball/20170501-vs-Klahowya/

Baseball — http://www.johnsphotos.net/Sports/2017-Coupeville-Baseball/20170501-vs-Klahowya/

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   Kory Score (right) gets some face time with CHS coach Chris Smith on Senior Night. (John Fisken photos)

Ethan Marx kicks off our family portraits.

   Aiden Crimmins and parental units, both of whom had their own Senior Nights at CHS in days gone by.

Jonathan Thurston and his fan club.

Taylor Consford stood tall Monday, ripping a triple in his first at-bat.

Clay Reilly and associates.

Score and family.

   Lil’ sis Maggie takes a moment away from the tennis courts to celebrate her brother’s day.

It was the end, but not the end.

Monday marked Senior Night for six Coupeville High School baseball players, the final time they played a regular season game on their home field.

But, after two road games to cap things, the Wolves will be back to Robert Sherman Field May 9 for a home playoff game.

That will be the real swan song for Taylor Consford, Clay Reilly, Aiden Crimmins, Ethan Marx, Kory Score and Jonathan Thurston.

Postseason ball is about making a run at a state title, though, and Monday was about CHS coach Chris Smith having a chance to publicly praise his guys in front of friends, family and fans.

It was also a chance for local paparazzi John Fisken to snap some glossy pics to commemorate the moment.

The photos above are courtesy him, and, as always, we appreciate his charity.

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   Aiden Crimmins (right) was one of six seniors honored Monday by CHS baseball coach Chris Smith. (Jodi Crimmins photo)

It was a mixed bag.

Score-wise, Monday’s baseball match-up with visiting Klahowya did not finish the way many Coupeville supporters would have liked.

Surrendering nine runs in the top of the first inning, the Wolves spent the afternoon fighting from behind and fell 15-4 in a game called after six innings.

The loss drops Coupeville to 5-3 in Olympic League play, 10-8 overall and snaps a three-game winning streak.

But there were positives for the Wolves, who have already locked in the conference’s #2 seed for the playoffs and will open the postseason May 9 at home.

For CHS coach Chris Smith, the game was a prime chance to honor his six seniors — Jonathan Thurston, Ethan Marx, Clay Reilly, Aiden Crimmins, Kory Score and Taylor Consford.

All of them started together for the first time this season, and, after the game, as a large group of fans and family remained in attendance, Smith said heartfelt words about each of the players.

Most of the group have played a full four seasons for CHS, and Chris Smith, first as an assistant under Willie Smith and Marc Aparicio, and then as head coach, has enjoyed the opportunity to work with the six.

“Just a good group of guys,” he said with a big smile as he reflected on their time together.

Three of the seniors played prominent roles during the game, as Consford bashed a triple, Score laced a single and Reilly knocked in two runs.

After falling behind 9-0 in the first frame, as Klahowya picked up seven of its 15 hits, Coupeville chipped away at the lead.

The Wolves plated one in the first, as a ground-out off the bat of Reilly plated Consford, then put together a three-run rally in the second.

Score and Matt Hilborn dropped in singles, wrapped around Marx reaching on an error, before Hunter Smith smashed a two-run double.

Reilly knocked in another run on a ground-out to first, but then the runs stopped cold.

The two teams, after combining for 13 runs in the first two innings, went the next three without a single runner reaching home.

Klahowya (8-0, 10-4), league champs for the second time in three years (Coupeville won in 2016), closed things out with a six-run sixth, then stepped to the side so the Wolves could honor their graduating players.

One player who won’t be leaving, junior shortstop Hunter Smith, paced the attack with two hits, but the Wolf bats were mostly muffled, as Coupeville totaled just five base-knocks.

The Wolves close the regular season with road games at Port Townsend Wednesday and South Whidbey Thursday, before prepping for the start of the district playoffs.

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