Cole Payne stood tall for Coupeville Saturday, delivering one of just two hits South Whidbey hurler Ricky Muzzy surrendered. (John Fisken photo)
Ricky Muzzy said goodbye to Coupeville in style.
Not that the Wolves were all that thrilled about it.
Barring a reunion in the playoffs, Saturday’s non-conference baseball game in Langley, in which Muzzy used his crafty pitching arm and explosive bat to carry South Whidbey to a 7-3 win, will be the final time the Falcon senior will stare down his Island rivals.
Facing off with a Coupeville squad that includes players he has suited up with in American Legion ball, such as Wolf catcher Cole Payne, Muzzy was lights out on the mound.
Tossing six shutout innings, the Falcon hurler limited the Wolves to just a pair of hits — a second inning single up the middle by Wolf pitcher Julian Welling and a sixth-inning base knock from Payne.
That second hit was a rocket into the gap between third and short that a diving Falcon managed to knock down at the last second, but couldn’t recover as Payne zipped down the first-base line.
Still, until he turned the ball over to his bullpen, Muzzy was in total control, while also delivering the game’s biggest hit — a thunderous two-run triple to right in the fourth that broke open a fairly close game.
Up until that point, the Wolves, after a bit of trouble in the first, had stayed close.
South Whidbey scratched out three runs in the opening inning, putting together three hits and taking advantage of a wild pitch and a passed ball.
After that, though, Welling matched Muzzy in stringing together zeros until the fourth.
With one out quickly in the books, Coupeville looked like they had caught a break when a grounder that ricocheted off of Matt Hilborn’s glove at third shot right into the outstretched arm of shortstop Hunter Smith.
But, despite a strong throw on the move from Smith, the runner won the race to the bag, and that gave the Falcons just enough inspiration to stage a game-busting rally.
A single through the gap between second and first put two on the bags, before Muzzy launched a shot that had most South Whidbey fans thinking he had crushed a three-run home run.
Coupeville’s outfield managed to momentarily stem the tide with a quick throw to hold Muzzy at third, but two more runs eventually came across before the inning was done.
Trailing 7-0 entering the seventh, the Wolves mounted their first sustained offensive show of the afternoon by keeping the ball away from South Whidbey’s superb outfield crew.
Earlier, several shots that would have dropped in against most teams were run down by Falcon fielders, including a sensational diving snag in center on a drive by Kory Score that seemed to have extra-base hit written all over it.
Finally keeping the ball down when it came off the bat, the Wolves rallied for three in the final inning and had the bases loaded when the Falcons retired the final batter.
An error on a grounder by Welling, a low, slicing single to left from Gabe Wynn and a walk to Clay Reilly juiced the bags, before Joey Lippo (walk), Hunter Smith (infield single) and CJ Smith (a single to right that dropped in front of a charging fielder) plated runners.
While the young Wolves (now 3-6 on the season) departed Langley with a loss to last year’s 1A state runner-ups, first-year CHS coach Marc Aparicio liked a lot of what he saw.
“We hit the ball hard today, but they made some great plays on us defensively,” he said. “South Whidbey’s a great team, and we all saw that. But I’m real proud of our guys.”
