Coupeville Sports

    Future stars Liam Curtin (left) and Bryce Payne play catch. (Shelli Trumbull photos)

South Whidbey coach Tom Fallon has a mound conference with Wolf hurler Aaron Trumbull and catcher Cole Payne.

Kurtis Smith strays a bit too far from the bag.

Morgan Payne will not let your puny hits pass him.

Falcon CJ Sutfin slaps the tag on an unhappy Ferndale runner.

Colton Sterba makes a hair-raising catch.

Trumbull approves.

And we fade out with a final burst of cuteness…

Teaming up got them five wins and at least one broken finger.

Five Coupeville High School baseball stars (Morgan Payne, Aaron Curtin, Kurtis Smith, Cole Payne and Aaron Trumbull) went down the Island this summer and played with the South Whidbey American Legion ball club.

Along the way, Smith shattered a finger when he slammed it into a catcher’s knee, and the joint squad beat Ferndale, Burlington, Lynden and Marysville (twice).

It also proved that Wolves and Falcons can coexist, at least during the off-season. Now, once school starts, well…

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“Chicks dig scars!!” (Shelli Trumbull photo)

And now the pain meds are kickin’ in… (DeeAnna Smith photo)

Adrenaline allowed him to smile for the camera. Later, things got more serious.

Coupeville High School senior Kurtis Smith shattered his finger during a botched play Monday in an American Legion baseball game and may face extensive surgery.

Smith, who is joining four Wolf teammates in playing for South Whidbey this summer, was caught in a rundown when a squeeze play at home didn’t work the way it was supposed to.

Stranded on the base-path, he went into home hard, and collided with the catcher, his hand slamming into the other player’s knee.

“He knew something was wrong and when he took his batting glove off his finger was in the wrong place,” said mom DeeAnna Smith. “It looked dislocated so we asked coach Tom (Fallon) to put it back in.

” He was in the dugout for a while icing it, but we left because we wanted to have it checked out,” she added. “I am glad we did and I am glad coach Tom put it somewhat back together while he was full of adrenalin and before it had time to swell. Would have been a lot more painful to put it back after swelling.”

The fourth finger on his right hand is fractured in a couple places to where it meets the joint.

“We meet with the orthopedic surgeon this morning,” DeeAnna Smith said. “He will look at x-ray and see if he feels he can fix it or if he will send us off island to a hand specialist. I am thinking he will do that. That means we will go back to the hospital today for surgery because they say he definitely needs it pinned.”

The injury ends the summer baseball season a bit early for Kurtis Smith, but he expects to be in the dugout with his team for the remaining bit of the schedule.

He’s set to leave Aug. 1 for an outdoor leadership program in the North Cascades, most likely with the most interesting-looking bandage in the program.

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Aaron Curtin gets intense.

“I’m intrigued…”

“No, wait, I’m not … TIRE!!!”

“There’s a … BUG ON THE PLATE!!”

      “Nothing to see here. Keep on ignoring me, Mr. Pitcher, and I, Aaron Trumbull, shall steal third in the most casual way possible…”

Kurtis Smith is so fast he creates his own dust storm.

Cole Payne is nonchalant about his stand-up triple. “It’s what I do, coach. I’m awesome!!”

Smith prepares to deliver the thunder.

    A baseball goes through therapy. “I’m just sayin’, if he loves me so much, why does he hurt me so bad with that bat?!?!?”

If rain and sleet can’t stop them, a little dust on the diamond ain’t no big thing.

Playing through the flying debris, team unity (AKA the South Whidbey American Legion baseball squad, which features five Coupeville High School players) pounded on Bellingham as it rolled towards the end of its season.

On the scene, camera ready as always, was team mom and ace photog Shelli Trumbull, who snapped these pics for your viewing pleasure.

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