Josh Bayne gets mobbed after his two-run moon shot. (Shelli Trumbull photos)
Bayne headin’ home.
Throwing strikes. Nothing but strikes.
It was Josh Bayne’s afternoon.
On a day when the gusty prairie wind sent the infield dust flying into the faces of the visiting fans on a regular basis, the Coupeville High School sophomore played the best game of his young career.
Tossing seven superb innings on the mound and collecting three hits at the plate — including a game-deciding two-run blast over the left field fence — Bayne lifted the Wolves to a resounding 4-2 rebuke of visiting Lakewood.
“There’s your headline — Bayne brings the pain to Lakewood!,” said a very happy Wolf coach Willie Smith.
Coupeville’s fifth win in its last six games, it guaranteed the Wolves (10-10 overall, 8-10 in Cascade Conference play) a #1 seed heading into the playoffs and awarded them a home playoff game. The boys in red and black will host the #5 team from the Northwest Conference Wednesday, May 1 in their district opener.
The victory also means Coupeville finished third in league play behind just 2A schools Archbishop Thomas Murphy and Cedarcrest, ahead of 1A mate South Whidbey and three other 2A schools.
Bayne, getting the ball so Ben Etzell and Aaron Curtin would be fresh for playoff duty, made a case to get some serious mound time of his own in the postseason.
He busted through the Cougar hitters in just 82 pitches, striking out three while letting his defense make plays behind him. And they were flawless, ignoring the cutting wind to make effortless play after play.
Both Curtin and Wade Schaef ran down difficult balls in the outfield, losing their hats to the wind, but never juggling the ball.
In the infield, Coupeville’s lone veteran, second baseman Drew Chan, went out on Senior Night by turning a pair of snappy double plays.
The first one, he beat the runner to the bag, then made a nice throw to first, while in the second, he snared a liner, then tagged a straying runner.
The Wolves jumped out to an early lead, when a deep, curving single to left by catcher Jake Tumblin plated Etzell in the first.
After Lakewood scratched out two runs in the top of the second to take the lead for a nano-second, Bayne grabbed it right back. With Curtin having reached on an error, Bayne, the #9 hitter, crushed a ball that was still rising into the wind as it cleared the outfield wall.
That was all the Wolves would need, but they tacked on one more in the third just for kicks. Tumblin was hit by a pitch and stole second, then Kyle Bodamer ripped a shot back up the middle to score the fleet-footed junior.
After that, it was all Bayne, as he strolled through the Lakewood lineup with ease, ending the game by retiring 11 of the final 12 batters.
The last one was a tailor-made come-backer to the mound, giving Bayne plenty of time to take several steps towards first before lobbing the ball to the waiting Aaron Trumbull.
As the Wolves celebrated on the field, Bayne’s dad held tightly to his son’s home run ball and Coupeville fans made plans for Wednesday. Bring on the playoffs!
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