Coupeville sluggers Peyton Caveness (left) and Landon Roberts endured a less-than-balmy “spring” day on the prairie Monday, kicking off a new season of Wolf baseball. (Sherry Bonacci photo)
March 11 is too dang early to be playing baseball on the prairie.
When you have off and on rain spatters, occasionally fiendish wind gusts, and an all-around soul-draining coldness that lingers for two-hours-plus, and you tell yourself, “Well … I’ve certainly seen worse,” I’m not sure that’s a good thing.
But this is Cow Town, so you suck it up, buttercup, and move on, thankful at least that you finally got some gloves, which help a bit.
I’ve covered high school baseball games in Coupeville since the ’90s, so Monday’s dank, dark season opener against Meridian was nothing out of the ordinary.
Which has never stopped me from complaining.
But anyways, to the diamond action itself, instead of this detour into my one-man play “It’s Too Dang Cold Out Here!!”
What we, the huddled masses saw, was a 20-6 non-conference win for the visiting Trojans, as they took full advantage of a lot of free passes.
It was the type of game where Coupeville slipped behind 8-0, put together one stellar inning to cut the margin down to 8-4, then gave up 12 more runs as pitch after pitch caught a ride on a wayward breeze and slipped just outside the strike zone.
Like the weather itself, there were a few bright rays of sunshine for the Wolves, but too many dark clouds to make the day a complete winner.
The good news?
Clean up some small stuff, like walks, passed balls, and wild pitches, and Coupeville has the potential to go off on another run like they did a season ago when their journey went all the way to the state tourney.
At which point we had one 60-degree day, and we’ve never stopped talking about it.
Monday’s melee on the prairie began at a hair past 4:00 PM, though the angry skies made things look like it was already time for the cows to go back in the barn.
Lanky lefty Landon Roberts got the start on the mound for the Wolves, and opened and closed the top of the first by whiffing Trojan hitters.
In between, however, Meridian scraped out a run thanks to walks and a sac fly, grabbing a lead it would never relinquish.
Roberts blanked the Trojans in the second, but a couple of soft infield choppers and more free passes allowed the visitors to stretch things out to 4-0 through three frames.
Coupeville struggled at the plate in the early going, getting just a Camden Glover walk and a Peyton Caveness single through the first four innings.
Meridian tacked on two runs in the top of the fourth and two more in the fifth, again without making much contact, and the Wolves found themselves in an 8-0 hole.
That was when CHS Athletic Director (and longtime former Wolf baseball guru) Willie Smith wandered in for a peek at the new-school diamond men.
Which seemed to light a fire under his school’s sluggers, as they erupted in the bottom half of the fifth inning.
Walks to Johnny Porter and Aiden O’Neill set the table, and Coupeville got its first run of the season thanks to Porter scooting home on a Meridian error.
Caveness and Yohannon Sandles promptly ripped back-to-back base-knocks, with the former sliding in with an RBI triple and the latter poking an RBI single into a gap.
Three more walks — eked out by Jack Porter, Glover, and Coop Cooper — forced in another run, and at 8-4 the Wolves were in full-on rally mode.
Unfortunately, that was where the good times came to a sudden halt, with the Trojans making a nice defensive play to rob Coupeville on a liner which looked like it was heading to pay dirt.
The score got skewed in the sixth, as Meridian racked up walk after walk to turn an 8-4 lead into a 20-4 margin, but the Wolves continued to fight.
Down to its final at-bats, Coupeville pushed two more runs across in the sixth.
Roberts and O’Neill whacked singles, while Sandles clubbed an RBI double, earning a huge round of applause from his fervent fan club in the stands.
The Wolves were only outhit 7-6 on the day, but gave up 24 walks, with Coupeville pitchers hitting Trojan batters eight times.
The “best” wayward pitch smacked off a Meridian thigh, making a sound sort of like a cow being hit by a stun gun.
That baby echoed, is what I’m saying.
Coupeville used five pitchers in the game, with Roberts, Caveness, O’Neill, 8th grader Carson Grove, and Cole White combining for seven strikeouts.
Caveness and Sandles led the Wolf hit parade with two apiece, while Roberts and O’Neill collected the other base-knocks.
Glover walked three times, with Cooper, O’Neill and both Porter boys also nabbing a free pass.
After a few days off, Coupeville gets back at it with a road trip to South Whidbey Friday, before hosting North Mason Saturday.
The Wolves are slated to play six of nine games in March at home.
Toss in the trip to Langley and they don’t leave The Rock until Mar. 26, when they venture off to Orcas Island.
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