Alright, alright, alright. (Shelli Trumbull photo)
The stories will be passed down for generations, and, eventually, everyone in town will claim they were there and witnessed the miracle.
But we few, the frozen, the wet, the huddled masses, we know who stayed for the whole game Saturday afternoon. From Aimee Bishop to Randy Payne, from Hailey Hammer to Ed Curtin, we survived.
And what we saw was a truly spectacular baseball game on a truly cruddy day.
We saw Coupeville High School rally from six runs down, at a moment when the umpires and coaches were moments away from calling the game early because of the horrendous weather.
We saw Ben Etzell stare down the Nooksack Valley pitcher and, without flinching, knock in the tying run with the Wolves down to their final out.
We saw Morgan Payne start to go, stumble, and then run like crazy, diving under the catcher’s tag at the last second to win the game on a sacrifice fly by Aaron Trumbull in the bottom of the 10th inning, as the three-hour mark crawled up on us and even the hardiest of fans had had quite enough, thank you.
The stunning 9-8 non-conference win marked a turning point for a still-young Wolf team which a day before had rattled Cascade Conference powerhouse Lakewood before suffering late-inning breakdowns in both games of a doubleheader.
“We wouldn’t have done this last year,” said Coupeville coach Willie Smith, his cheeks aglow with the cold and the rush of victory. “This is a great moment for this team. A huge moment!”
For those who couldn’t take the truly awful weather conditions and left early, they had a built-in excuse. The game seemed to be a one-sided affair, as the visitors jumped out to a 5-0 lead.
An RBI ground-out from Aaron Curtin and a passed ball that allowed Jake Tumblin to score narrowed things a bit, but the Wolves still trailed 8-2 going into the bottom of the sixth.
With cold rain splattering down (and did I mention the diabolical wind and cold?), Coupeville stood three outs away from having their afternoon called an inning early.
The coaches and umpires had conferred, and all seemed OK with the decision … and then the Wolves decided, to a man, nope, times to shake things up.
Kyle Bodamer came off the bench to pinch-hit and got things started by eking out a walk.
Toss in a few plunked batters, a single by Tumblin and a huge two-run single back up the middle off of Curtin’s bat, and Coupeville was back to within 8-7 and no longer quite so willing to walk away early.
“WE ARE NOT STOPPING!!!!,” screamed Smith as he sprinted across the field, “Braveheart“-style.
Nooksack Valley was unable to mount any kind of charge against Wolf reliever Josh Bayne, who struck out five over seven innings after taking over for Trumbull.
With Bayne throwing liquid heat (the only hot thing in the immediate area…), Coupeville completed the comeback in the bottom of the seventh and final regular inning.
Tumblin fired things off by pilfering second and third, then dashed home on Etzell’s epically-timed base hit.
With fans caught in a moral fight between good (the Wolves had surged!) and evil (extra frickin’ innings in this weather?!?!?!), the two teams battled through three more tense innings, with Payne and Kurtis Smith running down dangerous balls that took off in the wind.
Then came sweet relief, as Drew Chan eked out a walk to load the bases for Trumbull, who belted a long fly dead into the wind.
The Nooksack outfielder came up throwing, but Payne was a step too quick, flying through the mud around home plate and then being mobbed by his teammates.
The fans? They would have stampeded for their cars, but most were frozen, and many may still be stuck out there until mid-summer.
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