Hawthorne Wolfe reached base three times Saturday in Coupeville’s season opener. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
They dug themselves a deep hole, then almost dug all the way back out.
But a rough start Saturday ultimately overcame a splendid finish for the Coupeville High School varsity baseball team.
Trailing 6-0 after an inning-and-a-half, haunted by defensive miscues, the Wolves roared back to life before falling 6-4 to visiting Mount Baker in the season opener for both teams.
The non-conference defeat, while not what Coupeville wanted, offers some key lessons for the hardball sluggers.
Lesson #1? Hold on to the ball.
Playing on a cold day, with an even colder prairie wind offering all sorts of trouble, the Wolves committed five errors in the early going — then settled down and made some superb defensive plays after that.
The errors, coming on booted balls and dropped fly balls, made life tough for Coupeville starting pitcher Cody Roberts.
The senior fireballer pitched strongly and held Mount Baker at bay through the game’s final five innings.
But the visitors, given second, third, and sometimes fourth chances, stung the Wolves for three runs in the top of the first inning, and another three in the second.
Mount Baker only had two base-hits during its six-run surge, and both were weakly-hit singles.
But the bad bounces, and too many balls touching mitt, then spinning away to freedom, were costly.
“We’ve got some things to work on,” said Coupeville coach Will Thayer. “But Cody threw an awesome game.”
Roberts helped end the bleeding with back-to-back strong defensive plays to close out the second inning.
With runners at second and third, and just one out, a pitch tore off a chunk of Wolf catcher Xavier Murdy’s glove and (briefly) squirted away.
But, just as the Mount Baker runner came crashing for home, X-Man spun to his left, snagged the wayward ball and dropped a throw to Roberts, who was flying in from the mound.
Wham, ball hit mitt.
Bam, Coupeville’s hurler slapped the tag.
Thank you, sir, as the home plate ump punched out the hapless runner, who meekly accepted his fate and crawled off to the darkest corner of the dugout.
A pitch later, it was all Roberts, as he used his throwing hand to slap a grounder into submission as it tried to skid past the mound.
Quickly recovering, he spun and lobbed the ball to Peyton Caveness at first base, beating the runner by several steps.
With both pitchers clamping down, the game zipped through a few wind-swept, but largely uneventful innings after that, until Coupeville finally found its offensive mojo in the bottom of the fourth.
The Wolves turned walks to Jonathan Valenzuela, Caveness (who was plunked), and Roberts, plus a balk, into their first run of the 2022 season.
There was more brewing, as Coupeville had the bases juiced with just one out, only to see Baker escape via back-to-back strikeouts.
Scott Hilborn delivered a pair of hits in a loss to Mount Baker.
The next time around, the Wolves didn’t let their guests off the hook quite as easily, racking up three runs in the fifth to close within 6-4.
Hawthorne Wolfe launched a leadoff single to center — one of his two hits on the day — with a walk to Murdy and an RBI single from Scott Hilborn making things interesting.
CHS cleanup hitter Jonathan Valenzuela plated a run on a fielder’s choice, while Coupeville’s final run came zipping home on a wild pitch which ended up rolling almost all the way to Deception Pass.
That set up the possibility of a wild finish, and Roberts and his defense did everything they could to get the Wolves there.
Hilborn made a nice running snag deep in the hole at shortstop, pulling in a fly ball over his shoulder, while Wolfe and Xavier Murdy teamed up for another wham-bam play.
On that highlight reel entry, a ball plopped in front of a charging Hawk in center, with the CHS outfielder appearing to bluff the Mount Baker runner headed to third by acting like he had lost the ball.
He had not.
Once the sucker … I mean runner … skittered for home, Wolfe flicked the ball skyward, launching a cannon shot, with the orb dropping with a very-satisfying little sigh into Murdy’s outstretched glove.
If this was a cartoon, that would have been the moment the Mount Baker runner’s face turned into that of a braying donkey as he realized he had been made to look like a jackass.
But we’re in the real world, so a loud “OUT!!” carrying through the gusting wind sufficed.
Down to its final at-bat, trailing by two runs with two outs and no one aboard, Coupeville almost pulled off a stunner.
Hilborn and Valenzuela punched back-to-back base-hits to bring the game-winning run to the plate, but Baker dodged a bullet, snuffing the rally by inducing a final groundout.
Roberts finished with six strikeouts while throwing a complete game for the Wolves, with Wolfe (2), Hilborn (2), and Valenzuela (1) combining for Coupeville’s five hits.
Caveness, Valenzuela, Wolfe, Roberts, and Xavier Murdy each collected a walk, while Jack Porter, Sage Sharp, Alex Murdy, and 8th grader Chase Anderson completed Coupeville’s opening day lineup.
The Wolves return to action with three more non-conference tilts next week.
Coupeville hosts South Whidbey Mar. 15, travels to Lynden Christian Mar. 16, and hosts North Mason Mar. 19.
Coupeville coaches plot strategy.
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