Hunter Smith ripped a pinch-hit three-run single Sunday, sparking Coupeville to a tourney-closing win. (John Fisken photo)
Kirk Gibson lives.
Coupeville High School senior Hunter Smith has been battling injuries, and didn’t get a chance to play on a regular basis this weekend at the Grays Harbor 4th of July Bash.
But when his dad, CHS coach Chris Smith, needed him most, Hunter hobbled off the bench Sunday afternoon and produced, delivering a game-busting three-run pinch-hit single to spark the Wolves to a win.
Spurred on by the emotional surge, Coupeville turned a defensive thriller into a rout, rolling to a 10-2 win over NW Timberjack Green.
Coming on the heels of a 6-3 loss in the morning to Washington Rush Elite Blue (in a game called early thanks to the tourney’s two-hour game limit), the Wolves wrapped the three-day tourney at 2-2.
Coupeville saved the best for last, erupting for 10 runs and nine hits in the fourth through seventh innings against Timberjack Green.
One batter into the top of the fourth, the Wolves had been held firmly in check, with 11 of their first 12 batters going back to the dugout unfulfilled.
Joey Lippo changed that, ripping a single, moving to second on a wild pitch, then scooting home on an RBI base-knock from Dane Lucero.
While that cut the deficit to 2-1, the real fireworks were an inning away.
After pitcher Taylor Consford tossed the first of what would be four straight scoreless innings to end the game, Coupeville’s bats struck.
Donny Kloewer and Nick Etzell led off with back-to-back singles, before Jake Hoagland was plunked to juice the bags with no outs.
Sensing a moment at hand, Chris Smith sent his ever-dangerous (even when injured) son to the plate, and Hunter Smith responded, lashing a shot to right-center to plate all three of his teammates.
That opened the floodgates, as the Wolves added two more in the fifth — on a fielder’s choice and a wild pitch — before tacking on two in the sixth and another two in the seventh.
Jacob Zettle had an RBI ground-out, Lucero lofted a sac fly, Etzell smacked an RBI single, and, in a poetic touch, Kyle Rockwell, who Smith had pinch-hit for, came back around to get his own RBI single.
It was a nice way to end the tourney, and a nice bounce-back after an error-strewn morning.
The Wolves were on point defensively in three of four tourney games, but Sunday morning’s rematch with the Rush was the one time their gloves failed.
Eight errors cost them badly in a game in which they were still within 4-3 headed into the bottom of the sixth.
Back-to-back miscues to open the inning set the Rush up, and they had two in and the bags full when the clock ran out on both teams.
To keeps things hopping, tourney officials set a two-hour limit on games, but it cost Whidbey Island fans a chance to see a classic show-down.
Oak Harbor High School senior James Besaw, who plays for the Rush, was stepping to the plate to face Lippo, a longtime friend and baseball buddy, with both of their moms on the edge of their seat.
Instead of getting the payoff — Wildcat vs. Wolf, friend vs. friend — the uncaring locals shafted the Islanders.
Boo, I say. Boo.
Coupeville, which left nine runners on base in the game, had the bags full with one out in the first, then second and third with two outs in the second.
Both times the Rush escaped, first via a 6-4-3 double play, then on an inning-ending strikeout.
The Wolves finally broke through in the third, snatching a 2-1 lead on a two-run single to right from Matt Hilborn which plated Lippo and Clay Reilly.
CHS couldn’t hold on to the lead, though, giving two runs right back in the bottom half of the inning.
After the Rush tacked on a run in the fourth, Coupeville got its final run in the sixth, when Hoagland’s single to left brought Gavin Knoblich around to score.
Over the course of three days and four games, CHS smacked 31 hits.
Etzell led the way with six — with at least one in every game — with Lippo and Reilly collecting four base-knocks apiece.
Hot on their heels was Jake “The Rake” Hoagland with three, while Rockwell, Knoblich, Smith, Kloewer, Lucero, Consford and Hilborn had two apiece.
