Jonathan Valenzuela, ready to ruin the pitcher’s day. (Morgan White photo)
A hit for you, a hit for you, and what the hey, three hits for you.
With 10 different players picking up at least one base knock Tuesday, the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad rapped out 20 hits en route to cracking host Concrete.
Erupting for 12 runs in one inning alone — with all but one tally coming with two outs — the Wolves decimated the Lions 18-1 in a game mercy-ruled after five frames.
Winners of eight of its last nine games, Coupeville gets to 10-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 12-4 overall.
The victory pulls the Wolves dead-even with Mount Vernon Christian (10-1, 11-3), which was idle Tuesday, for possession of first place in the NWL.
The two teams, who split their two-game season series, each have three league games remaining on their schedules.
Next up for Coupeville is a road trip to Darrington (5-6, 6-6) Thursday and a home clash with La Conner (2-9, 3-11) Saturday on Senior Night.
Tuesday’s romp in Concrete was actually close for two innings, with the Wolves up 3-1 headed to the top of the third.
CHS pushed three runs across in the first, courtesy a two-run double to left from Jonathan Valenzuela and an RBI single off the bat of Cole White.
But the Wolves came up empty in the second frame, with a would-be base thief thrown out at second.
Coupeville returned the favor quickly, with freshman catcher Chase Anderson gunning down a too-slow Lion runner in the bottom of the inning, and then he and his teammates went medieval on their hosts.
A fielder’s choice groundout from White bumped the lead to 4-1, but left Coupeville one out from ending the top of the third a bit prematurely.
Never fear, however.
From that point on, 12 straight Wolf hitters reached base safely, using a mix of seven hits, four Concrete errors, and one hit batsman.
Jack Porter eyeballs the pitcher. (Morgan White photo)
The biggest blows were a two-run triple to right field by Jack Porter and a two-run single by Coop Cooper, with eight different Wolves picking up an RBI in the inning.
Freshman Aiden O’Neill capped the 12-run explosion by flying home to score on a wild pitch, making it 15-1, while the scorekeeper lost feeling in their writing hand.
Coupeville coasted in from there, tacking on a two-run single from Peyton Caveness in the fourth and an RBI single from Johnny Porter in the fifth.
While the Wolves played whack-a-mole with Concrete’s pitching, the CHS hurlers were almost as dominating.
Camden Glover whiffed four in two innings of work, then turned the ball over to Valenzuela, who closed with three no-hit frames while setting five down on strikes.
Wolf coach Steve Hilborn got action for everyone on the bench, with Seth Woollet, Jaje Drake, and foreign exchange student Piotr Bieda picking up at-bats.
Tuesday stats:
Chase Anderson — Three singles
Peyton Caveness — Two singles
Coop Cooper — One single
Camden Glover — Three singles
Scott Hilborn — One single, one triple, one walk
Jack Porter — One triple
Johnny Porter — One single
Landon Roberts — Two singles
Yohannon Sandles — One walk
Jonathan Valenzuela — Three singles, one double
Cole White — One single
Coupeville Sports 