Jonathan Valenzuela drops straight heat. (Morgan White photo)
For one batter, the hit attack was ready to go.
And then it ended.
Unable to get a second hit after leadoff batter Scott Hilborn whacked a first inning single Saturday, the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad lost a pitcher’s duel, falling 2-1 to visiting Forks.
The non-conference loss drops the Wolves to 3-2 heading into the first of three regular season clashes with Northwest 2B/1B League arch-rival Friday Harbor.
The first meeting between the conference heavyweights goes down this Tuesday, Mar. 28, with Coupeville having to endure a long bus and ferry ride to get to the game.
When they meet the Wolverines, CHS will strive to have its bats beating out a merry tune on the incoming baseball.
That wasn’t the case Saturday, as Forks hurlers Ryan Rancourt and Gunner Rogers combined to throw a one-hitter, making life tough on the Wolves.
Coupeville did eke out six walks, including one batter who was bonked with a wayward pitch, but it couldn’t push across more than one run.
That lone tally came in the bottom of the third, when Hilborn walked, stole second and third, then scrambled home on an error to knot the game at 1-1.
Forks had struck first, pushing across a run thanks to a two-out RBI double from Walker Wheeler in the top of the second inning.
With the game tied at 1-1, the two teams struggled to break free of the tyranny imposed by the pitchers.
While Rancourt and Rogers were on point for Forks, Coupeville got equally strong work from its chuckers — Hilborn and fellow senior Jonathan Valenzuela.
The Wolf duo combined to strike out eight Spartans and held the game close until Forks used a well-timed hit and some alert base-running in the sixth inning to create the game-busting run.
Coupeville put two runners aboard in the fourth, thanks to Cole White and Jack Porter walks, and had the tying run at first in the seventh, represented by freshman Aiden O’Neill.
Both times, however, the Wolves were left wanting, unable to get a hit and prolong the game.
Hilborn finished with his team’s lone base knock, walked twice, and stole four bases, while Chase Anderson, White, Porter, and O’Neill also walked.
Peyton Caveness, Valenzuela, Coop Cooper, Landon Roberts, and Seth Woollet also saw game time for Steve Hilborn’s squad.
Coupeville Sports 