Hunter Smith bashed five hits, including a pair of triples, Friday in a 10-inning loss at Sequim. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Something for everyone, just not a win for the visitors.
In a game that lurched from a pitcher’s duel to an offensive show, the Coupeville High School baseball squad rallied from three runs down Friday, but couldn’t hold a late lead and fell a single tally short on the road at Sequim.
The 10-9 non-conference loss to a 2A school, which came in 10 tension-soaked innings (three longer than originally scheduled) drops the Wolves to 1-1 on the season.
CHS gets an immediate chance to bounce back, however, as it travels down Island Saturday to face South Whidbey in a 1 PM game.
Facing off with Sequim, the Wolves went down fighting until the final swing.
“Long game; the guys battled,” said Coupeville coach Chris Smith. “It hurt, but a good game.”
Despite having runners on in four of the first five innings, the Wolves couldn’t seem to break through in the early stages and trailed 3-0 headed to the top of the sixth.
Coupeville surrendered a single run in the third, fourth and fifth, while stranding their own guys on the base-paths.
The most troubling came in the third inning, when Hunter Smith ripped a one-out triple, but never got to finish the journey home.
All that changed in the sixth, however, as CHS took advantage of some wildness from the Sequim pitching staff to pile up a six-run rally.
Coupeville had one man on and two outs when it lit the fuse, thanks to a string of walks.
A bases-loaded free pass to Nick Etzell finally put the Wolves on the scoreboard, before an error on a blast off the bat of Matt Hilborn cleared the bags.
He came around to score on a Sequim balk, then Hunter Smith capped things with an RBI single.
The hometown diamond men showed some grit and resolve, however, coming right back to plate three of their own in the bottom half of the sixth, knotting things up at 6-6.
A scoreless seventh sent the game into extra frames, where Coupeville immediately grabbed the upper hand.
Hilborn singled, Lippo reached on an error, then the RBI men went to work, sending three Wolves zipping across the plate.
Hunter Smith bashed his second triple of the afternoon, while Dane Lucero and Jake Hoagland each crunched an RBI single, and CHS was back on top 9-6.
Except Sequim was just as plucky.
Refusing to lose on its home field, it rallied for three in the bottom half of the inning and the game went on in a race with approaching twilight.
Coupeville twice had opportunities after that, but stranded a pair of runners in the ninth, then saw a double play wipe out a potential rally in the 10th.
After a game where the hits rained down, Sequim got its walk-off run in the bottom of the 10th without a single base-knock, using a string of walks to cap the game with a whimper, albeit one which made the local fans happy.
While they lost, the Wolves put good metal on the ball, with eight of nine players collecting a hit.
Hunter Smith led the way, going 5-6 with two triples and three singles, while Hilborn, Lippo, Lucero, Hoagland, Kyle Rockwell, Jake Pease and Etzell all collected singles.
Coupeville Sports 