Clay Reilly whacked two hits and knocked in two runs in a 6-1 win Friday, then made sure to beat his teammates to Subway. (John Fisken photos)
Hunter Smith was back on center stage, and Chimacum never had a chance.
Bouncing back from struggles with an injured back, the Coupeville High School hurler made his first start in some time Friday and was lights out.
Retiring 15 straight Cowboys at one point, the Wolf junior tossed a three-hitter as the Wolves rolled to a 6-1 road win.
The third straight victory for CHS, it lifts them to 5-2 in Olympic League play, 10-7 overall.
With the win, the Wolves clinch second place in their four-team league and earn a home playoff game.
Klahowya beat Port Townsend 10-0 Friday to reclaim the league title they won in 2015.
The Eagles are 7-0 and sit two games up on Coupeville with two to play.
Even if the teams finish with identical records, KSS holds the tiebreaker, having beaten the Wolves twice this season.
CHS closes the regular season with three games next week (Klahowya, Port Townsend and non-conference foe South Whidbey), then opens the playoffs May 9.
Coupeville will host the Nisqually League’s #3 seed in a loser-out game.
Win and the Wolves advance to the double elimination portion of districts May 11-13, where three of four teams advance to state.
To see the bracket, pop over to: http://www.olympicleague.com/tournament.php?tournament_id=2268&sport=6
Needing a win Friday, CHS came out aggressively, scoring in each of the first four innings.
Getting a single run in the first, second and third, the Wolves tacked on two in the fourth, then capped things with another run in the sixth, running their lead to 6-0.
After giving up back-to-back one-out singles in the first, Smith mowed down the Cowboys in order from that point until there was one out in the sixth.
A single and two errors allowed Chimacum to plate their only run, but then the Wolves re-locked back down, with Smith retiring the final four batters in order.
Coupeville spread out its offensive attack, getting 10 hits, with seven different hitters recording at least one base-knock.
Julian Welling, swinging a mighty bat from the cleanup spot, blasted a pair of RBI doubles, while Clay Reilly (a single and double) and Dane Lucero (two singles) were a steady back-up combo.
Taylor Consford, Joey Lippo, Jake Hoagland and Matt Hilborn added singles.
Reilly joined Welling in driving home a pair of runs, while also proving to be the swiftest Wolf, at least in terms of sprinting from the team’s bus at the ferry to a nearby Subway.
As the two workers on Friday night sandwich duty silently cried as they watched the combined forces of Coupeville’s baseball and softball teams surge their way, Reilly nipped Jonathan Thurston through the front door, having dodged traffic like a (hungry) ballet dancer.
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