Aaron Curtin, seen here last year, delivered a stellar performance on Opening Day. (Shelli Trumbull photo)
Opening Day played out fairly close to perfection.
With hurlers Aaron Curtin and Aaron Trumbull combining to toss a no-hitter and just about everyone in the lineup coming up with at least one big hit, the Coupeville High School baseball squad thrashed visiting Blaine 10-0 Saturday.
The non-conference win, called after six innings, even played out under fairly balmy weather conditions, with just a hint of wind and even some sun.
The Wolves jumped on Blaine for a run in the bottom of the first, and it turned out to be all they would need.
Josh Bayne led off with a hard-hit single back up the middle — one of his three hits on the afternoon — went to second on a passed ball, then scampered home on a single to right off of Curtin’s bat.
The Wolf senior, moving up to become the team’s #1 hurler with the graduation of Cascade Conference MVP Ben Etzell, was on his game in all aspects.
After giving himself the lead, Curtin struck out three over four innings.
When he wasn’t making the Borderites miss, he allowed his defense to step into the spotlight and they responded, with three stellar plays in consecutive innings.
Trumbull pulled off an unassisted double play at first, snagging a liner and doubling a Blaine player who had walked off the bag.
An inning later, Wolf catcher Cole Payne came up firing and picked off another straying runner, his double-clutched throw dropping into Trumbull’s mitt a heartbeat before the Blaine runner hit the bag.
Not to be outdone, freshman third baseman Julian Welling closed out the fourth inning with a rough-and-tumble play that could have blown up in his face, but didn’t.
Snagging a ball chopped towards his face, he spun towards third and fell down. Without missing a beat, Welling launched himself toward the bag, coming up off of his knees and slapping his glove on the base for the inning-ending out.
With the buzz from that play still filling the dugout, Coupeville finally broke things open with a four-run bottom of the fourth.
Curtin struck again, launching an RBI double, then Kyle Bodamer cranked a moon shot to right that fell in for a two-run double.
Having tacked on one more run on a throwing error, the Wolves handed their 5-0 lead to Trumbull and he struck out four batters over the next two innings.
Blaine got a couple of walks and an error to load the bags in the fifth, but their best shot at a hit fell two feet foul in front of the left field fence and Trumbull danced away unharmed.
With the sun finally vanishing in the sixth, Coupeville wrapped things up with a five-run rally to push the game to the ten-run mercy rule.
A Payne single and back-to-back walks by pinch hitters Jonathan Thurston and Jake Hoagland juiced the bags with just one out.
After that, it was the hit parade, as three straight Wolves punched hits to cap the game.
Hunter Smith dropped a beautiful blooper into the rough grass of the infield for a picture-perfect infield single, forcing home one run.
Then Bayne and CJ Smith whacked back-to-back two-run singles to chase the Borderites back to the bus.
Not bad for a team that featured three freshmen (Welling, Hoagland and Hunter Smith) and two sophomores (Thurston, Clay Reilly).
“I was really pleased with the whole lineup, all 11 that played,” said CHS coach Willie Smith. “They all had really good appearances at the plate, top to bottom.”
Coupeville will go for a second win when it hosts former league rival Sultan Monday. First pitch is 4 PM.
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