Yohannon Sandles was raking Friday, in more ways than one. (Sherry Bonacci photo)
“BE BIG!!”
Wish granted.
Rallying from four runs down late Friday, the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad survived nail-shredding tension and pulled out a stunning come-from-behind win in extra innings, sending its fans home happy, one step ahead of the encroaching darkness.
To get there, shanking visiting Mount Vernon Christian 5-4 in nine gut-wrenching frames, the Wolves dodged disaster, found a new groove, and listened to their fans constant plea to seize the moment.
And thanks to career-defining performances from players as diverse as Yohannon Sandles and Camden Glover, CHS evens its Northwest 2B/1B League record at 1-1, moves to 2-3 overall, and, hopefully, turns a corner while the season is still young.
A game after being no-hit in a loss to Friday Harbor, the Wolves came up with clutch base-knocks against MVC, while shutting down the Hurricane hitters when it mattered most.
Camden Glover, seen in sunnier times, was lights out Friday, a day before he turns 16. (Photo courtesy Stevie Glover)
Trailing 4-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth, Coupeville was hanging tough thanks to a huge pitching performance from Glover.
Coming on in relief of Peyton Caveness — who was fairly sharp himself but had been dinged by a play here, a play there — Glover was lights out.
The burly sophomore, who celebrates his 16th birthday Saturday, went 5.2 innings, striking out 10 while not giving up a single hit.
But with just six outs left to play with, the Wolves needed something to start clicking offensively.
They found their mojo thanks to some pain, some hustle, and some precision hitting.
Aiden O’Neill led off the bottom of the sixth by wearing a pitch, the ball whacking off his body with a dull thud.
Not one to grimace or show any discomfort, the speedy sophomore instead bounded down to first, then promptly shot down to second on a steal.
He came around to score Coupeville’s first run on a hard-hit grounder off the bat of Sandles, and CHS seemed to be in business.
Until the Wolves briefly stalled out, stranding runners at second and third to end the inning.
Not a problem, however, as Glover mowed down the side in the seventh, and then his teammates rose to the moment in their “final” at-bats.
Pinch hitter Aidyn McDermott led off with a single that chewed up the glove of the MVC third baseman, before Caveness thumped an RBI double.
The Hurricanes looked like they were going to escape, however, striking out the next batter and putting themselves an out away from scampering back to the vans, a visit to McDonalds possibly in their early evening plans.
To which the Wolves said, stow those burgers and fries, buccos, with Cole White and Sandles knocking in runs with back-to-back perfectly placed blasts.
Sandles gets dynamic. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Suddenly it was 4-4, we were headed to extra innings, and the overflow crowd of MVC fans were beginning to kvetch.
Just the way Cow Town likes it.
Glover survived a tense moment in the top of the eighth, plunking two batters before getting a ‘Cane slugger to weakly launch a foul ball right to first baseman Caveness with the bags juiced.
Coupeville put two runners aboard in the bottom half of the frame thanks to MVC errors, and the visitors reloaded the bases in the top of the ninth thanks to walks, but neither team could break through.
With already black skies getting darker and the game pushing three hours, that set up a fab finale in the bottom of the ninth.
White rapped a one-out single, then moved his lanky body down the line at a rapid rate on a steal, before Sandles wrote the final best-selling chapter.
Hitting cleanup, the Wolf junior, famous for his crowd-pleasing photos on the Coupeville Barstool Instagram account, capped his best day as a CHS diamond dynamo.
With his fan club hootin’ and hollerin’ on every pitch, Sandles dug his cleats into the prairie dirt, swung from his heels, and launched a gorgeous laser into faraway left field.
Ball hit grass, White’s toes tapped home plate, and the rush was on, as the Wolves poured out of the dugout to envelop their stellar second baseman.
Peyton Caveness and Co. swung big in key moments. (Morgan White photo)
Sandles finished with three hits (according to the official book), though some might argue he actually had four depending on how you viewed one base knock which was recorded as an error.
Joining him in the hit parade were White, who rapped two, Caveness — who whacked a two-bagger — Landon Roberts, and McDermott as CHS outhit MVC 8-2.
O’Neill, Caveness, Glover, and Jack Porter walked to round out the offense.
With the wild win in hand, the Wolves prep for a super-busy week, if weather permits.
Coupeville is slated to travel to Orcas Island next Tuesday, host Sequim Wednesday, trek to Concrete Friday, and host South Whidbey Saturday.
Oh, and the Wolf JV will play in Oak Harbor Monday, leaving very few open dates on the schedule.
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