Wolf catcher Gavin Knoblich had two hits Friday as Coupeville toppled Chimacum and moved closer to clinching an Olympic League title. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Captain Cool struck again.
Coupeville High School ace Hunter Smith wasn’t flawless Friday, but he was perfect when it mattered, and now Wolf baseball is a win away from claiming its second Olympic League title in three years.
Backed by stellar, error-free play from his defenders, especially infielders Joey Lippo, Matt Hilborn and Dane Lucero, Smith shut down Chimacum, tossing a complete-game 2-0 shut-out.
The win, Coupeville’s fifth-straight and ninth in its last 10 games, lifts the Wolves to 6-1 in league play, 12-4 overall.
CHS is a game up, with two to play, on the Cowboys (5-2, 7-8) and hold the tiebreaker, having taken two of three after pulling off back-to-back shut-outs at home against their chief rivals.
“I love the goose eggs, love ’em!,” said a jubilant Coupeville coach Chris Smith.
His squad needs just a single win (it travels to Klahowya Monday, then hosts Port Townsend May 2) or a single Chimacum loss to officially clinch the title, which they last won in 2016.
The Cowboys, who are enjoying their best run in the Olympic League after three consecutive third-place finishes, have pushed the Wolves hard this season.
The first two meetings between the teams were one-run games, and this time a two-run lead seemed almost decadent.
Having escaped a brief first-inning jam when Hunter Smith whiffed a Cowboy with runners at the corners, Coupeville struck for the game’s only blood in the bottom of the second.
Flying on a high, as Smith punched out the Cowboys one-two-three in the top half of the inning, the Wolves capitalized on a huge Chimacum error.
Jake Hoagland led off the bottom of the second by swatting a chopper to third, before taking off like a bat out of Hell.
Slightly juggling the ball as he plucked it off the ground while on the move, Chimacum’s third-baseman tried to set his feet. It didn’t work.
The Cowboy fielder double-pumped, triple-pumped, then fired the ball to the moon, pulling his first-baseman off the bag as Hoagland thundered by.
Given unexpected life, Coupeville took immediate advantage.
Jake Pease, who would later take a nasty hit to the arm on a wayward pitch, had a much-happier first at-bat, plunking a single.
That set up the urban legend himself, Kyle Rockwell, a mountain among men, a titan capable of swatting the ball into the cars in the parking lot, who … dropped a bunt.
And it was a beauty of a bunt, too, perfectly placed into no-man’s land behind Chimacum hurler Cole Dotson.
Unable to make a play on the ball, Chimacum could only watch in horror as Hoagland streaked home with the game’s first run.
Meanwhile, the man perched safely on first was busy penning yet another chapter in his on-going best-seller, “I Rock: The Kyle Rockwell Story.”
Wanting to give his pitcher a bit more of a cushion, Wolf catcher Gavin Knoblich followed with equal flair, delivering a ringing RBI single back up the middle to make it 2-0.
While Chimacum escaped total disaster in the inning by nailing not one, but two, Wolves coming in hot to third, the damage was done.
Being careful to not let a single emotion flicker across his face while on the mound, Hunter Smith made big brother CJ, who patented the Captain Cool look while winning the ’16 title, a proud assistant coach on the Wolf bench.
And, while the CHS hurler was touched a few times more than normal, scattering seven hits, he and his teammates always had an answer.
Lucero, subbing at first base, pulled two low throws out of the dirt, then Lippo decided to get all dramatic and crank the defensive volume to crowd-pleasing levels.
Chimacum had a runner at second with two outs in the fourth, and said runner bolted as a Cowboy hitter launched a shot that had base hit stamped all over it.
The ball seemed to be too high for Lippo to snag at second, and was dropping too fast for Hoagland to catch on the run.
Until all of Lippo’s extensive ballet training (not a joke) came into play, as the Wolf senior, hauling tail, threw his glove over his shoulder.
Pulling off some Inspector Gadget “Go-Go-Gadget” action, one glove-clad limb extended as far as possible, Lippo made contact with the falling orb, punched it skyward, then hauled it back in, cradling the ball to his chest.
The sound you heard at that exact moment may have been his dad, Joe, hitting octaves not normally heard outside of an opera house.
He’ll deny it, of course, but we know the truth.
With the Chimacum fans openly sobbing (again, they’ll deny it, but we know the truth) the game sailed along through the sixth inning stuck at 2-0.
The Cowboys had one final bit of fight in them, however, bashing a pair of singles to left to kick off the top of the sixth.
Gathering his men on the mound, Chris Smith said a few words, then gave his son a small nod.
Hunter’s return nod was, of course, even smaller. Can’t mess with the brand.
Hilborn, though, wrapped his arm around his pitcher’s shoulder before he headed back to short, and might have said a few words.
If so, they were most likely, “I got this, man.”
The ensuing pitch came flying back off the bat, took a spinning hop and skidded towards Hilborn, who boldly looked destiny in the eye and accepted her challenge.
Shooting to his left, he slammed his foot through the bag at second for the force, then laid the ball into Lucero’s glove at first.
Hilborn’s throw came in on a sharp line, then tailed off at the end, landing softly with just a gentle whisper of “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is.”
In 2.4 seconds (give or take one or two), Chimacum went from first and second and no one out to a lonely runner at third about to be stranded.
Slightly cocking one eyebrow — again, he has to stay on brand — Hunter Smith fired three straight strikes past the next Cowboy, buckling his knees an inch more with each fastball that exploded into Knoblich’s glove.
But, high school games go seven innings and not six, so while the air had been visibly punched out of the Cowboys, they still had the faintest flicker of hope left.
A one-out chopper that hit the fringe right in front of a charging Hilborn and skipped away presented Chimacum with its last, best hope in the seventh.
The Wolves would not be denied, though.
Rockwell, drifting way, way, way to his left while patrolling right field, tracked down a long foul ball, pulling it in for the second out.
That brought Issac Purser, Chimacum’s best player, to the plate, the last Cowboy standing.
Chimacum’s fans, prone to wailing (a lot), screamed and hollered and hooted and made a lot of bodily noises, then got really, really quiet as Purser punched a hole in the sky with a mile-high pop up.
Lippo, camped at second, had time to do his homework before the ball descended, but his glove was in place when it mattered.
Squeeze the ball, move within an inch of clinching the title. Mission, accomplished.
Knoblich, who has been a strong defensive player behind the plate this season, had his best offensive day, pacing the Wolves with two hits.
Hunter Smith added a pair of singles, while Pease and Rockwell rounded out the six-hit attack.
As he marinated in the moment, Chris Smith praised his team, top to bottom.
“We found a way to win once again,” he said with a slight chuckle. “It was a fun game and I’m very, very happy.
“Two shut-outs in a row against Chimacum, that’s huge. You know me, I absolutely LOVE those goose eggs!”
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