Freshman catcher Jake Pease had the defensive play of the day Saturday. (John Fisken photo)
Despite the cold, oozy weather, Wolf moms (and a couple of photo-bombing varsity players) turned out in force. (Cole Payne photo)
The weather was miserable, the game endless, but the payoff superb.
After a tentative start that included losing their first batter to a game-ending injury, the Coupeville High School JV baseball squad stormed back from four runs down to squash host South Whidbey 17-6 Saturday morning.
The win, when it came after nearly three hours of play in cold, damp conditions, lifted the young Wolves to a flawless 2-0 on the season.
Despite what the weather forecasters promised, the day was dank and foreboding, and took a devilish turn in the first inning when Cameron Toomey-Stout lurched to avoid a tag at home and hobbled off the field.
The speed demon sophomore never returned, but, playing in front of a sizable pro-Wolf crowd (Coupeville fans outnumbered Falcon faithful by a 3 to 1 ratio for the JV game), CHS caught fire from the third inning on.
Trailing 6-2 exiting the second (with both runs having been plated by errors), the Wolves woke up their bats, then spent the rest of the morning slapping South Whidbey silly.
Coupeville tallied five in the third to retake a lead they would never return, and it kicked off with the Ty Eck Experience.
The freshman, who had taken the mound in the second and would go on to pick up the win with three solid innings of work, led off the third with a single.
Legs churning, Eck promptly stole second, took third on a passed ball by a rattled Falcon catcher, then shot across home when another ball got loose.
With the Falcons in disarray, Coupeville pressed matters for four more, with the big blow coming off of the bat of sophomore Nick Etzell, who stroked a laser-like two-out RBI single into right-center.
Once they had the lead, Wolf relievers Eck and Etzell combined to toss four shutout innings.
The only scoring opportunity the Falcons had after the second came in the sixth, and was denied by a great hustle play from Wolf catcher Jake Pease.
With a runner at third, a wet ball skittered under his glove, causing a South Whidbey runner to break for the plate.
Whirling alertly around, though, Pease snagged the ball as it rebounded off the backstop and fired it on a line to Etzell, who slapped a decisive tag on a suddenly unhappy Falcon.
Backing up their pitching and defense, the Wolves rolled up 10 more runs, with three in the fourth, two in the fifth and a final five-spot during a long, damp sixth inning.
A steady, patient eye was key, as eight different CHS players took a walk during the final three innings, with Eck, Dane Lucero and Cameron Dahl each drawing a pair.
In between the freebies, and a host of South Whidbey errors as the ball continued to pick up slickness from the not-quite-rain that oozed down, Coupeville picked up some key hits.
Brenden Gilbert spanked a single up the middle, Matt Hilborn and Joey Lippo beat out infield hits and Jake Hoagland launched an RBI single to left that drew appreciate ooh’s and ah’s from the crowd.
