Carson Grove (and his CHS teammates) sacrificed their bodies for a win Saturday afternoon. (Jackie Saia photo)
Pain is temporary, victories are forever.
Winning in a most unusual manner Saturday, the Coupeville High School baseball team beat visiting East Jefferson 4-3 in extra innings thanks to a walk off hit batsman.
And while sophomore catcher Carson Grove delivered the win by getting plunked with the bases full in the bottom of the eighth inning, he was the fourth(!) Wolf to get nailed in just that frame, and seventh(!) in the game.
With the non-conference win, the Wolves avenge an earlier loss to East Jefferson, finish off a 3-1 week, get to 6-2 on the season, and head into Spring Break on a high.
Coupeville is off until Apr. 13, when it travels down Island to clash with next-door neighbor South Whidbey.
The week-plus break should allow the Wolves to heal up from all their bruises and any lingering injuries, with the hope the bats have warmed up by their return to the diamond.
Base knocks were in short order Saturday, and CHS went into the bottom of the seventh trailing 2-0.
Which just meant it was time for the rally caps to come out on the first truly spring-like game day the Coupeville diamond squads have enjoyed on the prairie this season.
Aiden O’Neill opened his team’s last set of at-bats by being plunked, before moving up to third thanks to a passed ball and an East Jefferson error.
The Wolves only manufactured four hits on the day, but Grove delivered one at a key moment, lacing an RBI single to center to plate O’Neill and finally get his team on the board.
The speedy backstop pilfered second base and came in to tie the game up at 2-2 thanks to another error by the unraveling visitors, but East Jefferson escaped, barely.
That sent the game to extra frames, with both teams scoring in the eighth.
A walk and a long double plated the go-ahead run for the visitors, but Wolf hurler Camden Glover closed out a strong performance on the mound by forcing a pop fly to first baseman Riley Lawless.
That set up the most improbable of finishes in the bottom of the eighth, as the Wolves sent five batters to the plate, got all five aboard, and brought two in to score.
Trent Thule got whacked by a wayward pitch to kick things off, followed by Glover lacing a single. After that, it was pain, sweet pain.
Coop Cooper got plunked to juice the bags, before O’Neill wore a pitch to force in the tying run, and Grove capped the HBP parade, absorbing one more jolt to set off the prairie victory celebration.
The strong finish more than made up for a slow start, as Coupeville struggled a bit in the early going.
East Jefferson pushed across a score in the first and another in the third, while the home team seemed stuck in neutral.
The Wolves had two runners aboard in the first after Glover socked a double, but had a runner nailed at home. An inning later, CHS again put two on base, only to see both of them picked off.
The third, fourth, and fifth went by too quickly for CHS, with just a Lawless walk, though the sixth provided an intriguing hint of things to come, as Leo Rodriguez and Thule got smacked by pitches that got away from the East Jefferson pitcher.
Glover did his part, whiffing 10 Rivals across eight innings of work, and kept things close while chucking 106 pitches.
After that, all the Wolves needed was a little luck … and a high tolerance for pain.
Saturday stats:
Coop Cooper — One walk
Camden Glover — One single, one double, one walk
Carson Grove — Two singles
Riley Lawless — One walk
Aiden O’Neill — Three walks
Leo Rodriguez — Two walks
Trent Thule — Two walks
Chris Zenz — One walk
