Gavin Knoblich, here bunting during practice, had one of Coupeville’s two hits Monday night. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
The first league game is officially in the books.
And while it didn’t go the way the Coupeville High School baseball squad might have liked, the Wolves will get an almost immediate rematch.
With the creation of the North Sound Conference, CHS and its foes have adopted a style of play similar to what MLB and college teams do – play actual series, and not just a game here, a game a month later against conference rivals.
So, while Monday night’s 10-0 loss in five innings to Cedar Park Christian under the lights at Marymoor Park in Redmond stings, the Wolves get to bounce back Wednesday and host the Eagles.
That game starts at 4 PM on the prairie, then the two squads clash a third and final time Friday back in Redmond.
A young, rebuilding Coupeville team, now 0-1 in league play, 0-3 overall, is facing the King Kong of the NSC right out of the gate.
CPC finished 4th at the 1A state tourney in 2018, and 2nd a season before that.
The Eagles have power pitching, and power hitting, to spare, and they showed it Monday night.
Cedar Park hurlers whiffed nine Wolves, while having to deal with only three CHS runners across five innings of play.
Coupeville’s best opportunity came in the top of the first, when freshman Hawthorne Wolfe ripped a one-out double, then stole third.
He never made it home, however, as Cedar Park blunted any hopes of an early rally, escaping the inning on a fly-out and a strikeout.
The only other hit the Wolves had on the night came in the top of the second, as Gavin Knoblich whacked a lead-off single.
Unfortunately, the junior catcher died a quick death on the base-paths, as did Wolfe when he reached on an error in the fourth inning.
Coupeville threw three pitchers against CPC, with Dane Lucero doing most of the work.
He tossed four innings, including a scoreless first, before giving way to the tag-team of Jonny Carlson and Knoblich to finish the game.
Cedar Park’s big inning came in the second, when it broke a scoreless tie thanks to a couple walks, an error, and a huge three-run triple off of the bat of its #8 hitter, London Conard.
Up 4-0 after that blow, the Eagles added two runs in the third, three more in the fourth, then brought an early end to the game by pushing across a run to start the fifth, invoking the ten-run mercy rule.
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