Gavin Straub had a pair of singles Thursday as Coupeville’s JV baseball squad battled Klahowya to the final at-bat. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
It was a nail-biter. A barn-burner. A gut-wrencher.
Pick your superlatives, but the Coupeville and Klahowya JV baseball squads put together an audience-pleaser Thursday, even if, ultimately, only the Eagle fans went home truly satisfied.
Rallying from four runs down, then scoring the winner in the seventh, Klahowya edged the Wolves 7-6 on a rain-free Whidbey diamond.
The loss drops the Coupeville JV to 1-4 on the season.
For much of the afternoon, the Wolves looked to be in control.
Starting pitcher Daniel Olson was humming on the mound, holding Klahowya to just two hits and a single run through five innings.
During that time, the Wolf hitters racked up seven hits of their own and built what seemed like a comfortable 5-1 lead.
Coupeville got things started in the second, using singles from Gavin Straub and Johnny Carlson to plate the first run.
Unfortunately, the Wolves left two aboard in the inning, a small mistake which would come back to haunt them later in the game.
CHS added two runs apiece in the third and fifth, starting both rallies in the same way, with back-to-back one-out singles from Jered Brown and Olson.
In the third, both runners scampered home when Klahowya booted Shane Losey’s grounder, while in the fifth, the Wolves picked up tallies on an RBI ground-out by Mason Grove and a run-scoring double from Losey.
Things took a major change in the sixth, however, when the Eagles finally put together their first sustained rally.
Piling up three singles around two Wolf errors and a hit batter, KSS plated five to roar all the way back into the lead, pushing dark clouds over the Coupeville dugout.
The Wolves had an immediate response, knotting the game back up at 6-6 in the bottom of the sixth, thanks to a timely two-out base-knock.
It came courtesy James Vidoni, whose single scored Ulrik Wells, essentially re-starting the game.
Klahowya was not to be denied, though, as it scratched out what proved to be the game-winner in the top of the seventh.
The Eagles got the most important run of the game without a single hit, using three walks and an error to send their seventh runner across the plate.
Coupeville kept the bleeding at a minimum thanks to nailing a different KSS runner at the plate on a throw from Losey to Grove.
The Wolves had a chance to send the game to extra innings, but, after walking to open the bottom of the seventh, Olson was stranded as the next three hitters went down.
Straub, Brown and Olson paced the Coupeville attack with two hits apiece, while Losey, Carlson and Vidoni each added a base-knock of their own.
CHS hurlers Olson, Brown and Carlson combined to whiff eight Eagles on the afternoon.
Coupeville Sports 