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Posts Tagged ‘Grays Harbor’

Close with a bang!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , , on July 2, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Hunter Smith ripped a pinch-hit three-run single Sunday, sparking Coupeville to a tourney-closing win. (John Fisken photo)

Kirk Gibson lives.

Coupeville High School senior Hunter Smith has been battling injuries, and didn’t get a chance to play on a regular basis this weekend at the Grays Harbor 4th of July Bash.

But when his dad, CHS coach Chris Smith, needed him most, Hunter hobbled off the bench Sunday afternoon and produced, delivering a game-busting three-run pinch-hit single to spark the Wolves to a win.

Spurred on by the emotional surge, Coupeville turned a defensive thriller into a rout, rolling to a 10-2 win over NW Timberjack Green.

Coming on the heels of a 6-3 loss in the morning to Washington Rush Elite Blue (in a game called early thanks to the tourney’s two-hour game limit), the Wolves wrapped the three-day tourney at 2-2.

Coupeville saved the best for last, erupting for 10 runs and nine hits in the fourth through seventh innings against Timberjack Green.

One batter into the top of the fourth, the Wolves had been held firmly in check, with 11 of their first 12 batters going back to the dugout unfulfilled.

Joey Lippo changed that, ripping a single, moving to second on a wild pitch, then scooting home on an RBI base-knock from Dane Lucero.

While that cut the deficit to 2-1, the real fireworks were an inning away.

After pitcher Taylor Consford tossed the first of what would be four straight scoreless innings to end the game, Coupeville’s bats struck.

Donny Kloewer and Nick Etzell led off with back-to-back singles, before Jake Hoagland was plunked to juice the bags with no outs.

Sensing a moment at hand, Chris Smith sent his ever-dangerous (even when injured) son to the plate, and Hunter Smith responded, lashing a shot to right-center to plate all three of his teammates.

That opened the floodgates, as the Wolves added two more in the fifth — on a fielder’s choice and a wild pitch — before tacking on two in the sixth and another two in the seventh.

Jacob Zettle had an RBI ground-out, Lucero lofted a sac fly, Etzell smacked an RBI single, and, in a poetic touch, Kyle Rockwell, who Smith had pinch-hit for, came back around to get his own RBI single.

It was a nice way to end the tourney, and a nice bounce-back after an error-strewn morning.

The Wolves were on point defensively in three of four tourney games, but Sunday morning’s rematch with the Rush was the one time their gloves failed.

Eight errors cost them badly in a game in which they were still within 4-3 headed into the bottom of the sixth.

Back-to-back miscues to open the inning set the Rush up, and they had two in and the bags full when the clock ran out on both teams.

To keeps things hopping, tourney officials set a two-hour limit on games, but it cost Whidbey Island fans a chance to see a classic show-down.

Oak Harbor High School senior James Besaw, who plays for the Rush, was stepping to the plate to face Lippo, a longtime friend and baseball buddy, with both of their moms on the edge of their seat.

Instead of getting the payoff — Wildcat vs. Wolf, friend vs. friend — the uncaring locals shafted the Islanders.

Boo, I say. Boo.

Coupeville, which left nine runners on base in the game, had the bags full with one out in the first, then second and third with two outs in the second.

Both times the Rush escaped, first via a 6-4-3 double play, then on an inning-ending strikeout.

The Wolves finally broke through in the third, snatching a 2-1 lead on a two-run single to right from Matt Hilborn which plated Lippo and Clay Reilly.

CHS couldn’t hold on to the lead, though, giving two runs right back in the bottom half of the inning.

After the Rush tacked on a run in the fourth, Coupeville got its final run in the sixth, when Hoagland’s single to left brought Gavin Knoblich around to score.

Over the course of three days and four games, CHS smacked 31 hits.

Etzell led the way with six — with at least one in every game — with Lippo and Reilly collecting four base-knocks apiece.

Hot on their heels was Jake “The Rake” Hoagland with three, while Rockwell, Knoblich, Smith, Kloewer, Lucero, Consford and Hilborn had two apiece.

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Big bats, big win!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , , on July 2, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Nick (left) and Mike Etzell are thrilled to be on the road for three days. Thrilled. (Connie Lippo photos)

   Skyy Lippo amuses herself before the start of a game while brother Joey is not sure about this whole “being stalked by the paparazzi” thing.

The (wooden) bats came alive.

Eight different players crunched a hit Saturday, as the Coupeville High School baseball squad rallied to pull out a 7-5 win over the Enumclaw Avengers.

The victory evens the Wolves mark at the Grays Harbor 4th of July Bash at 1-1, and propels CHS into the winners bracket for Sunday’s madness.

As the #8 seed after pool play, Coupeville gets a rematch with Washington Rush Elite Blue Sunday morning.

Beat the team they lost to Friday, and the Wolves advance to the semifinals of the tourney.

Depending on how things play out, CHS will play 2-3 games Sunday as it wraps up the three-day, 13-team event.

Facing off with the Avengers, Coupeville rallied twice, coming back from 1-0 and 5-3 deficits to pull out the win.

After hitting their only rough spot in the top of the fourth, when Enumclaw struck for four runs, the Wolves went into lights-out mode.

Nick Etzell replaced Dane Lucero on the mound, got CHS out of the inning and eventually threw 2 and 1/3 scoreless innings to get the win.

With Etzell firing BB’s, and catcher Taylor Consford on top of his game (he threw out three would-be stealers), Coupeville chipped away at the lead.

After Matt Hilborn manufactured a run in the fourth with a single and several stolen bases, Clay Reilly tied the game up in the fifth with a hard-hit RBI single.

Coupeville reclaimed the lead for good in the sixth, with Hilborn and Etzell stamping on home.

Both reached base thanks to intangibles (Hilborn eked out a walk, while Etzell scrambled to first, taking advantage of an error) and came around to score on a fielders choice and error, respectively.

While the Wolves took full advantage of Enumclaw’s four errors (they had just one themselves), CHS swung hot bats all night.

The big blow came courtesy Jake Hoagland, who mashed an RBI double to right-center in the second inning to plate Etzell.

Consford, Joey Lippo, Reilly, Hilborn, Etzell, Hoagland, Kyle Rockwell and Gavin Knoblich all collected base-knocks, while Jacob Zettle walked, as nine of Coupeville’s 12 hitters reached base.

The Wolves also ran wild on the bags, with Hilborn accounting for three of Coupeville’s six stolen bases.

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Hardball sluggers nipped in tourney opener!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , , on July 1, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Dane Lucero picked up Coupeville’s lone RBI in a 3-1 loss Friday. (John Fisken photo)

   Oak Harbor’s James Besaw (left) hangs out with Coupeville’s (l to r) Taylor Consford, Jonathan Thurston, Clay Reilly and Joey Lippo. (Teresa Besaw photo)

Razor-thin.

That was the margin between the Coupeville High School baseball squad and its foes Friday night.

Playing in their opening game at the Grays Harbor 4th of July Bash, the Wolves outhit and were slicker on defense than the Washington Rush Blue Elite.

But, in the end, the travel ball squad nipped them in the one category which truly matters, outscoring Coupeville 3-1.

The Wolves return to action Saturday afternoon, when they play the Avengers 17U squad at Olympic Stadium.

The three-day, 12-team tourney, which runs June 30-July 2, moves into bracket play Sunday.

Facing off with the Rush, who have a local connection on their roster in the form of Oak Harbor High School senior James Besaw, Coupeville held a 5-4 advantage in hits and were fairly flawless on defense.

“We played a good error-free game,” said CHS coach Chris Smith. “I was very proud of the way we composed ourselves and competed.”

Wolf hurlers Jonathan Thurston and Joey Lippo combined to keep the Rush at bay most of the evening, with a three-run third inning the only ding in the armor.

Thurston whiffed four in five innings of work before turning the hill over to his teammate.

At the plate, Clay Reilly led the way with a pair of hits while Hunter Smith, Dane Lucero and Nick Etzell added base-knocks.

Lucero picked up an RBI, bringing home Coupeville’s lone run in the top of the fourth.

The Wolves manufactured their score by getting lead-off hitter Taylor Consford on base via an error, followed by hits from Reilly and Lucero.

CHS had scoring opportunities in each of the first three innings, but was unable to seal the deal.

In the first, the Wolves got a two-out single from Reilly, only to see him gunned down on an ensuing steal attempt.

An inning later, Matt Hilborn wore one for the team, getting plunked and scrambling down to first before the sting wore off.

A double play ball erased the threat, however.

Etzell came the closest to scoring until Consford stamped on home, getting all the way around third base in the top of the third.

After stroking a single, the Wolf senior moved to second on a sac bunt from Kyle Rockwell, then made a play for home on a single off the bat of Smith.

The Rush came up strong on D, though, catching Etzell on his way home, with the play set up by a throw from Besaw in right field.

Coupeville’s rivals netted all three of their runs in the bottom of the third, a time period when they garnered three of their four hits on the game.

Besaw lined out to second his first time up, then was hit by a pitch the second time he faced off with Thurston.

In a bit of an oddity, there were two Oak Harbor players on the field, as Besaw’s Wildcat teammate, Donny Kloewer, is playing with Coupeville this summer.

Toss in Consford, a former OHHS player who transferred to CHS and played for the Wolves as a senior this spring, and it was an old school reunion.

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