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Posts Tagged ‘Island rivalry win’

All the wins are ours. All of them, I said!

Posted in Little League, Softball, tagged , , , , on April 17, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Central Whidbey pitcher Chloe Marzocca was a two-way terror Tuesday, as her Majors softball team bounced its arch-rival. (Photo courtesy Fred Farris)

Katie Marti (left) and Jada Heaton both had big games, as well, as the Hammerheads remained undefeated. (Photo courtesy Jennifer McDavid-Heaton)

Blowout or nail-biter, it matters not.

The Central Whidbey Little League Majors softball squad is undefeated for one big reason – they can, and will, always find a way to win.

Tuesday night, that meant jumping out to a commanding lead against their arch-rivals, the North Whidbey Little League Bandits, then holding on when their foes came charging back.

When the scoreboard at Volunteer Park was shut off after five furious innings, Central Whidbey sprinted away with a 12-8 win, improving to a flawless 3-0 on the season.

Facing a team which boasts “some big hitters and really good pitching,” the Hammerheads opened the game exactly the way coach Fred Farris wanted them to – aggressively.

“We knew we had our hands full against a good team and rival,” he said.

To prepare his sluggers, Farris brought in CWLL Juniors pitchers Savina Wells and Gwen Gustafson to throw batting practice, guaranteeing the Hammerhead bats would be ready for the increased heat.

And, with a little prep, Central Whidbey was ready.

The Hammerheads broke the game open with five runs in the top of the first, keyed by a heads-up play from Katie Marti.

She’s the latest addition to one of Coupeville’s premier athletic dynasties, a fresh offshoot of a family tree which includes legends like grandpa Paul Messner, a golden god on the gridiron, and cousin Breeanna Messner, a four-sport standout back in the day.

But now it’s Katie Time, and she alertly scrambled to first after a dropped third strike got away from the North Whidbey catcher.

With new life, the Hammerheads immediately capitalized, thanks to Jada Heaton blasting a two-run single.

Chloe Marzocca was dealing heat from the pitcher’s circle for Central, holding her foes scoreless through the first three innings, while helping herself out on offense with a two-run single of her own.

Rolling along with a 10-0 lead, the Hammerheads looked untouchable, but North Whidbey is too good of a team to just roll over and quietly wilt.

The Bandits put together a six-run rally in the fourth to prevent the 10-run mercy rule from being implemented, but they would get no closer.

Taylor Brotemarkle came storming out of the bullpen to slam the door shut, recording the final five outs to seal the win for Marzocca and send Central fans home happy.

The Hammerheads spread their offense around, with Marzocca leading the hit parade with two base-knocks and three RBI.

Brotemarkle, Heaton, Teagan Calkins, and Madison McMillan added a hit apiece, while Brotemarkle came around to score a team-best three times.

Central Whidbey got two runs apiece from Brianna Blouin, Mia Farris, and Allison Nastali, with Marti, McMillan, and Marzocca also tapping home.

As good as they were on offense, the Hammerheads also sizzled on defense.

The team’s catcher and third-baseman combo of Calkins and Blouin teamed up to nail three runners caught between third and home.

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Biggest win ever? It’s a contender

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , , on April 13, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Ulrik Wells flies home with the winning run Friday, as 0-12 Coupeville stuns 13-1 South Whidbey. (Karen Carlson photo)

The scruff is on its way out.

As his team fought through a 12-game losing streak to open the season, Coupeville High School assistant baseball coach Mike Etzell pledged to keep growing his beard until his boys won.

Friday afternoon, the Wolves pulled off one of the great upsets in prairie history, and Mike’s wife, Kristi, is on her way with the clippers.

Now, Coupeville and South Whidbey, schools separated by a fairly short drive and united by many players and coaches having competed together, have played numerous times over the decades.

Friday produced one of the more stunning results in the long rivalry, however, as Coupeville, which came in at 0-12, stormed from behind to topple a 13-1 Falcons squad, scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh to claim a 4-3 victory.

The turn of events has major repercussions across the North Sound Conference.

For one, it gives the Wolves a huge shot of confidence as they head into three-game series with Sultan and Granite Falls, the teams they’re fighting with for the final NSC playoff slot.

Plus, the unexpected ding drops South Whidbey to 10-2 in league play, knocking it two games back of league-leader Cedar Park Christian, which is 12-0 after nipping King’s 1-0 Friday night.

The two schools close the regular season with a three-game clash Apr. 22-26, and now South Whidbey will have to sweep the series if it wants to win a league title.

While a rebuilding Coupeville hardball squad hasn’t been able to match last year’s team, which went 15-6 and missed the state tourney by just a game, this group of Wolves has fought hard day in and day out.

They’ve been close to a win before, falling a run shy against King’s and Lynden Christian, but Friday they reached nirvana thanks to their most complete performance of the season.

Senior pitcher Matt Hilborn was humming on the mound, the defense was air-tight, and, for the first time all year, the Wolves got big hits in crucial moments.

The four runs is a season-high, and they came at the beginning and at the end.

Down 1-0 headed to the bottom of the first, Coupeville got lucky, then made dang sure that luck held up.

Freshman Hawthorne Wolfe rifled a one-out shot into deep left, bouncing the ball off a Falcon glove, before motoring into second thanks to the error.

If he got a little help, the next hitter, senior Jake Pease, needed none.

Picking his pitch, he crushed the ball into the gap between right field and center, the ball crashing hard to the Earth for an RBI double and causing CHS coach Chris Smith to jump a solid five feet in the air, fists pumping.

The Wolves didn’t stop there, either, as Pease moved to third on a passed ball, then bolted for home when another throw evaded the Falcon catcher.

The throw was close, but Pease was quick, on target, and agile enough to get under the tag by a sizable margin, putting his squad ahead.

CHS almost pulled off the same play a pitch or two later, but this time the Falcons recovered fast enough to nail Dane Lucero at the plate as he tried to scamper home on yet another passed ball.

From there the game became a war of attrition, with neither squad able to pull away.

South Whidbey pushed a run across in the second to knot things up, then snatched the lead in the fourth on an RBI double of its own.

But the damage could have been worse.

Wolfe came up huge, ending the inning, and snuffing the rally, by kicking off a fiery double-play.

Sprinting across center field, the fab frosh yanked down a long fly ball for out #2, then spun and nailed a Falcon straying off the bag at second base for out #3.

The play drew a huge roar from the biggest crowd Coupeville baseball has drawn all season, but it was just one of many quality defensive gems for the Wolves.

CHS catcher Gavin Knoblich threw out two would-be base-stealers, delivering lightning bolts which zipped across the field, landing square in the waiting mitt of second-baseman Daniel Olson.

The throws were flawless, even though one almost took out Hilborn, who dropped down on the mound a little later than normal, and the tags were applied with precision.

“Oh, I liked those,” Chris Smith said afterwards. “I liked those a lot.”

When his defense wasn’t stepping up, Hilborn was rearing back and firing BB’s, whiffing six and keeping the Falcons at bay.

And yet, as well as the Wolves were playing, they were still losing.

It would have been an honorable loss, full of small “moral victories,” yes, but another loss in a season chock full of them.

Except Mike Etzell’s beard was itching to get clipped, and the longtime diamond guru, clapping like a madman down in the first-base coach’s box, willed a miracle.

The bottom of the seventh, playing out under cloudy skies, will go down as one of the great moments in prairie diamond history.

It started with Olson lashing a lead-off single right back up the middle, the ball kicking wickedly, dirt flying everywhere.

And it only got better from there.

Knoblich made it two straight hits, launching a ball down the right field line.

The orb hung in the air for an eternity, debating whether it wanted to go foul or stay fair, then made the correct call, splashing down inside the line before kicking away from the madly charging outfielder.

With runners at the corners, Ulrik Wells, the longest and lankiest of all the Wolves, went low, dropping a bunt towards the third-base side.

With the Falcons intent on keeping Olson glued to third, that gave Wells, long legs churning, time to barrel across the bag at first with an infield single, and suddenly, the Falcons were in a very, very bad place.

Bases juiced, no one out, Wolf fans going berserk and Lady Luck about to play a key role.

Freshman Cody Roberts slapped a chopper back up the middle, and, for a moment, it seemed like the Falcons had won the mini-battle, if not yet the war.

Spoiler: they had not.

Rushing his throw while on the move, the Falcon fielder chucked the ball about 20 feet over his catcher’s head as Olson blew across the plate accompanied by his dad, Paul, bellowing like he had just won the lottery AND discovered he wouldn’t have to pay any taxes.

Give South Whidbey credit.

To a man the Falcons didn’t hang their heads, and immediately got that first out on the next batter, off a hard-hit come-backer to the mound which exploded off of Mason Grove’s bat.

But this dam was ready to bust, and Matt Hilborn was born to set off the TNT.

From the moment he stepped on the CHS diamond four years ago, he has been at the forefront of Wolf baseball.

No matter where his coaches have played him, and he has ended up at almost every position at some point, he has excelled, and he has done it with grace and quiet confidence.

Through good games and bad, through fun seasons and rough ones, Hilborn has upheld the tradition of guys like Hunter Smith, Jake Tumblin, and Brad Haslam.

Come hard every day, every play. Never back down. Ever.

He has received All-League honors. Team awards. Praise from his coaches. All justified.

But Hilborn has always seemed to me to be a self-contained player.

He never seems to be playing for personal glory, or for momentary cheers.

Instead, without fanfare or chest-beating, he’s played the long game, carving out his place in prairie diamond history.

A lot of this is a guess. I don’t know Matt away from the athletic field, have never spoken to him.

But I have watched his career unfold, across multiple sports, in games played in Coupeville and in far-flung rival outposts, and I believe Hilborn deserved the moment he got at a little before 6 PM Friday.

It was one swing, which produced a long, arcing cannon shot to deep center, a note-perfect sac fly which plated Wells, won a game and sent his teammates, his fans, and his support crew into pandemonium.

In a season of struggle, it was a nice grace note.

A win earned by a team which has never given up, capped by a moment for the scrap book from a young man who has fully earned the spotlight, even if he has never demanded it.

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See ball, smash ball

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , , on April 9, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Sophomore slugger Mollie Bailey swatted three hits Tuesday, as Coupeville High School softball demolished South Whidbey 18-1. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Nicole Laxton got robbed.

After a lifetime of playing black and blue for her softball sisters, frequently “wearing” pitches like a human ball magnet, the Coupeville High School senior got her revenge Tuesday afternoon.

Turning on a pitch with a stunning ferocity, Laxton crushed an out-of-the-park grand slam to deep left field and…

The umps are blind.

Like the sort of blind that makes Ray Charles seem like he had 20/20 vision.

Despite the ball clearing the fence on the fly, and not bouncing over as softball’s answer to Stevie Wonder ruled, Laxton’s career-best blast went from a bases-clearing tater to a two-run ground-rule double.

File an appeal! Take this to the Supreme Court!! Storm the WIAA headquarters and…

Oh, wait, even with the change, you say Coupeville still beat South Whidbey 18-1?

That the Wolves vanquished their Island arch-rivals for the fifth straight time, and haven’t lost to the Falcons since 2015, when Laxton was still in 8th grade?

That at 3-1 in league play, Coupeville sits alone atop the North Sound Conference after the first tour through their new foes?

Well, OK, fine, I guess we can let this one go. This one time.

Anyway, CHS coach Kevin McGranahan, one of many who saw the round-tripper clear the fence, still gave Laxton a game ball for hitting a homer, and her smile stretched from one end of the prairie to the other.

It was a smile worn by every player on the Coupeville roster, as the Wolves came out of spring break swinging from their heels and launching laser shots to every corner of the field.

Now 5-5 overall on the season, the Wolves sit a half game up on Cedar Park Christian and Granite Falls (both 2-1) in the race for a league title, while South Whidbey (1-2) and Sultan (0-3) need to play catch-up.

Everything worked for CHS Tuesday, from the pitching — Scout Smith scattered three hits across five innings and was never in danger — to the defense, where shortstop Chelsea Prescott was crafting a seasons-worth of web gems in just one afternoon.

“Chelsea played an awesome game, with a few great snags on hot ground balls,” McGranahan said.

She wasn’t the only one, as Wolf third-baseman Mollie Bailey pulled a ball off of her shoelaces while on the move, then lobbed it to Veronica Crownover at first to beat the Falcon hitter by a half-step.

Crownover was miss twinkle toes herself, nimbly pulling off a pair of unassisted force-plays at first on balls which skittered down the line.

But while the pitching was solid, the defense was often inspired, and the chatter from the dugout loud and frequent, this was a day for the offense to dazzle.

Coupeville launched 13 hits, with Smith, Bailey, and Laxton whacking doubles, Sarah Wright clobbering a triple, and Crownover launching a three-run home-run to left which soared high enough to catch a ride on a passing Navy jet.

On that one, even the blind ref knew it was out of the park.

The Wolves jumped on the Falcons for a quick three runs in the bottom of the first, and yet almost didn’t get a single one.

With Emma Mathusek dancing at second base and two outs, Wright slapped a bouncer to the third-baseman and the inning was 98.9% done.

Until it wasn’t, as the throw to first sailed wide, Mathusek streaked home, and Coupeville found itself with new life.

“I told you, I told you, never stop running! Never!!” bellowed CHS assistant coach Ron Wright, high-fiving himself with glee in the first base coach’s box as his daughter rolled her eyes ever so slightly.

Back-to-back RBI singles off the bats of Bailey and Crownover made the mistake really sting for South Whidbey, and once let loose, the Wolves couldn’t be stopped.

An RBI double from Smith and an RBI ground-out by Prescott tacked on two runs in the second, but it was the third inning when things really got hoppin’ in Cow Town.

With the wind rumbling across the prairie, even blowing South Whidbey pitcher Melody Wilkie off the rubber at one point, it was prime weather to light a fire using the sizzlin’ Wolf bats.

And they did, as 14 batters strode to the plate in the third, with eight of them eventually coming around to tap the plate.

Bailey, whose family has lived on the prairie since somewhere back around the time of the Crusades (give or take a year or two), started things off by lofting a tricky fly ball high into the swirling air.

Playing like she was working a pool table, stuffing money into her back pocket while fleecing out-of-town rubes, she banked the ball off a passing wind gust, and it crashed in for an artfully-dumped double.

Walks to Crownover and Mackenzie Davis juiced the bags, and then Laxton went yard. No matter what the ump says.

Not that the miscall heard round the prairie ultimately mattered, as it was the kind of joy ride where Laxton ended up coming back around to earn a bases-loaded walk in the same inning, stretching the lead out to 13-1.

Trying his best to keep the score reasonable by limiting how many bases his runners took, McGranahan was tripped up a bit by his big bashers.

With Smith and Prescott aboard after ripping fourth-inning singles, Wright cranked a grass-burner which sliced off part of the third-base bag as it shot down the left-field line.

With their catcher chugging hard into third, both runners had no choice but to go home.

A batter later, with Bailey punching a double to center, the sophomore slugger rolled into second only to discover Wright had stayed locked on third at her coach’s request.

That kept Wright, Laxton, and Bailey tied with three RBI apiece on the afternoon, drawing a brief “hey, now!” from Bailey, and then a grin.

Crownover, for her part, was having none of this, and went to the plate fully intent on collecting RBI’s by any means necessary.

Which meant, in this case, slapping a one-way ticket on the softball and sending it off to shop at the grocery store way up the road.

By the time the ball bounced back to Earth, the Wolf masher had her second home-run ball to add to the Crownover mantle this season, and a team-high four RBI.

Bailey (1B, 1B, 2B) and Smith (1B, 1B, 2B) led the hit parade, with Mathusek (1B, 1B), Crownover (1B, HR), Wright (3B), Laxton (“2B”), and Prescott (1B) all collecting base-knocks.

Davis and Izzy Wells both walked twice, while Coral Caveness, Audrianna Shaw, and Chloe Wheeler also saw action.

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Big hearts, big win

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , , , , on March 16, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Senior softball slugger Veronica Crownover smashed a three-run home run, a two-run double, and the world’s longest RBI single Saturday, as 1A Coupeville shocked 3A Oak Harbor. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Something special happened Saturday in Oak Harbor.

Many will immediately think I’m talking about the Coupeville High School softball squad, repping one of the smallest 1A schools in the state, stunning their 3A hosts 8-3 in the first varsity match-up between these programs in maybe forever.

And it was sweet, watching Wolf senior Veronica Crownover smash a three-run home run over the towering left field fence, while missing a second round-tripper by about an inch.

Cranking six extra-base hits, Coupeville’s sluggers proved the size of your hearts can trump the size of the school you’re facing.

The win gave the Wolves a doubleheader split on the day (both Whidbey schools fell to 2A powerhouse Lakewood), and evens Coupeville’s record at 2-2 heading into its first league games.

If you know me, my first reaction is to say something snarky along the lines of “they might live here, but we own the Island.”

But…

Let’s take a moment to give big props to new Oak Harbor softball coach Alicia Ashburn and her assistants, for doing what previous Wildcat coaches did not, and would not, do.

They stepped up and agreed to play Coupeville, even while knowing if a large 3A school fell to a tiny 1A institution, they would have to deal with Wolf fans dancing in their parking lots.

But they did the right thing, bringing together girls who, while they are at different high schools now, grew up often playing on the same little league or travel ball squads.

CHS coach Kevin McGranahan has been asking for this game since stepping into the job, and Saturday was the culmination of everything he wanted.

A win, yes, but also a chance to test himself and his players against our Island’s biggest high school.

Coupeville and South Whidbey occupy the same 1A North Sound Conference, and will face off three times this season. That was assured.

Saturday’s game, which was added to the schedule late, was a rare gift, one McGranahan greatly appreciates.

“This win was four years in the making and it feels good,” he said. “Both teams played their hearts out, and this is what the game is about.

“Friends that grew up and played little league together, now playing for their respective schools and having a blast doing it. It is the smiles and friendly banter that is what makes it so nice to see.”

As an (admittedly biased) writer, please have no doubt I wanted Coupeville to win. Badly.

I long ago gave up the impartiality of my old school newspaper days.

But I can also appreciate, as McGranahan does, what Ashburn accomplished with a simple “yes.”

Saturday’s game was a thriller, a one-run affair until almost the end.

It offered a special spotlight for Coupeville’s seniors — Crownover, Sarah Wright, and Nicole Laxton — and also for fab frosh Izzy Wells, who chucked a complete-game win from the pitcher’s circle while dealing with a ripped-up finger on her throwin’ hand.

And, hopefully, it is the start of a new rivalry.

The Wolves obviously can’t go toe-to-toe with the Wildcats in sports like football, where the disparity in roster size makes the issue a non-starter.

But softball is, without a doubt, a sport in which the two schools can face off, with both teams taking the field knowing it can, and will be, a true battle.

So, my plea to both sides, but especially to Oak Harbor, which largely controls the decision – let’s make this a yearly event.

The quality of play Saturday, from both teams, and the heart and hustle, the excitement, and the fight shown, makes it a necessity.

And it was a rumble, with Oak Harbor poking across the game’s first run in the bottom of the opening inning.

But, after going down one-two-three in the top of the first, Coupeville brought its bats alive, lighting up the scoreboard for a pair of runs in both the second and third innings.

The Wolves opened the second with three straight base-knocks, with Wright and Mollie Bailey punching singles to set Crownover up for the first, but far from last, hero moment of the game.

Turning on a pitch with a stunning ferocity, the Wolf first-baseman walloped the ball to deep center field, sending both of her teammates streaking for home as she pulled into second base with a stand-up double.

While Oak Harbor escaped the inning with little damage after that, just plunking Laxton for the first of two times she would be drilled in the game, the tide had turned.

Wells was bobbing and weaving, chucking strikeouts and inducing ground-outs, and she stranded a Wildcat at third after a gem of a triple from Sam Scott.

Providing immediate support to their freshman ace, the Wolves picked up two runs in the third off of an RBI double from Wright and the world’s longest RBI single by Crownover.

The hottest hitter in the Northern hemisphere launched a moon shot to dead center, and everyone froze for a moment, watching as the ball hit the very top of the fence, thought about crawling over for a home run, then plopped back onto the field.

Veronica’s dad, Darren, wailed like he had been whacked in the groin with a two-by-four when the ball refused to go out of the yard, but, spoiler alert, a little later in this story he’ll be really, really happy.

Oak Harbor didn’t crack down three runs, though, getting one back in the third on a majestic home run from Kayla Crocker, then another in the fifth on an RBI single by Tamara Bennett.

The damage could have been worse, much worse, in the fifth, but Wolf shortstop Chelsea Prescott pulled off a dazzling double play to stem the tide.

Scooping up a hot grounder, the CHS sophomore alertly spun, tagged a runner going by her, then delivered a wicked throw into Crownover’s glove, beating the incoming Wildcat by a millimeter.

Maybe a millimeter and a half.

Oak Harbor’s defense also came up big-time during the middle part of the game, stiffing Coupeville in two consecutive innings.

The ‘Cats escaped a base-loaded jam in the fourth, started by an epic triple off the bat of Scout Smith, then nailed a runner coming home in the fifth thanks to a powerful, precise throw from left field.

With the game sitting at 4-3 headed into the top of the sixth, the overflow crowd, a mix of partisan fans from both towns, was agitated, full of angst and popping M & M’s like they were going out of style.

Wait, that was just me…

But it was OK, cause M & M’s are delicious, and because the Wolves reached a special level with the game hanging by a thread.

Emma Mathusek got things rolling with a single, slapping the ball into the gap like she was playing pool and taking people’s money while doing it.

A one-out double from Wright put runners on second and third, but an alert Oak Harbor fielder kept anyone from scoring, setting up the magic moment.

Or two moments.

The first was a miracle, because it makes no sense how it happened.

Bailey looped a ball towards second base, and the ball, operating with a mind of its own, somehow evaded every Wildcat in the area, dropping suddenly and burrowing into the ground for an improbable, but much-appreciated, RBI single.

And then a shadow covered the field.

Striding to the plate like she was preparing to sack a rival’s castle in olden times, twisting her bat until it screamed for mercy, Veronica Crownover was on a mission.

After whacking her double and top-of-the-wall single, Oak Harbor had intentionally walked her the next time up.

This time, with two runners on base, and after some serious eyeballing of her dugout, the Wildcat hurler came after Crownover, two young women fixing for a back-alley brawl.

Don’t get in a back-alley brawl with Veronica Crownover.

Almost breaking her bat in half, and almost (almost…) making her hitting coach smile in approval, the two-time All-League player hit the ball halfway to Deception Pass Bridge.

By the time the bright yellow orb descended, it was on the other side of the towering left-field fence, some 219-plus feet away, her father had screamed loud enough the relatives back in Pennsylvania had heard him, and the game was a done deal.

Oak Harbor still had two innings to hit, but Wells closed the game with her best pitches.

Ignoring the pain of a shredded finger, she gave up just a pair of walks once she had an 8-3 lead, ending the game by getting a final ‘Cat to loft a soft fly which landed with a sweet lil’ plop as Mathusek pulled the ball in and squeezed it tightly to her chest in center.

Coupeville’s most complete game of the still-young season, it featured 12 hits, with Crownover (HR, 2B, epic 1B), Wright (2B, two 1B’s), and Bailey (two 1B’s) leading the way.

Smith had her triple, Mackenzie Davis smoked a double, while Wells and Mathusek added singles.

Wells, who has both of Coupeville’s wins from the pitcher’s circle, finished with a high school career-high six strikeouts.

 

Game One:

Lakewood hit with power, fielded with grace, pitched with precision, and put on a show, rolling to 4-1 with an 18-5 win over Coupeville, followed by a 14-1 dismantling of Oak Harbor.

The Wolves had their moments, racking up seven hits, including doubles from four different players, and had a nice four-run rally in the third inning.

Laxton led off the frame with a single, followed by Smith, Mathusek, and Prescott crunching back-to-back-to-back doubles.

Mathusek’s shot brought two runners around, Prescott’s plated a third, and the Wolves garnered a final run on a rare Lakewood error.

With four runs in, the bases juiced, and just one out, there were a few fans (OK, maybe just me) who entertained thoughts of Coupeville coming all the way back from the 15-1 deficit it faced at the start of the inning.

It wasn’t to be, however, as Lakewood used a strikeout and a slightly dubious interference call on a Wolf runner to bring things to an end.

Smith (1B, 2B) paced the Coupeville attack, while Mathusek (2B), Crownover (2B), Prescott (2B), Laxton (1B), and Wright (1B) also collected a base-knock.

Freshman third-baseman Audrianna Shaw walked twice.

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Wolves roll in the mist!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , , on April 2, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Freshman catcher Jake Pease had the defensive play of the day Saturday. (John Fisken photo)

   Freshman catcher Jake Pease had the defensive play of the day Saturday. (John Fisken photo)

Despite the cold, oozy weather, Wolf moms (Photo courtesy Charlotte Young)

   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.

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