Camden Glover was superb on the mound Friday for Central Whidbey Little League, whiffing 11 batters in a one-run game. (Photo courtesy Stevie Glover)
Not the end, the beginning. (Carron Chernobieff photo)
The season ended, not with a whimper, but with a mighty roar.
The Central Whidbey Little League Majors baseball team may have come out on the short end of a 3-2 thriller Friday with arch-rival South Whidbey, but the Wolves walked off the field at Oak Harbor’s Windjammer Park having fully earned the respect of everyone in attendance.
Playing its fourth contest in five days, and a third-straight elimination game, Central Whidbey came dangerously close to upending its highly-touted foes and advancing to the title game of the District 11 All-Star tournament.
The loss left the Wolves with a 12-8 record on the season, including a 2-2 mark this week as they captured 3rd place in a six-team tourney.
South Whidbey, 3-1 in tournament play, advances to face Burlington (3-0) and its 6-foot-3 pitching ace Saturday afternoon.
The future Falcons have to win twice against the off-Islanders to claim the double-elimination tourney title and a trip to state.
While Central Whidbey won’t be going to the big dance this season, the only team in the tourney to have drawn its players from just one regular-season team fought like the dickens.
And Friday’s finale, while bittersweet, was huge, as the Wolves pulled a 180-degree turn from how they played when they lost to South Whidbey in Monday’s tourney opener.
That game was 6-0, but it felt more like 200-0, as the first 11 Central Whidbey hitters struck out and the team could do little offensively.
Friday night was a different tale, and it started with CWLL coach Jon Roberts winning the coin flip and snatching home field advantage for his squad.
Charging out of a different dugout then on Monday, the Wolves responded much like the squad which KO’d Sedro-Woolley and Anacortes in back-to-back elimination games Wednesday and Thursday night.
Camden Glover strode to the mound as Central’s starting pitcher, and he was as good as any hurler has been in this tourney.
After carefully parceling out innings between their pitchers in previous games, the Wolf coaching staff was able to sit back and watch one blossom into a full-on ace on this sunny, slightly windy evening.
Glover dominated, whiffing the side in the top of the first and eventually finishing with 11 K’s in just under five innings of work.
He had a one-hit shutout through four innings, and gave his team a fighting chance against a very-solid South Whidbey lineup.
The few times Glover let the ball get into play in the early going, his defense was there to immediately clamp down on any and everything.
First-baseman Landon Roberts made a nice scoop and dash to the bag on one unassisted play, then stretched out to pull in a throw coming in hot from shortstop Chase Anderson on a hard-hit grounder.
But, as good as Glover was, he was matched by South Whidbey’s main man on the mound, Kasen Parsell.
The precise and powerful rival hurler escaped danger twice, got nicked once, then got progressively stronger as the game played out.
Central Whidbey got on the base-paths much quicker this time around, with lead-off hitter Jack Porter slashing a shot to the side of the shortstop, then bolting to first to beat the incoming throw.
One out later, Anderson zinged a base-knock to center, followed by a passed ball which put Wolves at second and third with just one out.
It wasn’t to be, however, as Parsell bore down and rang up back-to-back strikeouts, then turned around and dodged another bullet in the bottom of the second.
That time, the Wolves used a single from John Rachal and a walk to Jordan Bradford to once again put two runners aboard, only to see it come to naught.
Rachal’s thunderous hit could have been extra bases, should have been extra bases, but the South Whidbey shortstop made a superb dive to snare the ball.
While he couldn’t get back to his feet in time to nail Rachal, who was churning down the line like mad, it did limit the Wolf slugger to just one base.
Central’s second attempt at a rally died a premature death when Parsell blew the ball past a Central slugger for an inning-ending out, but the feeling in the air was different than it had been on Monday.
And it paid off in the bottom of the third, an inning in which the Wolves didn’t get a hit, but still scored both of their runs.
Aiden O’Neill opened the frame by taking a wayward pitch off his body, earning hoots and hollers of appreciation from the Central Whidbey Little League softball players in attendance.
A booted ball on a hard skipper off Anderson’s bat put two runners aboard for the third straight time, while an error on a liner by Johnny Porter finally brought the game’s first score around.
Looking for an insurance run, Glover dropped the prettiest sacrifice bunt imaginable.
The ball plopping off his bat, it crawled down the first-base line, staying well fair, as Anderson came streaking across the plate before a single South Whidbey fielder could get close to the wobbling orb.
The game remained 2-0 until the top of the fifth, Glover and Parsell going mano a mano, bobbing and weaving, fastballs blazing into their respective catcher’s mitt time and again.
But South Whidbey is a very good team, one with a roster filled with state tournament veterans, and they did what good teams do – found a way to win.
A single and a hit batter put two aboard in the fifth, while Glover’s 11th strikeout and a strong catch in center by Jack Porter slapped two outs on the scoreboard.
With the game hanging in the balance, and parents on both sides hyperventilating, South Whidbey’s #3 and #4 hitters, Parsell and Grady Davis, came through in the clutch.
Back-to-back doubles, with the second one plating the tying and go-ahead runs, were a crippler for Central Whidbey, and justifiable cause for an explosion of cheering from the visitor’s bench.
The Wolves swapped out Glover for closer Chase “The Magic Man” Anderson at that point, and he ended the inning on a strikeout.
But not before South Whidbey’s coach made a classy gesture, walking towards Glover as he headed out to replace Anderson at shortstop, leaning in and telling the tired Wolf pitcher, “You pitched a great game. A great game.”
While Parsell deserved the win, retiring the final nine Wolves he faced in order, Glover’s performance, coming in a pressure-packed game on the biggest stage he’s been on, should not be forgotten.
His season, and the ones put together by teammates Marcelo Gebhard, Jack Porter, Bradford, Alex Smith, Jacob Schooley, Rachal, Johnny Porter, O’Neill, Anderson, and Roberts, were marked by wins and big plays.
But also by resilience, hard work and a willingness to sacrifice for each other and the good of the team.
It was a season to remember, and a finale which offers much promise for the future of Coupeville baseball.
Friday’s bout, simply put, was everything you hope to see in an elimination game.
One side walks away a bit happier, yes, but, on the first night of the tourney where there was just one game being played, both teams rose to the moment.
As they go forward, barring family moves, or athletes choosing soccer in the spring (boo! hiss! and boo again!), many of these players should face off time and again on the diamond as they age from eager little league players to grizzled high school veterans.
Whether they were a “winner” or a “loser” Friday night, may they never forget this game.
A night when both teams, and every player, fought with everything they had and exited having shown respect for themselves, their opponents, and the game itself.
Win or lose, this wasn’t an end for anyone. It’s just the beginning.
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