Coupeville High School freshman Hawthorne Wolfe, circling a ball in an earlier game, cracked a single Wednesday at South Whidbey. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Seize the moment and build on it.
While they fell 8-3 at South Whidbey Wednesday, remaining win-less on the season, the Coupeville High School baseball squad exited rainy Langley with some positives.
For one, the Wolves, who have struggled mightily to push runs across, tied their season-best output, and did it by getting key hits at the right moment.
Also, while Coupeville is now 0-8 in North Sound Conference play, 0-12 overall, it once again pushed a strong team and made them play the full seven innings.
South Whidbey is off to the best start in program history at 13-1, and at 10-1 in league play sits just a half-game off of state power Cedar Park Christian (11-0, 13-1).
And yet, through the first two games of a three-game set (the series wraps Friday in Coupeville), the Wolves have been competitive with the Falcons.
Wednesday, CHS fell behind 7-0 after three innings, before scratching its way back into the game.
South Whidbey put two runs on the board in the bottom of the first, with the big blow coming off of Kody Newman’s bat, then tacked on five more in the third.
Using a mixture of hits, walks and a badly-timed Coupeville fielding error, the Falcons surged ahead and seemed on the verge of ten-running the Wolves.
But CHS starting pitcher Daniel Olson and reliever Jonny Carlson fought their way out of jams in the fourth and fifth, respectively, both stranding two runners and blanking the Falcons.
Olson induced a ground-out to end his final inning of work, while Carlson got a Falcon swinging to bring a close to his temporary problem.
Freshman Cody Roberts came on in the sixth to get an out, as Coupeville’s pitching trio matched up fairly well with Falcon hurlers Brent Batchelor and Drew Fry.
Coupeville had a shot at scoring way back in the first inning, but couldn’t quite come up with the magic touch.
Matt Hilborn led off the game with a single, but was thrown out on a steal attempt.
Bouncing right back, the Wolves put two more aboard in the inning, thanks to a Jake Pease walk and a Dane Lucero single, only to come up short when Falcon catcher Dexter Jokinen pounced on a ball and threw the hitter out.
After not getting much of anything through the next two innings, Coupeville finally cracked the code, tossing a single run on the board in the fourth, fifth, and sixth.
The Wolves set the table by eking out walks, but for one of the rare times this season, came up with hits in crucial run-scoring opportunities.
Gavin Knoblich got the base-knock in the fourth, Hawthorne Wolfe in the fifth, and Hilborn in the sixth.
It was an especially strong day for the Wolf senior, as Hilborn reached base all four times he stepped to the plate, singling twice and walking twice.
Coupeville entered the day having scored just two runs across four games in April, and was sitting with 10 runs in its first 11 games.
The three-run outburst tied the Wolves showing against Cedar Park back on Mar. 20.
The Wolves and Falcons wrap their series Friday, with Hilborn slated to take the mound for Coupeville. First pitch is 4 PM.
After that, CHS closes the regular season with three-game sets against Sultan (0-7, 0-12) and Granite Falls (1-6, 3-9), with two of three at home in both series.
With four of six NSC teams making the playoffs, there’s a huge gap between the top two teams — CPC and South Whidbey — and everyone else.
King’s (4-4, 5-8) is semi-comfortable in third-place currently, but with seven games left to play, Coupeville could still finish anywhere from third to sixth.
Coupeville Sports 