Coupeville Sports

It’s been that kind of season. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Time to step back and take a deep breath.

Coming off a 14-1 loss to visiting South Whidbey Saturday, the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad sits at 3-6 on the season.

But the defeat to their Island rivals, while it stings, came in a non-conference rumble.

The Wolves are 2-2 in Northwest 2B/1B League play and just a game out of first place with eight more conference clashes ahead on the schedule.

In other words, there are days when Coupeville’s diamond men play really solid ball. And a few when things don’t necessarily go in the direction they intend.

So, with spring break arriving, it’s a perfect time for the Wolves to get some rest, let things go for a bit, then get back at it on the other side.

CHS returns to action April 8 with a home non-conference game with Sultan, then plays eight of its final nine against NWL rivals.

When the Wolves return to play, they’ll likely be focused on cutting down defensive errors and increasing scoring opportunities.

Both of which stung Coupeville Saturday, as five errors and 16 walks allowed South Whidbey to pile up some runs.

While the Wolves were also outhit 5-3, the hometown heroes put runners on base in every inning.

Unfortunately, the guys in red and black didn’t bring anyone all the way around the basepaths until they scraped out a late run in the bottom of the fifth, and final, inning.

Before then, the Wolves put two runners on base in the first, second, and third, and a solo man aboard in the fourth.

But Coupeville kept on missing on getting that one key hit to really kick a rally off, and stranded runners each time until Peyton Caveness tapped home very late in the game.

Peyton Caveness has been a rock for the Wolves this season.

The visitors, by contrast, pushed four runs across in the top of the first, another three in the second, and one more in the third.

The Wolf defense stiffened in the fourth, holding South Whidbey scoreless for a frame, but then the Falcons threw six more runs on the board in the fifth to ice the game.

Coupeville, which was ending a very busy week, mixed and matched its pitchers, using Caveness, Cole White, Jack Porter, and Camden Glover on the hill.

The foursome combined to whiff six Falcons, two more than the number of K’s racked up by South Whidbey’s pitching staff.

The Wolf hits — all singles — came from Coop Cooper, White, and Caveness, while Aiden O’Neill walked twice and Landon Roberts and Yohannon Sandles both eked out a free pass.

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Tom Fallon and South Whidbey won round one Friday, but Coupeville baseball gets a rematch in Cow Town Mar. 30. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

First batter, great.

After that, not so great.

Coupeville High School senior catcher Peyton Caveness led off his team’s road game at South Whidbey Friday with a double to center field.

But then the Wolves lost their groove offensively, and couldn’t find it defensively either, falling 11-1 to the Falcons in a game mercy-ruled after five innings.

The non-conference loss drops CHS to 0-2 on the still-young season, with another tilt in less than 24 hours.

Coupeville returns home Saturday to face North Mason (1-2) in a game set to begin at 1:00 P.M.

Friday’s Island rumble with their next-door neighbors was a fairly rough one for the scrappy Wolves, who were outhit 11-2. Overall CHS only put four runners aboard.

The mitts weren’t cooperating either for Coupeville, which committed six errors, allowing the Falcons to keep rallies alive.

One positive was the Wolves only walked three South Whidbey hitters, after surrendering 20+ free passes in their season opener.

Lanky lefty Landon Roberts got the start on the mound for Coupeville, and almost got out of the first relatively unscathed.

Unfortunately, a dropped third strike on what would have been the third out kept the frame alive, and the hometown mashers promptly responded with back-to-back RBI singles to make it 3-0.

South Whidbey tacked on a run in the second, helped by two Wolf errors, then pushed the lead out to 6-0 through three innings.

CHS, which had nine straight hitters go down after Caveness’s two-bagger, finally cracked the seal in the top of the fourth with Yohannon Sandles reaching on an error.

But then it was right back to it, as the Falcons erased the next three hitters to make it 12 of 13.

Roberts kept South Whidbey at bay in the bottom of the fourth, stranding a runner at second, and Coupeville notched its lone run of the day in the fifth.

Cole White eked out his squad’s only walk, then came around to tap home plate on a pinch-hit RBI single from Wolf sophomore Steven Gonzalez.

That would be it for the Coupeville offense, however, and South Whidbey ended the game early with a five-run surge in the bottom half of the inning.

Roberts struck out four across four frames, with Camden Glover coming on in relief for the Wolves.

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