Wolf seniors (l to r) Scott Hilborn, Jonathan Valenzuela, and Piotr Bieda play at home Saturday. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Do we have to count every inning?
Take away the bottom of the fifth Thursday, and the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad returns from the road with a win in a first-place battle with Mount Vernon Christian.
Unfortunately, one bad frame — with the Wolves surrendering seven runs to the Hurricanes — was enough to send them to a 12-7 loss.
That drops Coupeville to 2-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 4-3 overall, while MVC (4-2) gets to 4-0 in conference action.
The Wolves built a 3-0 lead, let it slip away for a moment, then regained the advantage before the frame o’ death proved fatal.
MVC rapped out four hits in the bottom of the fifth, including an RBI double, but also benefited from drawing four walks — with three of those coming with the bases loaded, forcing in a run.
Coupeville also hurt itself in the inning by committing two errors and allowing another run to scamper home on a wild pitch.
The seven-run burst turned a 6-5 Wolf lead into a 12-6 deficit, which proved to be too much to recover from.
Things had looked much brighter in the early going, as starting pitcher Jonathan Valenzuela faced the minimum batters through two innings.
He gave up one walk, but immediately picked the runner off, rifling the ball to first-baseman Landon Roberts to catch the Hurricane straying.
After squandering a Chase Anderson double and a Cole White walk in the top of the first, the Wolves broke through to score a pair in the second, and another run in the third.
Coop Cooper put Coupeville up 2-0 with a two-run single to center, plating Camden Glover (walk) and Jack Porter (single), before Glover came back around to lash an RBI single an inning later.
MVC finally broke Valenzuela’s spell in the bottom of the third, scoring four runs thanks to a mix of walks, Wolf errors, and a well-placed sac fly.
Trailing for the first time, Coupeville responded in the top of the fourth, reclaiming the lead at 6-4 thanks to a bunch of steals and RBI singles from Anderson and White.
The Hurricanes nailed another sac fly to cut things to 6-5, but Glover ended the bottom of the fourth by snuffing out a would-be base thief trying to scramble to third base.
That seemed to set the stage for a back-and-forth battle, befitting the game being a battle for sole possession of first place in the NWL, but the terrible, horrible, no good fifth inning was fast approaching.
Once it fell behind for good, Coupeville put runners aboard in both the sixth and seventh but could only get one guy home.
That was Anderson, who walked, stole second, and lit out for home on a Valenzuela RBI single to center in the sixth.
While the loss stings, the Wolves get a chance to get right back on a win streak Saturday, when they host Orcas Island.
First pitch is at noon.
Thursday’s stats:
Chase Anderson — One single, one double, one walk
Coop Cooper — One single, one walk
Camden Glover — One single, one walk
Aiden O’Neill — One walk
Jack Porter — Two singles
Yohannon Sandles — One walk
Jonathan Valenzuela — One single, one walk
Cole White — One single, one walk
Coupeville Sports 