Jack Porter and Coupeville bounced Friday Harbor to move into first place in the Northwest 2B/1B League. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
Is there anything sweeter than hearing the fans of a rival team getting really, really quiet?
You know, that moment when all the bluster turns into sweet, sweet tears as the guys and gals in the wrong colors realize their ferry ride home is going to be a long, sad one.
Such was the plight for Friday Harbor fans Wednesday afternoon, as the sun faded over the prairie, and their baseball team’s unblemished league record got all dinged up.
Bushwhacked 11-8 by a Coupeville hardball squad which played fast, loose, and dangerous all day, the Wolverines fell out of first place in the Northwest 2B/1B League for the first time this season.
Now it’s the real Wolves, the ones sporting black and red, who sit atop the seven-team conference at 9-1 in league play, 11-5 overall.
Friday Harbor falls a half-game back at 8-1, and Coupeville’s win all but assures the teams will meet for a third time — at a neutral site — to decide which school will claim the NWL’s only berth to the 2B state tourney.
For now, the Wolves will briefly bask in the win, then immediately hit the road to play a non-conference tilt Thursday at South Whidbey.
Senior Night against Orcas Island is Friday, with a May 3 trip to Darrington wrapping the regular season.
Wednesday’s royal rumble under rare sunny skies meant everything for Coupeville, as a Friday Harbor win would have clinched that trip to state for the visitors.
The Wolverines stole a 3-2 win the first time around, courtesy a late-game meltdown by the CHS pitching staff, but the rematch was a different story.
Coupeville hurlers Hawthorne Wolfe and Scott Hilborn largely held Friday Harbor at bay, getting into a few sticky spots at times, but almost always finding a way back out.
That was true from the get-go, as the visitors loaded the bags in the top of the first when what would have been an inning-ending third strike kicked away from CHS catcher Xavier Murdy.
Showing no nerves, Hawk nodded.
X nodded.
And the duo promptly punched out the next batter to end things with the first sob breaking loose from the throat of a Friday Harbor fan.
Sparked by the wham-bam ending, the Wolves jumped on the Wolverines for three runs in the bottom half of the frame.
Wolfe singled, Jonathan Valenzuela walked, Hilborn beat out a chopper, then Murdy whacked a ball back up the middle which Friday Harbor misplayed into a two-run error.
After that Coupeville proved it didn’t know how to flinch, with Peyton Caveness and Sage Sharp both gritting their teeth as wayward pitches found random body parts.
Peyton Caveness reached base three times in the win.
Sharp’s walk the hard way pushed the lead out to 3-0 and gave a brief glimmer of hope that CHS might just 10-run the Wolverines.
Alas, it wasn’t to be, as Friday Harbor scraped its way back into the game, dumping three runs on the board in the second, and another tally in the third to reclaim the lead.
But, just as Friday Harbor fans started to puff out their chests and let loose with a lot of pro-Wolverine chatter, Coupeville punctured their dreams.
A couple of hits, a couple of walks, and a lot of aggressive running on the basepaths — which provoked Friday Harbor errors both physical and mental — allowed CHS to bolt back in front at 8-4 through three frames.
That was a lead the Wolves would never lose.
Friday Harbor sliced the margin to 8-5 in the fourth, then 8-7 through the top of the fifth, but time and again Coupeville proved resilient.
Wolfe sliced an RBI single to center to push the lead back to two runs, before the Wolves slapped home twice on face-first dives into home in the bottom of the sixth.
Murdy came crashing home hard on a wild pitch to make it 10-7, before Caveness hugged the plate after Cody Roberts bopped a long sac fly.
Down to their final outs, the visitors got one more run in the top of the seventh but watched their final baserunner wilt as Hilborn bore down to slam the door.
First he induced a groundout to Valenzuela at third, who came up with a gorgeous throw.
As the ball snapped into the waiting glove at first, there were “oohs” and “ahs” from Coupeville fans, and a “sweet son of a goat lickin’ whore!!” (or something close) from an especially-peeved Friday Harbor rooter.
Think how that dude felt when Hilborn erased the final batter with a strikeout, the bat missing the ball by a healthy six to eight inches?
Oh, enough sweet, salty Friday Harbor tears to fill all the bathtubs in Coupeville tonight!
Wednesday stats:
Peyton Caveness — 2 singles, 1 walk
Scott Hilborn — 1 single
Xavier Murdy — 2 singles
Cody Roberts — 1 walk
Sage Sharp — 1 single, 2 walks
Jonathan Valenzuela — 1 walk
Cole White — 1 single, 1 walk
Hawthorne Wolfe — 3 singles
Hawthorne Wolfe smacked three hits Wednesday, and got the win as a pitcher.
