Ethan Marx socked a two-out, three-run double Friday, sparking Coupeville to a 10-0 win and its first baseball league title since 1991. (John Fisken photo)
A little slice of autographed prairie history, thanks to Sylvia Hurlburt. (David Svien photo)
CJ Smith, seen here in an earlier game, was unflappable Friday, whiffing 10 and shutting out Port Townsend. (Fisken photo)
Now, you’re gonna think I’m making this up, but it really, truly happened.
As I pulled my hunk o’ junk car into the parking lot at the Coupeville High School baseball field Friday afternoon, the final song playing on the radio was “We are the Champions.”
Seriously. No, seriously.
As the soaring strains of Freddy Mercury poured out the window and swirled away into the suddenly gusty prairie wind, there was no doubt.
Today was gonna be historical.
Now, of course, there was an actual baseball game yet to be played, one which would prove surprisingly competitive for long enough to make local fans feel their collars tighten around their necks, but the radio gods had spoken.
And their will be done, apparently, because somewhere around 5:30 PM West coast time, having drilled Port Townsend 10-0, the Wolves were exactly that — champions … of the world.
Or, at the very least, of the 1A Olympic League, which is all the world Coupeville needs right now.
A flawless 7-0 in league play, 10-8 overall, the Wolves will hang a league championship banner in baseball for the first time since 1991.
There are two games left on the regular season schedule — a road game at Chimacum (2-5, 5-10) Monday, then the home finale against Klahowya (5-2, 14-4) Wednesday — but they are largely academic.
Win, lose or draw, Coupeville is the #1 seed out of the Olympic League and automatically advances to the double-elimination part of the district tourney May 10-14.
Two victories there and they’re off to state.
But before they could focus on that, the Wolves had to put the hammer down on a pesky RedHawks squad that is going through a season from Hell.
Win-less, and unable to play a single home game this season due to the condition of its field, Port Townsend came to Whidbey with nothing to lose, and one shot at making things seem semi-alright for a day at least.
Pull the upset, prevent Coupeville from clinching, punch a hole in the soul of Wolf Nation — that was the unspoken goal.
And, for 20 minutes or so, the RedHawks looked as good as they have looked at any point this season.
They weren’t scoring against unflappable Wolf hurler CJ Smith, but they also weren’t giving up any runs, playing spotless defense and keeping the game scoreless into the bottom of the third.
Coupeville had a shot at changing the numbers on the (suddenly functioning) scoreboard in the first, when Hunter Smith slapped a lead-off single to right, then took two bags on a sac bunt by his big brother.
But he died at third, metaphorically speaking of course, when Cole Payne’s towering pop fly was snagged and then the RedHawk first baseman made an eye-popping mid-air snag on a laser off of the bat of Julian Welling.
Port Townsend had runners on in each of the first three innings, but CJ Smith, who may be the calmest Wolf to ever toe the pitching rubber at CHS, stranded them each time.
His pitches popping in Payne’s glove, he punched-out six RedHawks on strikeouts, while lil’ bro Hunter backed him up with the defensive play of the game.
With a runner at first and no outs in the top of the third, Hunter Smith went so deep into the hole at short he could practically touch the fence behind third base, snared a hot shot, and, spinning like a ballet dancer, fired to second to nail the runner by less than a step.
Not content to stop there, Hunter then went out in the bottom of the inning and created the only run his brother would need to win.
With two outs and no one on base, the junior Smith beat out an infield single, stole second, stole third, then scampered home when his quicksilver moves flustered the RedHawk catcher into skipping his throw to third into left field.
Port Townsend, to its credit, didn’t collapse, and juiced the bags in the fourth, even after Wolf third baseman Matt Hilborn made a stunning throw to nail the lead-off hitter.
All eyes turned towards CJ Smith, who was so calm, he looked like he was asleep on the mound.
Now, it is possible emotions roil deeply through the senior, that he is a bubbling cauldron of anxiety. If he is, he has hidden it beautifully for three years.
Boom. Strike one. Slight movement of the eyes.
Boom. Strike two. Slight twitch of the mouth.
Boom. Strike three. Inning over.
The faintest whisper of a smile, 99.4% hidden by keeping his head down, cap tilted against what was now steady gusts of wind rumbling across the prairie.
Having escaped from the precipice, Coupeville decided it was time to stop giving its fans a collective coronary and truly embrace its destiny.
Cue the Hollywood ending.
A one-run lead, bases loaded, two outs in the bottom of the fourth and your #8 hitter at the plate.
Pinch-runner Ty Eck bounced on third base (he was running for Welling, who cracked a one-out single to right), Kory Score glared at the pitcher from second (he reached on an error) and Clay Reilly (a walk) leisurely drifted off of first.
Enter Ethan Marx and exit the final hope for the RedHawks.
Launching a bomb to straight-away center field that sliced through the wind gusts, then rode one sideways at an opportune moment, the junior cleared the bases and etched his name into Wolf lore.
With some room to breathe at 4-0 (though his demeanor never changed) CJ Smith was brutal in the top of the fifth, inducing a grounder to Score at first, then cracking off K’s #9 and #10.
The bottom of the fifth perfectly encapsulated two seasons going in different directions.
Needing six runs to force an early end to the game via the 10-run mercy rule, Coupeville sent nine batters to the plate and every one of them reached base safely.
Hunter Smith’s third single of the game launched things, Payne’s two-run single up the gut sealed things, and yet the runs kept coming.
An RBI single from Score made it 7-0, a hard shot off a glove from Reilly plated #8, an infield single from Dane Lucero that burrowed into the grass and refused to come back out sent #9 home and then 25 years of championship drought ended on one swing.
Hilborn, a mere freshman, swatted a chopper into the gap between second and first, sending Gabe Wynn barreling across home and the dream was a reality.
As the Wolves stormed the field, as their fans celebrated in the stands, as news began to flash across town and then across the USA, thanks to our modern digital world, the prairie breeze continued to blow.
And, if you listened carefully, you could hear it written on the wind.
“We are the champions … of the world!!”
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