Hawthorne Wolfe had two hits and three RBI as Coupeville Babe Ruth closed its season Friday with a loss at regionals. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Time to pack up the baseballs and sunflower seeds, toss the mitts and spikes in the car, and head home.
A very successful season ended on a slightly sad note Friday, as the Coupeville Babe Ruth baseball squad fell 12-7 to Miles City (Montana) in its final game at the 15U regional tourney in Portland.
The loss drops the Wolves to a still pretty remarkable 17-6.
Along the way, Coupeville went undefeated in regular-season play, finished second at the state tourney, then ventured to Oregon to face its stiffest competition.
The 10-team regional tourney featured teams from Washington, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Canada. The winner advances to the World Series.
While the Wolves won’t be hanging around to play for a title this weekend, they acquitted themselves well, and Friday was a prime example.
Coupeville outhit Miles City 13-10, with eight of of its 11 players collecting at least one base-knock.
In fact, every Wolf made it safely to first base on the day, as the three players without a hit combined to walk four times.
But errors, and one bad early inning, doomed the Islanders.
Looking to close the season with a win, Coupeville scratched out two runs in the top of the first, thanks to an RBI single from Gavin Knoblich and a sac fly off the bat of Cody Roberts.
That brought around Scott Hilborn, who led off the game with a single, and Andrew Score, who walked to start off a day when he would reach base all four times he stepped to the plate.
Then, the bottom of the first hit, and everything went sideways for a bit.
Miles City racked up half its hits in the opening frame, while taking advantage of two free passes and the first two of six errors the Wolves would commit on the afternoon.
By the time Coupeville stopped the bleeding, ending the inning when third-baseman Xavier Murdy scooped up a grounder and lofted the ball into Hawthorne Wolfe’s glove at first, eight Montana runners had tapped home.
That made the rest of the afternoon a game of catch-up for the Wolves, and while they kept plugging away, they never got back closer than four runs down.
Coupeville tacked on a run in the second (a double from Sage Sharp was the big blow) and another in the third (four singles, with Wolfe picking up the RBI).
Miles City responded with two in the fourth and two in the fifth, though, stretching the lead back out before the Wolves closed the game with a seventh-inning rally.
Singles from Score, Roberts, Ashton Leland and Wolfe, who had a team-high three RBI, accounted for three runs before Coupeville ran out of outs in the game, and tournament.
Score led a remarkably-balanced lineup, collecting two hits, two walks and two runs, while Knoblich, Wolfe, Roberts and Leland all picked up a pair of base-knocks.
Sharp, Hilborn and Johnny Carlson added a hit apiece to round out the hitting attack.
Chelsea Prescott walked in both of her plate appearances, with Daniel Olson and Roberts combining for seven strikeouts while sharing pitching duties.
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