CHS freshman pitcher Cody Roberts (left) and head baseball coach Chris Smith survey the action in a recent game. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
After awhile, the games start to blur together into a familiar pattern.
The Coupeville High School baseball squad — young, hungry and scrappy — hangs with more-seasoned teams three, sometimes four or five, innings.
But, ultimately, a season-long offensive funk makes life tough, and when you’re hanging by a thread all the time, any mistakes are greatly magnified.
It’s a scenario which played out one more time Monday afternoon, as visiting South Whidbey rode a 2-hit, 14-strikeout performance from pitcher Ethan Petty to send Coupeville to a 12-0 loss.
The Island rivalry rumble, the first in a three-game set this week between teams headed in opposite directions, drops the Wolves to 0-7 in North Sound Conference play, 0-11 overall.
South Whidbey, which is a half step behind Cedar Park Christian in the battle for a league title, improves to 9-1 in league, 12-1 overall.
That’s the best start in program history.
Monday’s game, which played out partially in a driving rainstorm, was just 3-0 through four innings, but even then, it was largely a one-sided affair.
Petty retired the first 11 Wolf hitters, whiffing nine of them, and wasn’t touched until CHS pitcher Dane Lucero looped a two-out single which dropped in over the head of a backpedaling Falcon infielder.
The Falcon junior slightly raised an eyebrow at seeing his perfect game go bye-bye, then immediately rebounded with strikeout #10, effectively ending any hopes the Wolves might have had.
With a little help from catcher Dexter Jokinen and shortstop Kody Newman, Petty gunned down nine straight batters after Lucero’s base-knock.
Newman went to his knees to spear a liner off of Daniel Olson’s bat, while Jokinen threw off his mask and scrambled to haul in a high, arcing Bryce Payne foul ball right in front of the chain link fence.
Down to their final out, the Wolves finally put their second runner aboard, when CHS catcher Gavin Knoblich beat out an infield chopper for a single.
But that was it for Coupeville — two hits spaced far apart, no walks, and little offensive momentum.
Lucero kept his team in the game for the first hour, scattering hits and coming up big to blunt Falcon rallies in the second and fourth inning.
South Whidbey got the only run it would need when first-baseman Brent Batchelor tore the hide off the ball with a booming RBI single to left in the top of the first.
The Falcons picked up two more runs in the third, courtesy a bases-loaded walk and an RBI ground-out, but it could have been worse.
Twice, Lucero danced with the devil in the pale moonlight and lived to tell about it, escaping identical jams.
He had runners at second and third with two outs in both the second and fourth, but coaxed a fly-out to center-fielder Hawthorne Wolfe to end the first trouble, and a ground-out to Shane Losey to snuff the second.
The dam finally broke in the top of the fifth, as the Falcons jumped on a rash of Coupeville errors to plate four more runs.
South Whidbey tacked on yet another five across the final two innings against the Wolf bullpen, but there were a few bright spots for Coupeville in the late going.
Wolfe, who made solid contact at the plate in all three of his appearances and was the lone CHS player to not whiff, had a nice over-the-shoulder snag while on the run in center.
His fellow freshman, pitcher Cody Roberts, picked up the other two outs in the seventh inning by flinging strikeouts.
The final out came on a nasty slider which dove with an unexpected ferocity, causing the Falcon slugger to rip out most of his back muscles in a vain attempt to catch up with the pitch.
