Grinning ear to ear, Willie Smith walked off the Coupeville baseball field feeling extra relaxed Saturday afternoon.

And for good reason.

“How many 22-0 wins have I experienced,” he asked. “Not very many.”

The Wolves cruised to one of those rarities against league opponent Shoreline Christian, blowing past the Crusaders by the aforementioned score in five innings.

“We adjusted to their pitchers and we hit the ball,” said Smith, of his team’s success.

Through the first two innings, however, hitting didn’t come easy for the Wolves. Facing a slower than usual pitcher in Andy Cristodoru, CHS went hitless. The Wolves managed a slim 1-0 lead after a first-inning walk and a pair of steals from sophomore James Smith, followed by a sacrifice fly by sophomore Alex Evans. They were completely shut out in the second inning.

“It’s really hard,” said coach Smith of adjusting to a slower pitcher. “I actually had two of my assistants work at it this week to get them ready.”

That extra practice finally paid dividends in the third inning when Coupeville’s offense erupted.

The Wolves sent 18 batters to the plate in the third, using six hits, four walks, two errors, two steals of first on dropped third strikes and one hit batter. When it was said and done, CHS carried a 13-0 lead and never looked back.

Big hits in the inning came from a variety of Wolves. Junior Casey Larson started things off with an RBI single, followed by an RBI single from Evans, a two-run double from sophomore Kyle Wilcox, an RBI single from senior Mike Bagby, a two-run double from junior Tony Prosser and an RBI double from sophomore Ian Lind.

Coupeville followed the big third up with another huge inning. It sent 14 players to the plate in the bottom of the fourth and generated nine more runs. Prosser, who was 2-for-3 with two walks, connected on his second straight two-run double. Senior Jack Armstrong added a two-run single, Bagby had a two-run triple and reserve Zack Gifford tacked on a final RBI single.

Every Coupeville player, except junior Cory Black, who left with an injury in the third inning, had at least one RBI for the Wolves.

Coupeville pitcher Kyle Wilcox went the entire five innings to pick up his first win of the season. He allowed just three hits and two walks, while striking out six.

“I thought Kyle threw really well,” Smith said.

The victory moved the Wolves to 4-2 in the Northwest A/B and 5-6 overall. They were one game behind Friday Harbor and La Conner for first place in the league prior to last night’s game with Orcas Island. The top two A teams make the post-season.

The Wolves have Friday Harbor twice more on their schedule and La Conner once.

“It’s completely in our hands,” Smith said.

Coupeville’s next game is at 4 p.m., today, April 26 at Concrete. The game is a make up for a cancellation on April 14.

Shoreline 000 00 — 0 3 6

Coupeville 10(12) 9x — 22 11 3

Cristodoru, DeYager (3), Smith (3), Ott (4) and Dykstra. Wilcox and Larson. WP-Wilcox (1-1).