The Coupeville High School baseball team earned its first conference crown in 25 years with a 10-0 win over visiting Port Townsend Friday, April 29.

The Wolves, now 7-0 in Olympic League play, clinched at least a tie for first with two games remaining. Regardless of the outcome of those games, Coupeville will receive the No. 1 conference seed into the district playoffs, skipping the single-elimination portion of the tournament.

The Wolves open district at 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 10, at Curtis High School against the survivor of the Nisqually second and fourth place teams and the Olympic League No. 3 seed. Coupeville will need to win two of three games to earn a state berth.

It took the Wolves’ offense a few innings to get humming in the win over winless Port Townsend (0-7, 0-14) Friday.

After Hunter Smith led off the bottom of the first with a single, the next eight Wolves failed to reach base.

Smith hit a two-out single in the third, stole second and third base and scored on a passed ball to tally the game’s first run.

That ignited Coupeville, which added three runs in the fourth and six in the fourth.

Julian Welling singled, Kory Score reached on an error and Clay Reilly walked to load the bases in the fourth inning. Ethan Marx cleared the bases with a three-run base hit with two outs.

In the fifth, the first nine batters reached base and the first six scored to put the mercy rule into effect. The Wolves blended three errors, a walk and singles by Smith, Cole Payne, Welling, Score and Matt Hilborn to finish off the Redhawks.

Smith paced the offense with three hits and two runs. Welling had two hits and two runs.

Smith’s brother, CJ, blanked Port Townsend with a five-inning three-hitter, striking out 10.

“Total team effort,” coach Marc Aparicio said.

Reflecting on winning Coupeville’s first baseball pennant since 1991 in his first year as head coach, he said, “I’m just soaking it all in. I think it’s the good chemistry with the players and all the coaches.

“We’re having fun — that’s the key. I just happen to be in the right place at the right time, and I’m enjoying it.”

(Cole Payne waits for a pitch. Photo by John Fisken.)