Braves' ball teams have a bumpy road trip

Travel wasn’t kind to the La Conner High School baseball and softball teams last week.

The Braves suffered a pair of heartbreaking one-run extra-inning losses while the young Lady Braves were dealt double-digit setbacks during visits to Coupeville and Friday Harbor.

The Braves were edged 9-8 at Coupeville last Thursday and 5-4 at Friday Harbor Saturday. Each NW2B/1B league contest was decided in the bottom of the eighth inning as when La Conner dropped a 13-12 verdict at 1A Sultan on April 2.

“It’s hard to believe we’ve lost three straight one-run games in the bottom of the eighth inning,” coach Jeremiah LeSourd told the Weekly News. “I’m not frustrated. The kids have been playing well. Our pitchers are giving us a chance to win and we’re hitting the ball.”

LeSourd is hopeful his team’s luck will change when it visit Concrete tomorrow and Darrington on Friday ahead of a string of home games later this month.

“With all these games stacked up the way they are,” he said, “we’re fortunate to have depth with our pitching. We don’t have to rely on just one guy.”

The Braves (4-5 overall; 1-4 in league) defeated Darrington at home in March.

La Conner was on the verge of upsetting Coupeville, a perennial title contender, until being snake-bitten by a couple late fielding miscues.

The Braves had scored three runs in the top of the seventh to take a 7-4 lead. But the hosts, aided by two costly errors and a wild pitch, responded with their own three-spot in the home seventh.

After La Conner was retired in order in the top of the eighth, Coupeville pushed across the game-winner in the bottom of the frame on a Camden Glover RBI single.

Logan Burks, Brogan Masonholder and Nathan Bailey each lined a double and scored a run to pace the team’s attack. Starting pitcher Kenai Zimmerman, C.J. Edwards, Kaleb Otis, Charley Jackson and Ivory Damien all added a single and a run for La Conner.

It was much the same story for the Braves at Friday Harbor.

La Conner bolted to an early 4-1 advantage on singles by Jackson, Otis and Hadden Zimmerman. But the Wolverines chipped away at the Braves’ lead, plating single tallies in the second, sixth and seventh innings.

La Conner went down 1-2-3 in the top of the eighth, leaving the door open for Friday Harbor to escape with the win by parlaying a walk, stolen base and single into a run in the Wolverines’ final at-bat.

Burks, a senior southpaw, started on the hill for La Conner and fanned seven Friday Harbor hitters. He helped his cause with a first inning single.

Jackson, an eighth grader, led the Braves with two base hits.

The La Conner softball team, after taking a 1-0 first inning lead, fell 14-2 at Coupeville as the Lady Wolves remained unbeaten (4-0) in league play. Friday Harbor, 4-1 in NW2B/1B softball standings, blanked La Conner 15-0.

The Lady Braves (0-4) will look to break into the win column against Concrete, which is winless in six starts.