Though the Coupeville High School baseball team fell 4-0 to South Whidbey in the 1A district tournament championship game at Kamiak High School Saturday, May 10, its goal of a deep run in the state tournament is still alive.

By finishing second in the district, Coupeville qualified for the tri-district tournament and avoided tri-district’s first two rounds, which are loser out.

The Wolves will need to win one of two games at tri-district to advance to the state’s regional tournament round of 32.

Tri-district begins Tuesday, May 13, when Eatonville (12-8) meets Nocksack Valley (11-12). The winner faces Overlake/Bear Creek of Redmond (14-1).

That winner challenges Coupeville (12-10) at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 17, at Bellingham’s Sehome High School. If Coupeville wins, it qualifies for state and plays in another tri-district game at 4 p.m. Saturday at Meridian High School to determine the third and fourth seeds heading to the state round of 32.

If it loses, it plays either Meridian (11-12), Seattle Christian (14-6) or Tacoma’s Life Christian Academy (5-5) at 4 p.m. Saturday at Sehome in a game for the fifth and final berth into the state tournament.

The regional tournament begins Saturday, May 24. The third seed out of tri-district plays at 10 a.m. in Anacortes.

The fourth seed travels to Castle Rock for a 1 p.m. game.

The fifth seed heads east for a 10 a.m. game at Moses Lake.

In Coupeville’s loss in the district championship game, the Wolves simply did not play very well, according to coach Willie Smith.

“Not a lot of positives to talk about,” Smith said.

“I am certainly not going to take anything away from South Whidbey because they got the hits when they needed to, made the defensive stops they needed and got good pitching,” he said, “but we really didn’t offer them a championship caliber effort until it was too late, and our offensive approach was anemic at best.”

The loss, however, did not derail Coupeville’s hope of a state tournament berth.

“We have two chances next week to get to the state tournament, so our season goal is still intact and alive,” Smith added. “We just need to get back to what got us there: good pitching, solid defense and timely hitting.”

South Whidbey scored two runs in the third inning off two errors, a dropped relay at the plate, a walk and a single.

In the fourth, the Falcons added two runs with the help of two Coupeville errors.

The Wolves threatened in the third, fifth and sixth innings, but always with two outs, Smith said, limiting their chances to score.

One bright spot was the pitching of Aaron Trumbull, who relieved stater Ben Etzell in the fourth and blanked South Whidbey over the final two innings.

Falcon pitcher Charlie Patterson held the Wolves to three hits. Ricky Muzzy was 3-for-4.

South Whidbey (15-7) plays Cedar Park Christian of Bothell (16-2) in the tri-district championship game at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 17, at Sehome. The game will also determine the top two seeds heading into the regional playoffs.