Coupeville’s bats went silent after the first inning and its defense broke down in the Wolves’ 9-3 loss to visiting Cedarcrest Friday, April 11.

The one-sided win by Cedarcrest enabled the Red Wolves to take two out of three in the series after the two teams split a pair of one-run, nine inning games earlier in the week.

Second-place Cedarcrest (8-3, 9-3) touched starter Josh Bayne for two runs in the top of the first, but Coupeville bounced right back with three in the bottom half.

From there the Wolves’ offense stalled (they finished with only four hits) and Cedarcrest took advantage of Coupeville mistakes to pull away, scoring seven runs in the third through fifth innings.

“It wasn’t poor pitching but a combination of errors and a lack of hitting after the first inning,” coach Willie Smith said. “I felt that Josh and Wade (Schaef) both threw well but got little help behind them. We had multiple plays where we made a great defensive stop but couldn’t complete the play and it seemed it always came back to bite us.”

In regard to the lack of offense, Smith said, “Their guy (Adam Davenport) got into a good rhythm and we didn’t. We seemed to have a reversal of mentality at the plate and went to being passive.”

The Wolves had their chances, Smith said, putting runners on every inning and stealing second base “at will.”

“We could never get anything substantial going.”

Coupeville (3-6, 4-6) has completed half of its league schedule, including playing the first and second place teams.

Next up is Lakewood (3-7, 3-8). The Cougars visit Coupeville at 4 p.m. Monday, April 14, and Friday, April 18; and the two teams play in Lakewood on Wednesday, April 16.