March | 2014 | Coupeville Sports

Archive for March, 2014

Sunny softball? Whidbey is the place!!

Posted in Softball, tagged CHS Wolves, John Fisken photos, Madeline Roberts, Madeline Strasburg, Softball on March 31, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Maddie Big Time is rockin’ the sunglasses with no rain in sight. (John Fisken photos)

Madeline Roberts jumps out of her shoes to spear a liner at short.

Monica Vidoni is pleased with the play.

McKayla Bailey gets nasty.

No one runs away from Roberts.

CHS coach David King, the ol’ gunslinger, keeps his game face on. Deep in his heart, however, he’s cheering the play.

Try and run on Wolf catcher Breeanna Messner, and you’ll have plenty of time to regret the decision … while you sit on the bench.

Emily Licence corrals a popup down the third base line.

Every game should be a home game.

It’s simple, really.

The Coupeville High School softball squad has had three road games — all rained out. Three home games — all played on beautiful, sun-drenched afternoons with NO RAIN and extremely limited wind (especially since the field sits on what is normally a wind-torn prairie).

Well, anyways, while you debate how to convince the other Cascade Conference athletic directors to sacrifice their home games and fire up the buses for frequent trips to Whidbey (it’s for the children!), you can also bask in the pics above.

They come courtesy travelin’ photo man John Fisken, and, if you like what you see, head over to the link below.

Use the coupon code EB58834962 and buy before April 14 and you’ll get 15% off your order. And, as always, a percentage of all sales goes to fund college scholarships for CHS student athletes.

http://www.cascadeathletics.com/index.php?act=view_gallery&gallery=5883&league=2&page_name=photo_store&school=0&school_year=2013-14&sport=0

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Well, blind umps don’t help…

Posted in Baseball, Ranting and Raving, tagged ATM, baseball, blind umps, CHS Wolves on March 31, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Wade Schaef scored Coupeville’s only run Monday, plated by a Josh Bayne double. (Shelli Trumbull photo)

“We certainly are capable of beating them.”

That’s how Coupeville High School baseball coach Willie Smith is looking at the situation after game one of a three-game series against the beast of the Cascade Conference, Archbishop Thomas Murphy.

Monday, the Wolves took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth, but couldn’t quite close the deal. A combination of questionable calls, a bit of nerves by CHS and a couple of clutch plays from ATM propelled the host Wildcats to a 5-1 victory.

The loss dropped Coupeville to 3-2 overall, 2-2 in league play. ATM is 5-2, 5-0.

For four innings, Wolf starting pitcher Ben Etzell was throwing a beautiful game. Up to that point, he had whiffed eight ATM batters while surrendering just a pair of singles.

Then, things fell apart a little.

A flubbed grounder and a double put two men on base, before ATM knotted the game on a bloop single.

Enter the umps (without their seeing eye dogs). Exit reason.

An apparent force out at second was denied, when the ump called the runner safe, leaving the bags juiced.

A bases-loaded walk forced home the go-ahead run, then ATM capitalized on a long foul ball (“by about a foot and a half”) that was waved fair, allowing two more runners to scoot home.

While he wasn’t thrilled with the calls, Smith has been in the game too long to blame the loss on the arguable decisions alone.

“While it would seem those two judgement calls cost us, and they certainly didn’t help, we should have never been up by just one at that point in the game,” he said. “So I don’t believe, or use those calls as an excuse for why we lost.”

Coupeville had runners on second base in each of the first four innings, yet only got one man across home plate. The lack of a big hit at a key moment was a killer.

“So, for me and for our team, we didn’t put the bat on the ball and capitalize on opportunities when we needed to and they did and that was the difference in the game,” Smith said. “For us, it’s about being able to capitalize on opportunities and putting more pressure on them then they can on us.”

The Wolves scored their lone run in the fourth. Wade Schaef garnered a two-out walk and scooted home on a booming double into the right-center gap from Josh Bayne.

Etzell also had a double for CHS, and struck out nine while throwing a complete game.

The two teams pick things up again Wednesday, when ATM comes to Whidbey. First pitch is at 4 PM.

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Jae LeVine is a made woman!!

Posted in Softball, tagged CHS Wolves, Jae LeVine, Softball on March 31, 2014| Leave a Comment »

The sparkiest of spark-plugs, the irrepressible Jae LeVine, scores her first run as a high school softball player. (John Fisken photo)

The fences were in too close.

Back ’em up a bit and the Coupeville High School softball outfielders might have been able to run down some of Lakewood’s moon shots Monday afternoon.

Instead, the Wolves ran into a barrier (and left fielder Haley Sherman almost flipped over it, stretching to try and flag one shot down) and three times the home plate ump cranked the finger skyward and circled, signalling a home run.

Riding their round-trippers, the visiting Cougars strolled to a 9-1 victory, dropping Coupeville to 1-2 on the young season.

While the game was effectively over a half inning in, as Lakewood jumped out to a 4-0 lead, the Wolves continued to scrap until the end, scraping together their run in their final at-bat.

Freshman spark-plug Jae LeVine eked out a one-out walk, then skittered down to second on a passed ball.

After Madeline Roberts reached on an error by Lakewood’s shortstop, Breeanna Messner thumped a gorgeous laser shot line-drive single to left to juice the bags.

Wolf pitcher McKayla Bailey teed off on a ball, and while it fell just a few feet short of a grand slam, it did turn into a sacrifice fly, with LeVine zooming across the plate to score her first run as a high school player.

Hailey Hammer then launched a moon shot of her own, sending Lakewood’s center fielder close enough to the wall that she could lean on it as she snagged the ball to end the game.

Even in defeat, Coupeville had a couple of nice defensive gems.

Roberts gunned down a runner at the plate to end Lakewood’s first inning rally.

Coming up firing from deep in the hole at short, Roberts put the ball right in Messner’s catcher glove, leading her perfectly as her fellow senior blocked the plate and made a graceful sweep tag that caught the surprised Cougar a fraction of a second before her hand could slap home.

Freshman third baseman Emily Licence ran down a foul popup to end the fourth, snagging the ball just as she grazed the fence, while Bailey delivered some heat on the mound.

The junior hurler whiffed six Cougars, including punching out all three batters she faced in a lightning quick fifth inning.

Two of those K’s came on swings that hit nothing but air, while the middle batter was punched out on a called third strike that was so nasty the ump actually laughed out loud as he windmilled the call.

At the plate, Hammer peppered the ball for a pair of singles, while Messner, Sherman, Roberts and Madeline Strasburg each had a hit.

LeVine and Monica Vidoni collected walks, Tiffany Briscoe reached base when the Lakewood catcher couldn’t corral the ball on a third strike and young guns Erin Josue and Robin Cedillo both got small slices of valuable playing time.

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It’s the look of excellence!!

Posted in Baseball, Boys Soccer, Girls Tennis, Softball, Track, tagged baseball, CHS Wolves, John Fisken photos, Soccer, Softball, tennis, Track on March 31, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Wolf third-baseman Emily Licence comes up firing. (John Fisken photos)

Jacki Ginnings makes sweet net music.

Nick Weatherford prepares to launch the shotput.

Cole Payne gets low during fielding practice.

Brandon Bartley: “Of course we’re winning. We’re Coupeville!”

Mattea Miller (left) and Erin Rosenkranz pace the Wolves in the distance races.

The ball tries to sneak up on Jeremiah Pace.

Hailey Hammer makes the snag at first, while Emily Coulter charges in to back her up.

I’m talking about a .667 winning percentage.

That’s where Coupeville High School currently sits, with its spring sports teams boasting a combined 10-5 mark. Actually 11-5 if you count the fact the lone Wolf golfer, Christine Fields, won the individual title at her only meet.

But wait, it gets better.

The Wolves are a shiny 5-2 against their arch-rivals from down the Island, the bigger, but not necessarily better, South Whidbey Falcons.

How do you like them (road) apples, Langley?

But, enough of the bluster. There will be plenty of time for that as the spring plays out.

For now, I’ll shut up and move on, allowing you the time to do what you came here for — gazing at the glossy photos of traveling clicker John Fisken.

But did I mention CHS was 5-2 against South Whidbey?!?! I did? OK, good, good…

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Islanders cap thrilling run!!

Posted in Girls Soccer, GU18 Whidbey Islanders, tagged CHS, GU18 Whidbey Islanders, OHHS, Soccer, SWHS on March 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Jenn Spark delivers a thunderous kick earlier in the season. (John Fisken photo)

This is the way the season ends, not with a whimper, but a proud scream of joy.

Capping a nine-game unbeaten run, the Whidbey Islanders GU18 select soccer squad fought to a 0-0 tie against a very talented Pacific Sound United team in Everett Saturday.

The 7-0-2 finish left the team, which brought together booters from Coupeville, Oak Harbor and South Whidbey, with a sterling 8-2-2 record.

The only two losses came early in the season to what proved to be the top two teams in the league.

The Islanders will now have two months off, with tryouts for the next team in mid-May.

Whidbey will lose two high school seniors — Oak Harbor’s Selena Medina and Coupeville’s Tori Wellman — but could return almost its entire roster if things work out.

The current team played with a collective fire all season, making its name with a stingy defense and a high-flying offense.

And while that offense couldn’t get one into the back of the net Saturday, the defense more than held its own.

With starting goaltender Kenzie Perry off on vacation, Morgan Zylstra slid into net and recorded her first complete game shutout of the season. Helping her out was the back wall that refuses to give an inch.

“Our back four — Alyssa Cross, Jacki Ginnings, Jenn Spark and Paige Waterman — proved, again, to be the best in the league,” said Islander coach Sean LeVine.

The Islanders came hard in the second half, flooding the Everett side of the field. Jacalyn Hefflefinger, Bailey Olson, Becca Pabona and Medina ripped off shots on goal, but the net gods were not of a giving nature in the end.

Still, keeping the unbeaten streak alive for the final 75% of the season is something for the entire team to be proud of accomplishing.

“You are my favorite sports team on the planet!,” LeVine told his team. “I enjoyed this season more than any other!

“We improved, had fun, and had you seen by colleges,” he added. “That is a successful season!”

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