Coupeville Sports

The season, like this Rice Krispie treat, was delicious. (Melissa Losey photo)

Contributed by Joe Lippo.

In the end, it was not to be.

Sedro Woolley overpowered Central Whidbey in the only finals game to be played, 17-1. That’s not to say that they didn’t have help, but there is no reason to write about it here and sully an otherwise fantastic season for the boys from Coupeville.

Central finishes second overall in District 11 play, and perhaps more important, they can say that they are Island County’s best Majors baseball squad.

This is the deepest into any tournament any Majors team from Central Whidbey has gone that anyone can remember, and it was a great year for a lot of these kids overall.

There were five kids who hit their first ever home run this season, and I know I keep beating this one into the ground, but this is perhaps the biggest, most important hurdle for a young baseball player.

There were shutouts pitched, fences hit, impossible comebacks (including one between the Coupeville squads where one came back from 11 runs down to force a tie as the game was called for darkness), blown saves, great saves, running catches, diving catches, backhand catches, digs, jumps, slides, dives, pick-offs, strikeouts, bats thrown, batters hit, bases stolen and plays that made fans from either team gasp in awe.

We had an instance where a boy got his very first hit and very first catch in the outfield in the same game.

We had the boys drifting over to cheer on the girls softball after their game ended and vice versa.

These boys are also getting old enough to know when the umpire blows a call and they take them to task for it (however briefly).

Some quips (and I wish I had these on tape):

“He got me in the chest after my foot hit the bag.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“No, seriously, he was out.”

“Can I challenge that?”

“The base moved, I should be safe” (Ump says “you are”, kid says “Oh, ok”)

“This isn’t softball.”

“Can I get my coach out here?”

“You weren’t even looking!”

Nobody was ejected from the game for misconduct. There was laughter, tears, face-palms, high fives, low fives, hugs, coaches censoring themselves, fans NOT censoring themselves, offers of glasses to umpires, sweat, blood, Gatorade, Powerade, Kool-Ade and even a little drool from stuffing in too much gum/jerky/seeds.

I don’t know what the Majors are going to look like next year with a lot of these kids moving to Juniors (where everything changes), but then again, this author will be contributing mostly Juniors baseball and softball articles to this blog.

And now, my All-Star is passed out on the couch, and I think there’s room for me over there.

See you soon…

Read Full Post »

   Led by Murderers Row (l to r, Joey Lippo, Kyle Rockwell, Jake Pease, Ty Eck and Julian Welling) Central Whidbey beat North Whidbey 6-3 Friday. (Joe Lippo photos)

Eck delivers for the Island champs, who will face Sedro Woolley in the district championship.

Contributed by Joe Lippo.

Central Whidbey dropped the puck against North Whidbey waaaay out in Sedro Woolley to see who would go to the Finals. Also at stake, since South Whidbey had been eliminated, was bragging rights to being the best team on Whidbey.

Coach Bob Brown won his fourth straight coin toss, resulting in the Central Whidbey boys being the home team, giving Coach Brown a 1.000 average on coin tosses.

Ty Eck started the evening on the mound for the Coupeville squad, and did well, allowing few hits and only one run.

In the bottom of the first, Central Whidbey found something that had been missing from the earlier innings of past games: Their bats.

Eck started it off with a sharply hit ball right back to the pitcher, who immediately fired it over the first baseman’s head, allowing Eck to take second base.

He was advanced to third on a Julian Welling single. Joey Lippo followed with his own single, scoring Eck and advancing Welling to second. Shane Losey kept the hit parade going, scoring Welling. Bryce Payne stroked a double to deep center, with Lippo and Losey crossing the plate. Matt Hillborn came within six feet of joining Murderers Row with a double.

The rally came to an end with the final out of the first inning, and the Central boys were up 4-1.

Eck continued on the mound, pitching well and allowing only one run while retiring the rest of the batters on the side. Central followed suit with no runs, and the second inning ended with the home team clinging to a two-run lead.

Kyle Rockwell replaced Eck to start the third, and encountered some slight difficulty finding his groove while walking a batter and getting a little wild before settling down and firing strikes.

Nevertheless, the boys from the North End scratched out another run, inching closer to their rivals in the middle of the Island, closing the gap to just one run before Rockwell retired the side and chased the North Whidbey defense back onto the field.

The first batter for Central was Welling, who told this author that he was “going to concentrate on getting the bat on the ball.” He did so by smashing a solo home run over the center field fence so far that the FAA threatened to have the ball registered for flight.

Rockwell retained the ball for the fourth inning, and retired the side quickly. Just as quickly, it was the fifth inning as the Coupeville squad couldn’t make anything happen.

Speaking of making things happen, the fans from Central were starting to feel it. Just a little.

With the aforementioned fifth inning upon us, Payne came to the mound, and thoroughly confused the batters with a combination of speed, curves, change-ups and other assorted high stinky cheese, sitting them down as fast as they came to the plate.

North Whidbey had a lone base runner, who was stranded as Jake Pease gloved a fly ball to right field for the inning-ending out.

In the bottom half of the frame, that same guy, who had struggled a bit in his last two trips to the plate, hit a ball into right for a single. Then Welling hit a shot down the third base line, which had Pease blowing through Coach Brown’s signal to hold up, then pulling up as he realized what he did halfway to home, then deciding to go for broke at the behest of the screaming fan base.

He was safe at home as the throw hit him in the back before it could reach the catcher. The inning ended just like that, and Central was three outs away from victory.

Payne wasn’t out of pitches, so he stayed in until his 20th pitch, which resulted in two outs and nobody on.

Saving him for Saturday’s game, he was pulled and replaced with Lippo.

Lippo walked the first batter he faced, then buckled down and started throwing good strikes. The North Whidbey batter smacked a slow roller to first, and Losey came off the bag to field it. Lippo wisely covered first base, and gloved the last out of the game on the toss from Losey.

The Central squad is now headed to the Finals, and has earned Island wide bragging rights, at least until next season.

Read Full Post »

Central Whidbey basks in the glow of the win. (Joan Payne photos)

Bryce Payne takes a victory lap.

Nick Etzell swings from the heels.

Read it and weep, Oak Harbor.

Another day, another win, another step closer to Spokane.

Claiming Island supremacy, the Central Whidbey Little League 11/12 All-Stars eliminated North Whidbey 6-3 Friday at the district tourney, advancing to the championship.

Now 3-1 in postseason play, the Coupeville diamond men will need to beat Sedro Woolley (3-0) twice to win the title. That first chance will come Saturday. Triumph there and they return for a winner-take-all contest Sunday.

Read Full Post »

  Central Whidbey sluggers (l to r) Kyle Rockwell, Joey Lippo and Ty Eck hope for a quick rebound after a tough loss. (Joe Lippo photo)

Contributed by Joe Lippo.

Central Whidbey and Sedro-Woolley faced off in Sedro Woolley today in Game 7 of the District 11 All Stars tournament in a battle of the last two undefeated teams in the tournament.

Upon arriving, we were informed that South Skagit and South Whidbey had been eliminated from the tournament and that Anacortes and North Whidbey would be on the other field playing another elimination game.

Oak Harbor survived and will get a rematch with Coupeville Friday.

Up to this point, Sedro Woolley had not played a complete game, having ten-runned the last two teams they faced. The Coupeville boys had come back from a combined 12 runs to win their games.

Julian Welling started on the mound and lasted two innings, with the team giving up 10 runs. A Sedro Woolley player even hit a home run (solo), and the Central Whidbey team could not seem to get it together.

But wait… Doesn’t it seem like we have been here before?

Jake Pease replaced Welling, and it seemed like things started coming together as the Sedro Woolley bats suddenly were more or less silenced.

But it was not to be.

After the bottom of the second, only five runs were scored, 3 of them by the Central Whidbey squad. There were, however, some excellent moments throughout the game, despite the 12-3 loss:

Pease went yard for the first time in his career, smashing the stitches off the ball to deep right center for a solo homer.

Even though the score was 12-1 at this point, the whole team came out to meet him at home plate. Later, proud mom Pam Pease was presented with the actual ball by the tournament director.

Kyle Rockwell snared a line drive shot down the third base line that was traveling roughly the speed of a highly classified Area 51 spy plane. The crack of the bat and the smack of the ball hitting the pocket of Rockwell’s glove were no more than a half-second apart.

Bryce Payne made a fantastic running catch in center field, staring into the sun.

Joey Lippo knocked down another supersonic shot to third and fired to Shane Losey for the out at first base, with Losey making a great dig to snare the long throw.

Nick Etzell snared a bouncer on the backhand and flipped to Losey to end an inning.

If this squad could figure out a way to play the first two innings like they play the last four, they would have no trouble with any team in the league.

A word on the long ball: The number of kids on this team that are capable of sending baseballs into the seats (as it were) has climbed to an astronomical FIVE.

In addition to Pease, we have Rockwell, Lippo, Ty Eck and Welling that have hit one out.

That isn’t to say that there aren’t more coming. This author has seen Matt Hillborn, Etzell and Payne hit the fence on the fly, only inches from going out of the park. As these kids get bigger, there will only be more.

I foresee a very good Coupeville squad for the future!

Read Full Post »

Kyle Rockwell leads off first during an earlier game. (Joan Payne photo)

This story is contributed by Joe Lippo.

Game Two of the District 11 Little League Majors tournament, held Tuesday night, was a real nail biter.

Ty Eck started the game on the mound for Coupeville and was promptly credited with a slew of walks and passed balls, resulting in four South Whidbey runs.

He was having an off day (and so, it seemed, was everyone else). Even though he held South Whidbey to two runs in the second, he was replaced with Bryce Payne to start the third inning.

In the interim, the Central team was having a little difficulty finding its stride.

There were errors, batters were striking out looking, and outfielders were dropping balls. At least one ball went through the legs of an infielder. Payne gave up two more runs with a little “help” from his fielders.

It didn’t look good at all for the boys from the middle of the Island as the score was run up to a discouraging 8-0 by the top of the third inning.

Then Payne dug down, found a little extra and got the team out of the inning, bringing Central Whidbey back to the plate.

They didn’t exactly dash out onto the field. If this were a movie, the slow, sad music would be playing, and the fans would be heading for the exits.

It was 8-0. That’s EIGHT to NOTHING. As in, they had eight runs and … well, you get it.

BUT…

Remember what I said yesterday? About how this particular Central Whidbey team has the innate ability to interpret the scoreboard however they want? Or just seemingly ignore it altogether?

Monday they were down 4-0 and came back to win 10-4. That was obviously not enough of a challenge for the Coupeville boys…

So, just like yesterday, don’t stop reading. Trust me, if you’re a Coupeville sports fan, you WANT to read the rest of this. Really.

Julian Welling and Joey Lippo paced the dugout, trying to keep the team’s heads up, reminding them to stay hydrated and keep it simple.

The coaches sent signals and exhorted the team to stick to the basics, relax, and for God’s sake use two hands to catch the ball.

The bottom of the third inning was when it all started.

With two outs, Central Whidbey had two people on base and Eck came to the plate. The pitcher threw a pitch that ended up hitting him and the judge awarded first base for pain and suffering.

Then Jake Pease came to the plate. Apparently, Pease thought that the field didn’t look so good with three Central players on base, and the scoreboard didn’t look so good with that goose egg on it, so he swatted a deep ball for a double, and cleared the bases.

Shortly thereafter, in the meat of the lineup, Welling hit a single to score Pease, making the score 8-4 in South Whidbey’s favor.

Jared Brown came in to pitch, and allowed only one run in the top of the fourth. The bottom of the fourth was a mirror image of the third, with Pease again hitting a bases loaded double, driving in his sixth RBI of the game.

This brings the score to 9-7 South Whidbey.

Brown remained the very picture of consistency, allowing no runs in the top of the fifth, while also featuring prominently in a play where the South Whidbey player on third let his situational awareness lapse for a second.

The catcher flipped the ball to Brown, who immediately whipped it to a waiting Lippo on third for the pick-off.

The same could not be said of the South Whidbey pitcher, as he gave up a few walks and hits to Matt Hillborn and Kyle Rockwell, driving in two more runs to tie the game at nine apiece.

The crowd from Central was thrilled, the fans from South not so much.

A rally in the sixth fell short, sending the game into extra innings. Bonus baseball! OT! The most thrilling part of any sporting event!

Brown stayed rock solid on the mound in the top of the extra inning, doing it all himself by striking out two and fielding a ball hit back to him for an out.

This was now Central’s chance to do it. The South Whidbey pitcher took the mound.

Can you imagine the pressure? One run across the plate and that’s it. No do-overs.

Speedy Hillborn chopped an infield single, beating the throw by mere inches. Payne and Brown followed with walks, then Eck came to the plate, and the winning run crossed the plate shortly after ball four was called.

Not the way we would choose to win, but this is why we play the game.

Central Whidbey wins 10-9 and South Whidbey moves to the losers bracket. Next opponent is Sedro Woolley on July 4th in a battle of unbeaten teams.

Read Full Post »