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Archive for the ‘Hall o’ Fame’ Category

So much talent, so much fun

Posted in Girls Basketball, Girls Soccer, Hall o' Fame, Softball, Volleyball, tagged , , , , , , on July 13, 2019| 1 Comment »

Sarah Wright, softball terminator. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Get you someone who looks at you the way Wright looks at confetti.

The Wright Express comes in hot.

“You’re running … ON ME???? Oh, you foolish child!”

A prairie legend forever.

Sarah Wright is a tornado of fun.

She blows through, rips up the joint, throws the furniture up on the roof, but leaves everyone smiling afterwards.

As I have covered her exploits through the years, from youth sports, to middle school, and then on through four fast n’ furious years of high school, she was as entertaining an athlete as any I’ve ever seen.

Talented? Without a doubt.

But with Sarah, it was always about how much fun she was having out there, whether it be a pressure-packed game at the state tournament, or a random practice on a Tuesday afternoon in the middle of the season.

She worked her tail off, fought for success, screamed her lungs out, and got every last scrap of enjoyment she could from her sports.

Volleyball to soccer, basketball to her truest love of them all, softball, Wright never lost the joy little league athletes have, even when she was finally old enough to work as their hitting coach.

Whether she was threatening to eat worms while watching her JV teammates play, laughing until she could barely stand, or feeding seagulls in the parking lot in between state playoff games, running and giggling as the birds pecked at her sandwich, Sarah was, and is, pure giddy joy.

Not that she couldn’t be deadly serious, mind you.

Wright sacrificed her body, time and again, and when it was time to compete, she wanted to win as badly as she wanted to enjoy life in her down time.

As a softball catcher, she bore the brunt of long hours hunched down in the dirt.

Her hands stinging from knocking down wayward balls, her body sore from standing tall and taking the brunt of the explosion when rival players were dumb enough to try and knock her down during plays at the plate.

During her travel ball tournaments, or during Coupeville’s playoff runs, you would see Sarah walk away, looking like a (sometimes very tired) warrior.

Eye black on, smeared by sweat and dirt, her uniform streaked in dust, her mitt in one hand, her mask in the other, she resembled a gladiator coming back from the pits and you knew she left a trail of bodies behind her.

And then, two steps later, she’d suddenly start laughing, and by the time she reached the dugout she was singing in a voice which carried across the field.

I watched Sarah win big games during her career, and take some tough losses, but, in the end, whether her heart was soaring or breaking, she was happy to be in that uniform, to have that mitt and mask, to just play.

She was a solid volleyball player, a take-charge soccer goalie, a pounder in the paint on the basketball court, but she was at home on the softball diamond.

She loved it, and it loved her back.

Knowing Sarah gets to play college softball, even if it will be far away from Coupeville, makes me happy.

It means she gets to keep cracking tape-measure home runs.

Or bashing doubles that she turns into triples, legs pounding as she comes crashing into third-base in a giant cloud of dust, followed by her looking up at CHS coach Kevin McGranahan with a huge grin and saying “I told you I’d make it … Keeeeevvvvviiiiinnn.”

She’ll be zinging throws from behind the plate, sprawled out, firing off the wrong leg and, somehow, still nailing straying runners.

“Another notch on the ol’ gun belt there, Kevin, my boy!”

Sarah stepped onto the CHS softball field and was a starter at the hardest position from day one of her freshman season.

The only thing which kept her waiting that long was the silly Washington state high school rule book, which prevented her from playing varsity high school ball during her middle school days.

Swap rule books with a state like Kentucky and she would have been making rival high school coaches rip out their hair back when she was 12.

Through it all, as Wright came within a play or two of making it to state as a sophomore and junior, then got over the hump as a senior, she was a bonafide leader.

Vocal, the very definition of loud ‘n proud, whether in the dugout, face first in the prairie dust, or running through the parking lot as the Seagull Queen, she will never truly be replaced.

Yes, someone else will be behind the plate next season, and in the years to come.

Hopefully they will have strong careers, and, hopefully, they will enjoy their days on the diamond as much as Sarah did hers.

But you don’t truly replace the legends.

Whether it’s Hailey Hammer, or Breeanna Messner, or Wright, after they’re gone, you can close your eyes the next time you’re in the stands at the CHS diamond, and you will see them still out there playing.

For now, she leaves her field, her town, but she’s not truly going anywhere, because our memories of her will last.

There was never really a doubt Sarah would one day be walking (actually, sprinting while giggling and throwing sandwich bits in the air) into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame.

I knew it when I watched her play in middle school and little league, and nothing changed my mind as she traveled her journey.

So, after this, you’ll find her at the top of the blog, up under the Legends tab.

And, you’ll find her in the memories of Wolf fans.

Long after her last high school award, her final banquet, the last time she took off a Wolf uniform she wore with genuine pride and joy, Sarah will still be out there, gunnin’ and grinnin’ as the sun sets across the prairie.

Covered in dirt from head to toe, tackling her teammates in joy, standing on the dugout bench, batting helmet jammed backwards on her head, screaming “GET OFF HER, BALL!!!,” having the time of her life.

There is only one Sarah Wright, and we were very lucky to have her.

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Sultan of swat, titan of terror

Posted in Hall o' Fame, Softball, tagged , , , , on July 8, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Veronica Crownover had a run on the softball diamond few other Wolves can match. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

The welcome committee awaits the conquering hero after a mammoth home-run.

Along with being a terror on offense, she was a nimble, sure-handed defender at first-base.

She was feared, respected, and loved, which makes for a pretty potent mix.

Once she got out of middle school, leaving volleyball and basketball behind her, Veronica Crownover tackled softball with a laser focus, becoming one of the best to ever wear a Coupeville High School uniform.

During her four-year run on the prairie, which came to a close this spring, the first-baseman was an integral part in back-to-back league titles (the second and third in 41 years of Wolf softball) and the program’s first win at the state tourney since 2002.

Along the way, she became the first Coupeville softball player I’ve ever seen receive multiple intentional walks in one game.

South Whidbey coach Brad Jaeger looked across the field at Crownover bending her bat in half while waiting in the on-deck circle and said, “No, ma’am, no sir, no how, no way.”

And he was probably right, as Crownover had torched Falcon ace Chanel Sterba in a previous game, bashing a grand-slam which bounced up the street towards Prairie Center.

As impressive as that cannon shot was, it wasn’t even her biggest blow of the year.

Of the five over-the-fence home runs she unloaded as a senior, Crownover’s Pièce De Résistance came in the year’s most-satisfying win.

Given a chance to face next-door neighbor Oak Harbor for the first time in maybe forever, the lil’ 1A Wolves stunned the 3A Wildcats 8-4 on their own field.

The hottest hitter in that game was Crownover, who launched an epic RBI single, smashed a moon shot for a two-run double, was intentionally walked, and, oh yes, cleared the towering left field fence for a game-deciding three-run home run.

To appreciate the full fury of her day, and the joy it brought Wolf nation, pop over to https://coupevillesports.com/2019/03/16/big-hearts-big-win/ to once again marinate in the moment.

But, as awe-inspiring as her performance was that day, it was just one small slice from a career which can stand with any put together by a CHS softball player.

Crownover, hot off a little league run which also included a trip to state (and a brief trial-run as a pitcher), had an immediate impact as a Wolf freshman.

She was selected as a First-Team All-Conference player by Olympic League coaches after bashing the snot out of the ball.

In particular, she was the first Wolf to turn the tide against Klahowya’s Amber Bumbalough.

In the early-going of the league, the Eagle hurler dominated, but then Coupeville turned the tide on the eventual D-I pitcher, beating KSS six straight times.

Jae LeVine and Tiffany Briscoe came through with unexpected, big-time blows against Klahowya during that stretch, while Katrina McGranahan and Sarah Wright upheld their reputations as all-world offensive threats.

But it was Crownover — swinging a bat she should have called “Thunder,” because it made a ferocious rumble every time she connected with the ball — who proved the Wolves could terrorize high-level pitching.

And they did it against other teams, as well.

South Whidbey’s Mackenzee Collins is also now a D-I pitcher, but Crownover tore her pitches to pieces, and the Wolves never lost to the Falcons in the four years Veronica wore the uniform.

By the time she was finished, Coupeville’s titan of swat had been tabbed to three All-Conference teams (and robbed one other time) and piled up stats which compare to any Wolf.

Everyone’s enduring image of Crownover will be of her crushing home-runs, yanking doubles off the top of the wall, or slicing wicked liners that whizzed an inch past a startled pitcher’s face on their way to RBI nirvana.

But she was also a top-level defender, the glue which often held the Wolf infield together.

Crownover had a slick glove, was often surprisingly nimble around the bag, and was a cerebral player, making the smart play time and again.

Her combination of providing a superior target, always being ready, and being capable of pulling off quick tags allowed Wolf catcher Sarah Wright to frequently whizz pick-off throws at unexpected moments, and the duo erased a pleasing amount of runners.

Through it all, from the little league days to her final moments on the field at the state tourney in Richland, where she and her teammates upended highly-ranked Deer Park, Crownover was the same easy-going, fun-loving, deadly-efficient slugger.

Today we induct her into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, where she joins others diamond greats such as Sarah Mouw and Breeanna Messner, and it’s an honor she more than deserves.

After this, you’ll find Crownover at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab.

She’ll be easy to spot.

Just look for the player who has to pull a cart behind her, because she collected too many home-run balls to just carry them in her arms.

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She’s a prairie legend for life

Posted in Hall o' Fame, Track, Volleyball, tagged , , , , on July 5, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Emma Smith, part of one of the prairie’s most-successful sports families, follows her grandfather and aunt into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Smith was a league, district, and bi-district champ in the shot put.

On the volleyball court, a Valkyrie unleashed.

Emma Smith was born to be good, but she made herself great.

Her grandfather, Steve, was one of the most physically-impressive athletes Coupeville has ever seen, and her aunt, Joli, remains, to this day, one of the most talented Wolves I have covered on a regular basis.

Toss in Emma’s parents, her sisters, her uncles, and her many, many relatives, and there is no question the Smith family can stand up there with the all-time success stories of prairie athletics.

So, she could have coasted. Could have let strong genes carry her to a certain point, and let it be.

But she didn’t.

Emma pushed beyond that, put in the work, year after year, practice after practice, camp after camp, road trip after road trip, and became a top-tier athlete.

She was often majestic on the volleyball court, rising up to the heavens to smash the ball, sending her rivals scrambling for cover and finding none.

Then, when spring came, you would find Emma off to the edges, lofting the shot put and letting the discus fly far away, content to bust PR’s in the relative quiet of field events.

Her track career ended, appropriately, with an especially-strong senior season, a campaign in which she torched the joint three weeks running.

Wins in the shot put at the league, district, and bi-district meet assured Emma of a trip to state (she also advanced in the discus), and gave her 10 first-place finishes during her high school days.

To that you can add five wins during her middle school career — three of those came in relays, proving she had speed to go with the upper-body strength — and you have a portrait of a track star who used her time and opportunities well.

But when we think of Emma, an intelligent, graceful young woman, what Wolf fans will remember most is her time on the volleyball court.

She is blessed with height, with reach, and with quick reflexes, and, to that, she added passion, heart, and fire.

On a volleyball court, Emma burned to be brilliant.

You could see it in how she carried herself, how she prepared, how she played.

During her junior season, Emma was an integral part of a Wolf squad which made it to the state tourney, the first CHS spiker unit to make the trek in 13 years.

Scan the stats for the past four seasons — she was the lone freshman listed on the full-time varsity roster back in 2015 — and her impact is obvious.

Playing alongside fellow big hitters like Katrina McGranahan and Maya Toomey-Stout, she rained down spikes, drilled winners, made the ball slash a chunk out of the court, then skid far, far away from the opposing team.

But while she could, and often did, fill up a stat sheet, Emma was someone you needed to see play in person to fully appreciate how good she was, and is.

She was an effective, often-dangerous, server, and someone who sold out time and again, fighting alongside long-time running mate and co-captain Ashley Menges, refusing to let plays die or big-name schools skate by on reputation alone.

The enduring image of Emma, though, will be of her elevating skyward, right arm swinging down to smash the air out of the volleyball, rival players scattering before a force of nature unleashed.

Well, that and her holding her niece after games while the lil’ girl beamed like 1,000 lights had all clicked on at once.

Emma is obviously a great aunt, and that image will endure, as well.

But, while the president of her fan club was being restrained in the stands, the image which transfixed Wolf fans, and rival coaches, who voted her as one of the league’s best, was of Emma going full-on Valkyrie.

No team felt the pain as much as South Whidbey, and the prairie terminator saved her greatest high school sports moment for the night of her 18th birthday — Sept. 25, 2018.

It was Armageddon, but bigger, with two high-flying teams going as toe-to-toe as you possibly can.

A look at the stat sheet afterwards showed the Wolves and Falcons virtually identical in every single category across five torrid sets.

The difference? Emma, having the sort of night every athlete should get at least once in their career.

I could recap it here, or you could go one better, bounce to https://coupevillesports.com/2018/09/26/there-can-only-be-one/, and marinate in the whole hyperventilating, hyperbole-filled article I wrote while the buzz of the gym was still reverberating in my ears.

It starts with “18 years to the day she was born, Emma Smith committed cold-blooded murder. And her mom loved every freakin’ second of it,” and then just keeps going bigger and bigger from there.

I like to think it’s a fitting testament to a young woman who is a great athlete, and a better person. Or, at least I hope so.

This article, the one you’re currently reading, is, probably quite obviously, a build-up to inducting Emma into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame, the third entry from her immediate family.

After this you’ll find her at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab, right where she belongs, having earned her spot based on her play, her work, and her attitude.

I hope, as she goes forward and kills it in real life, she will occasionally look back and remember her prep sports days and nights.

I hope the good memories never fade for her, and that she will always take happiness in knowing how highly she was thought of by Wolf Nation.

And, one day, maybe when her own daughter takes the volleyball court for the first time, I hope Emma leans forward and whispers, “It’s going to be great. Your mom was a freakin’ Valkyrie, and you will be, too.”

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Heart and joy wins the day

Posted in Girls Basketball, Hall o' Fame, Softball, tagged , , , , on June 28, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Nicole Laxton, the smile that never stopped. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Heart, above all else.

In the end, we appreciate talent, we respect it, we acknowledge it.

But we love heart.

I’m not going to tell you Nicole Laxton is the most talented athlete I have ever seen play. If I did, she would roll her eyes, shake her head and walk off, giggling.

But I will tell you she has as much heart, and radiates as much joy, as any Wolf I have ever written about. And that is the stone cold truth.

Nicole, a 2019 Coupeville High School grad who played four years of basketball and softball for the red and black, exists in a special place.

She, like Jae LeVine or Jared Helmstadter before her, approached every game, every practice, every road trip, as if it was a gift.

Nicole was the smile that never stopped.

Not even when she smacked her head on a sharp piece of wood jutting out of the back of the CHS softball dugout.

Not even when she was drilled for the 10,412th time by a wayward pitch, as she was the greatest ball magnet the sport has ever seen.

And not even when I would quietly holler “Charge the mound!!” after every time she collected another fastball to the thigh or ankle or quad.

“I can’t do that, don’t be silly!!,” Nicole would say, rolling her eyes at me, her smile covering the pain arcing through her body.

And then she would hobble down to first base, reassure CHS assistant coach Ron Wright she was just fine and dandy, and he should stop worrying so much, before stealing second, punctuating it with a ferocious flop/dive under the tag.

Nicole hit a couple big baskets on the hardwood and smacked a crucial hit or two as the Wolf softball team returned to state this spring, punching its ticket for the first time in five seasons.

But she wasn’t about the stats.

She was all about bouncing on the bag at second, covered head to toe in prairie dust, cheeks pink in the sun, shooting finger guns at the dugout while giggling as they roared for her steal.

She was about ending up on the basketball court, sprawled out, ball held in her arms like a vise, as she out-wrestled four rivals for possession of a rebound.

And she was about the road trips.

Giggling on the bus about wearing her grandma’s slippers with her softball uniform.

Hanging out on the ferry with her friends, and, occasionally, dishing “the tea” to gathered reporters in a hushed whisper, complete with side eye and arched eyebrow.

Athletes come and go, walking the hallways at CHS and occupying the courts, fields, and diamonds.

Then, one day, they’re gone, on to hopefully bigger and better things in their life.

While many blur together after awhile — even the talented ones — there are a select few who remain vibrant in our memories long after they take off the Wolf uniform for the final time.

Nicole is one of those select few.

Her life hasn’t always been the easiest, but she has endured and prospered, tackling every obstacle with an open heart and a welcoming smile.

Seeing her play was a treat. Knowing her in “real life,” even more so.

I will remember Nicole, of that I have no doubt.

Induction into the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame arrives for a lot of reasons.

Talent, stats, titles, medals, they carry many into my mythical little hall of digital wonders.

But not all legends are built the same way.

Nicole, if she never recorded a hit, never sank a basket, would still be here. Her character, her spirit, her heart, is what assured her enshrinement.

After this, when you look at the top of the blog, under the Legends tab, you’ll find Miss Laxton right where she belongs.

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Class act gets the Hall call

Posted in Baseball, Boys Basketball, Hall o' Fame, tagged , , , , on June 20, 2019| 1 Comment »

From little league through high school ball, Aaron Trumbull was a class act. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Aaron Trumbull was a rock.

When you look back on his athletic career, the word which pops up most often is “consistent.”

He crossed paths with big-time stars like Ben Etzell, Josh Bayne, Aaron Curtin, and Nick Streubel, to name a few, but he not only held his own, his stats can stand with anyone from his time period.

And he did it all in a quiet, classy manner that can’t, and shouldn’t, be overlooked.

Trumbull delivered big hits, threw big pitches, and sank big buckets, but he approached every game in the same manner – as a solid pro.

He was a key player on a little league team which won a state title, finished higher on the CHS boys basketball career scoring chart than you probably think, but also shone brightly in small moments.

That he’s not already in the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame is a surprise and a shame.

I whiffed on this one somehow, but better late than never.

Today we throw open the doors to our lil’ digital wonderland, and welcome Mr. Trumbull to a club which couldn’t be complete without him.

After this, every time you look at the top of the blog, then peek under the Legends tab, you’ll find him strolling by, confident in his own abilities, but never one to scream and holler about how great he was.

Like older sister Alexis, who is also in the Hall o’ Fame, Aaron just went about his day, and let his actions speak for themselves.

He was a star as a young player, part of the 2010 Central Whidbey Little League Juniors baseball team which, under the guidance of coach Chris Tumblin, rumbled to an unexpected state title.

In the championship game, Trumbull came through twice with the pressure on, helping Coupeville upend West Valley 10-9 in 10 innings.

Down three runs entering the seventh, and final, regular inning, Trumbull, Wade Schaef, and Morgan Payne all delivered base-knocks as Central Whidbey rallied to force extra innings.

Then, in the 10th, it was Trumbull who rapped a single to plate Jake Tumblin with the game, and title-winning, run.

Once he hit high school, Trumbull continued to soar, both as a baseball player and basketball star.

His time on the hardwood came at a time when Coupeville’s fortunes were at an all-time low, as losses piled up and the team adapted to a new system after Randy King’s retirement.

Through it all, Trumbull was, as I said before, a rock.

He fought like a devil on the boards, crashed for loose balls, and did what he could to put points in the book for a Wolf team which struggled to generate much offense.

In fact, Trumbull finished with 330 career points, which leaves him sitting as the #77 scorer across 102 years of CHS boys basketball.

On the baseball diamond, whether he was flinging heat from the mound, or holding down first base, he was as steady as they come.

The hardball team had more success during his years at CHS than the basketball team did, and Trumbull was always a big part of that.

But, his impact went beyond wins and losses, or stats.

One of the defining moments of Coupeville athletics is one 99% of people never saw happen, or never heard about.

Late in his career, the Wolves had a number of JV players, but not enough to field a full nine-man lineup.

That meant a different varsity player or two had to fill in each game, to give their teammates a chance to see the field.

It went pretty well, until one Wolf decided they were above it all, and threw a hissy fit at the suggestion they could, for one day, “play down.”

As the JV players milled around, and the other team tried to avoid eye contact with CHS coach Willie Smith as he edged towards going into full-on stroke mode, Trumbull stood up and left the bench.

He had already pulled JV duty in a previous game, and was a much-bigger varsity star than the player throwing the hissy fit, and yet it mattered not to him.

Instead, Trumbull strode over, snatched the ball from his red-faced teammate, turned to the JV players, said “let’s do this,” and led them on the field.

That moment, above all others, above his state title-winning base-knock, or the buckets he hit while being double and triple-teamed, goes to the very core of who Aaron was, is, and will always be.

He didn’t leave teammates behind, didn’t leave them hanging, didn’t embarrass them.

Aaron Trumbull is among the classiest players to ever pull on a Wolf uniform, and he earned his spot in our Hall of Fame every single day he played.

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