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Archive for the ‘Little League’ Category

Chelsea Prescott flings heat. (John Fisken photo)

Chelsea Prescott flings heat. (John Fisken photo)

Prescott models her All-Star uniform.

Prescott models her All-Star uniform. (Josie Prescott photo)

Chelsea Prescott is a diamond dandy.

Baseball or softball, doesn’t matter. Toss her a ball and a mitt and she’s at home.

Prescott, who will be a seventh grader at Coupeville Middle School in the fall, is currently part of Central Whidbey Little League’s 11/12 All-Star Majors baseball squad.

That team kicked off district tourney play with a win over Anacortes Saturday and advances to play North Whidbey next.

If things had gone as originally planned, though, Prescott wouldn’t have been on the squad.

After putting in two seasons of fall ball as a baseball player, she was planning to hop back to softball this summer.

But Central Whidbey was unable to field enough players — four girls ultimately traveled to South Whidbey to play — and Prescott’s options were limited.

“My goal was to play junior softball, but my mom, with her work schedule and my dad being deployed, going to South or North was not possible,” Prescott said. “It was a possibility to stick with baseball and I stayed with baseball because I wanted to be challenged.”

She had an immediate impact, toeing the rubber as a pitcher, while also pulling time at “short stop, third base, and, sometimes, outfield, when my coach needs an arm.”

Prescott enjoys pitching and hitting and is quick to assess the pros and cons of her game.

“My strengths are running,” she said. “I would like to work on pitching more and especially catching.”

An active athlete, Prescott also plays volleyball, basketball and soccer.

In the few moments in which she’s not competing as an athlete, she enjoys math, is in band and is a fan of romance, horror and comedy films.

Her support crew includes her family and local coaches, who have helped her shine since she was barely old enough to pick up a bat.

Prescott is quick to call them out for their support.

“My mom, dad, and coaches Kevin McGranahan and Ron Wright, for taking a chance on me being the only fourth grader on the team!”

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Central Whidbey sluggers give a thumbs-up to being at the state tournament for the second straight season. (Renae Mulholland photo)

Reunited and it feels so right. Central Whidbey coach Mimi (Iverson) Johnson (left) and Marysville's Natalie (Slater) Maneval were teammates at Coupeville High School and Skagit Valley College.

   Reunited and it feels so right. Central Whidbey coach Mimi (Iverson) Johnson (left) and Marysville’s Natalie (Slater) Maneval were teammates at Coupeville High School and Skagit Valley College.

Win or lose, they were going to end the day in the swimming pool. That was a stone-cold fact.

So, while Central Whidbey’s coaches mull over an opening loss at the state little league softball tourney, their players have already moved on, happily splashing away in Vancouver.

The Pineapple Ninjas, Central Whidbey’s 9/10 All-Star squad, fell 7-1 to Marysville Saturday.

The loss drops the District 11 champs into a loser-out game 4 PM Sunday against East Seattle, which fell 6-0 to Gig Harbor.

Making its second straight trip to the big dance, Central Whidbey came up a bit short, but not for lack of effort.

“We held our own and played better than last year!,” said coach Mimi Johnson.

Central hurler Chanel Sterba “pitched her heart out” while Stella Johnson collected her team’s lone RBI, plating Kaia Richmond in the third.

Marysville jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the top of the first, then added two more in the third and capped things with another two-spot in the fifth.

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Abby Mulholland (left) and Isabelle Wells are headed to the big time. (Katy Wells photo)

   Softball sluggers Abby Mulholland (left) and Isabelle Wells are headed to the big time. (Katy Wells photo)

They’re on their way.

The Central Whidbey Little League 9/10 All-Star softball squad is packed into cars and on the road to Vancouver.

When they get there, the Pineapple Ninjas, the District 11 champs, will open the state tourney at 1 PM Saturday against the District 1 champs from Marysville.

That game will feature a reunion, since Central Whidbey coach Mimi (Iverson) Johnson and Marysville league official Natalie (Slater) Maneval were softball teammates/roommates at Coupeville High School and Skagit Valley College.

The tourney is double elimination, so Central Whidbey will play again Sunday. District 2 and 8 are on their side of the bracket.

The full state tournament runs through July 17.

To see the bracket, pop over to:

http://www.littleleaguewa.org/washington-state-little-league-tournaments/district-6-tournaments/bracket/631-9_10-Softball-State

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(John Fisken photos)

   No softball shall escape the grasp of the Pineapple Ninjas! Ever!! (John Fisken photos)

hit

  The resounding thunk you just heard was solid wood (OK, aluminum) on softball.

catch

   “And just where do we think we’re going?!?! I told you no softball escaped our grasp!!”

slide

“Gettin’ my uniform dirty. It’s kind of my trademark.”

hit

“Oh, that feels like a hit, yes ma’am, it does!”

ball

   Lost in the desert windstorm, the young softball whiz kid made the play, cause … NO SOFTBALL ESCAPES THE PINEAPPLE NINJAS!!

The Pineapple Ninjas are off to the state tourney.

But before the new District 11 champs — the Central Whidbey Little League 9/10 All-Star softball squad — heads to Vancouver, we can bask in the glow of their stellar play, thanks to travelin’ photo man John Fisken.

The pics above are courtesy him, and come from action on July 3.

To see more (and possibly purchase some), pop over to:

https://www.shutterfly.com/progal/album.jsp?aid=768a5498cf36127f5ffe

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Plays like this helped carry Central Whidbey to a district title. (John Fisken photo)

Plays like this helped carry Central Whidbey to a district title. (John Fisken photo)

The comeback kids. The champs. (Photo courtesy Mimi Johnson)

The comeback kids. The champs. (Photo courtesy Mimi Johnson)

Set off the fireworks, cause Central Whidbey is da champs.

Cruising to its second win in as many days against arch-rival North Whidbey, the Pineapple Ninjas, a 9/10 All-Star little league softball squad that features Coupeville and South Whidbey girls, clinched the District 11 championship Saturday.

The 15-9 win, coming on a hot 4th of July, sends Central Whidbey to the state tourney.

It also capped a remarkable comeback for a squad that suffered through a heart-rending opening to the district playoffs.

Central Whidbey let a four-run lead over North Whidbey slip away in the final inning of their playoff opener, falling 11-10.

Instead of falling apart, the girls in red and black rallied to win three consecutive loser-out games, knocking off Sedro-Woolley before sweeping back-to-back games from their closest rival.

Playing with everything at stake Saturday, Central ran away with the game. Literally.

Running wild on the base-paths, leaving behind a never-ending string of stolen bases in the scorebook, the Pineapple Ninjas broke open the game with an 11-run fourth inning.

Having seen an early 4-2 lead slip away, Central trailed 7-4 entering the fourth, before it flipped the switch and bolted to a win.

Kaela Meffert smacked three singles to pace her squad, while Jill Prince scorched a single and Central hurler Chanel Sterba whiffed seven North Whidbey hitters.

The Pineapple Ninjas open the state tourney in Vancouver next Saturday, July 11 with a game against a Marysville team coached by former Coupeville softball star Natalie (Slater) Maneval.

It’s a reunion, since Maneval and Central Whidbey coach Mimi Johnson were roommates back in the day when they played softball at Skagit Valley College.

A second reunion could occur later in the tournament, as former Wolf Matt Cross has a daughter on a rival team, while his sister, Jennie (Cross) Prince, will be cheering on her daughter, Jill.

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