Mia Littlejohn, breakin’ ankles. (John Fisken photos)
Sarah Wright comes up firing.
Rising track stars (l to r) Emma Smith, Maddy Hilkey and Lindsey Roberts. (Sherry Roberts photo)
Something special is in the air.
That is the feeling I have after spending the last two nights watching the Central Whidbey Little League Juniors All-Star softball squad just beat the livin’ snot out of North Whidbey in back-to-back games to win a district crown.
Oak Harbor has a bigger base to draw from, more families, more athletes. Their schools are bigger, they play at a higher level, they are expected to be the rulers of the Island.
It didn’t matter this week. It doesn’t matter, ever.
Other than one talented young woman from South Whidbey, Bella Northup, 10 of the 11 players on the 17-0, state tourney-bound Venom are Cow Town through and through.
And they are something to behold.
It is more than just talent, which they absolutely have. It is a team-wide confidence, aggressiveness, a belief in themselves and in each other.
They do not step on to the field to compete. They come to beat you and beat you hard.
But it’s also joy.
This group of girls, primarily young women who will be freshmen at Coupeville High School in the fall, loves to be on that playing field. Whether during practice or in games, they come alive when they step between the lines.
And this is where it gets better.
They almost all play multiple sports, from volleyball and basketball to softball, down the line. It’s the same in every sport — they exude joy, confidence and passion and they play as a unit, friends on and off the field.
What they remind me of the most is a group of young women who put together the most recent golden age of Coupeville sports, the female athletes at CHS in the late ’90s and early 2000’s.
Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby. The Mouw sisters. The Black sisters. The Lamb sisters. And a ton of others.
Most of the banners that hang in the CHS gym were put up by those young women, talented, incredibly hard-working athletes who went to state in every sport they played on a regular basis.
The closest the Wolves have ever come to a state title came 12 years ago, when CHS won four of five games (losing a squeaker to the eventual state champ, Adna) and finished third in the 1A softball tourney.
Since that time, there have been good, sometimes very good, Wolf athletes. But never another golden age.
This group — Katrina McGranahan, Sarah Wright, Lauren Rose, Hope Lodell, Veronica Crownover and all of their teammates, plus other young female stars from other sports like Lindsey Roberts, Reed Richards and Kalia Littlejohn — seems to herald something we haven’t seen in a while.
There is a depth of talent. A desire that burns deeply. A joy in putting away your phone and going outside and playing, organized sports or just throwing down hoops on an empty playground.
It’s a crapshoot, of course.
Families move, priorities can change, real life may intrude.
This group may move through together and become stronger as they do so, or be splintered in a shockingly short time.
Golden ages are rare, really rare.
But, as I watched this group of girls flying around the field, reveling in their talent and friendship, embracing each other and the joy that comes with being good — being proud, not cocky, but justifiably proud, of yourself and your teammates for being good — one thing seems crystal clear.
A new golden age could be dawning in Cow Town.
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