Former Wolf ace Ben Etzell is back for a third season of college baseball. (Photo property of Saint John’s University)
The spring is alive with the sounds of former Wolves returning to the diamond.
At least four Coupeville High School grads are on college baseball and softball squads this season, with three of them having already seen action.
An early-season update (in alphabetic order):
Ben Etzell — The former Cascade Conference MVP is back on the mound for Saint John’s (Minnesota) after recovering from surgery.
Now a junior, he’s appeared in four games for the Johnnies (5-2), throwing 6.2 innings and collecting a save against Pitt-Bradford.
Etzell has an ERA of 1.35, has whiffed eight batters and is limiting opposing hitters to a .071 batting average.
Through two-plus seasons at Saint John’s, he’s 5-1 with three saves.
Hailey Hammer — After thumping a preseason home run, the Everett Community College sophomore is hitting .385 through five regular season games.
She has six runs, five hits, three walks, a stolen base and an RBI for a team sitting at 3-4.
Aaron Trumbull — The former Wolf first baseman has appeared in one game for Olympic Community College (1-2), eking out a walk and scoring a run in a 7-0 win over Gray’s Harbor.
Monica Vidoni — Wrapping up a two-year run in which she’s played softball, basketball and softball at Rainy River Community College in Minnesota, she’s off to Florida to kick-off her final season.
RRCC takes the field Tuesday in Titusville and will play six games in three days in the Sunshine State.
Jae LeVine is on the hunt for a league title. (John Fisken photos)
Hope “The Surgeon” Lodell is ready to carve up rival pitching.
Mikayla Elfrank returns for a second season of anchoring the infield at shortstop.
Veronica Crownover is one of four returning First-Team All-League players for CHS.
The gang’s all here.
With no seniors on last year’s team, the Coupeville High School softball squad returns virtually every starter from a team that roared out to a 6-1 start and finished with nine wins, the best showing by the program in years.
As Kevin McGranahan rambles into year two at the helm of the Wolves, the only regular he won’t have back is senior first-baseman Kailey Kellner, who’s taking time off to rest after basketball.
Everyone else returns, however, and, in a testament to the continued youth of the program, at least two-thirds of the projected starting lineup will again be underclassmen.
Heading them up is junior pitcher Katrina McGranahan, who is one of four returning First-Team All-League players for the Wolves.
Juniors Lauren Rose (3B) and Hope Lodell (OF) and sophomore Veronica Crownover (Designated Player) were also honored by league coaches last season.
Other returning starters include sophomore Sarah Wright (C), junior Mikayla Elfrank (SS) and seniors Jae LeVine (2B) and Tiffany Briscoe (OF).
Senior Robin Cedillo and sophomore Tamika Nastali both saw plenty of time in the outfield last year, while sophomore Nicole Lester, winner of Most Improved, rounds out the returnees.
“For the most part the team will look the same as last year with a few tweaks here and there,” Kevin McGranahan said. “The players showed a great deal of growth last year and I am really looking forward to pushing them even further this year.”
Joining the core is a group of four fab frosh and junior Kyla Briscoe, who started at first base as a freshman but sat out last year with an injury.
The young guns are Scout Smith, Emma Mathusek, Melia Welling and Mackenzie Davis.
The first three in that group arrive equipped with experience and a winning attitude, having led their Central Whidbey Little League juniors squad to a 13-3 record last spring.
“The freshmen are fitting in with the veteran players well and learning fast,” Kevin McGranahan said. “They will be the future of the program and we look forward to watching them grow.”
The Wolf softball guru has a strong support crew, with assistants Justine McGranahan and Ron Wright being joined by two new volunteers, Greg Thomas and Stephanie Henning.
As he eyes the schedule — CHS has 12 home games, including a rare doubleheader versus Blaine — Kevin McGranahan sees challenges, and opportunity.
“We have a tough schedule this season and will be very tested with our non-conference opponents,” he said. “This should definitely help us when we get to the postseason tournaments.
“Areas we will be working on this season will be mental toughness and our ability to have short memories and to move on to the next game and not dwell on past games, win or lose.”
Having a solid core of battle-tested players, many of whom play travel ball as well, is a huge bonus.
“The strengths of this years team will be our veteran leadership and continuity as a team,” Kevin McGranahan said. “We will be strong defensively and much improved on the offensive side as well.”
Of Coupeville’s three foes in the Olympic League, Chimacum is the two-time defending champ while Klahowya boasts a two-time league MVP in junior Amber Bumbalough.
Port Townsend, on the other hand, enters on a 37-game losing streak.
The RedHawks have not won a game in the first two seasons of the 1A Olympic League and you have to go back to April 28, 2014 to find their last victory.
The Wolves finished 9-11 overall, 3-6 in league play last year and want to ramp up those numbers.
“Our goals for the season are to improve on last year and win the Olympic League,” McGranahan said. “Of course the goal to win state is always out there, but we are keeping our eyes on the league title and then we can attack districts and state.
“I am very excited about the season and to see how this team performs.”
Klahowya’s Amber Bumbalough honors her brother by following her dream on the softball diamond. (Photo courtesy Bumbalough)
“When I don’t get something, I keep going until I get it. I hate failure. I will push and push myself until I succeed.”
There is little doubt Amber Bumbalough is one of the top athletes in the Olympic League, and the Klahowya junior, who has lettered in swimming, basketball and softball every season she has played, has gotten there by refusing to surrender.
Through fatigue, injury and personal and family heartbreak, she keeps coming, relentless and committed in the pursuit of excellence.
“I want to make a name for myself,” Bumbalough said. “I don’t wanna be just another girl on the team.
“I want to stand out in the crowd.”
For outsiders, such as those of us here in Coupeville, we’ve witnessed her athletic excellence — she’s already a two-time league MVP in softball, where she excels at third base, shortstop and pitcher.
But while we’ve seen her stalk the pitcher’s circle and thump base hits to all fields or swish three-balls on the hardwood, what we’ve seen is the surface.
Go below and you find a young woman who is driven to excellence because every moment she crafts, every high she achieves, is a silent testament to her brother William, whom she deeply loves.
A brother who can’t be here with us in the stands to watch Amber soar. But one who will always be with her in spirit.
William Bumbalough passed away in 2012, but he walks out onto the field with his sister every time she charges out to play.
“He’s had the biggest impact on my life,” Amber Bumbalough said. “When he was killed in a car accident I thought everything was gone; I felt like I couldn’t do anything, going days on days without eating.
“He wasn’t the type who loved sports, but he wanted nothing but the best for me,” she added. “He always told me to go big and go to the top; he wants me to get there.”
Bumbalough has already attracted interest from college teams, both for her play at the high school level and with her select squad, and she is firmly committed to strive for the peak of her sport.
“My dream is to go Division 1 (in college) and I’m going to keep working my butt off until my dreams come true, or my dreams give up on me,” she said. “I play every game for William, knowing he’s watching.”
She’s 7-for-7 in lettering as a high school athlete (a broken finger kept her from swimming this fall), and draws something valuable from every one of her seasons.
“I enjoy getting to spend time with my teammates and creating a sisterly bond with them,” Bumbalough said.
But there is little doubt which sport claims her heart.
“Favorite sport is my softball,” she said. “This is my favorite because I have put so much time into it; I only wanna become bigger and better.”
Her pursuit of diamond excellence has taken Bumbalough to Eastern Washington, where she suited up with USA Explosion, and Puyallup, where she reps the Washington Ladyhawks.
Both teams, and their coaches, helped fine-tune her skill-set and love for the game.
“Steve Farrington (USA Explosion) made me see the real side of softball that I didn’t ever see,” Bumbalough said. “When I wanted to give up, he showed me the side of the sport that made it so I couldn’t.
“Wayne Miller (Ladyhawks) pushes me and gives me the opportunity to play the best of the best softball and helps me understand the game that much more.”
In the few moments when she’s not practicing or playing a sport, Bumbalough enjoys “listening to my music up loud” with little sister Hannah.
Hip hop duo Rae Sremmurd, rapper Russ and country stars Brett Eldridge and Keith Urban lead off the sister’s play list.
Bumbalough used to show pigs through 4-H, but has had to take a break recently as softball carves away more of her time.
Regardless of where she is, or what she’s doing, the Klahowya star draws inspiration from both her family and her community.
“I have a few people who have really impacted my life,” Bumbalough said. “Obviously my parents, for getting me where I am and supporting me with everything I do and always going to my sports events.
“Something that makes my school so special to me is the kids and teachers around me,” she added. “We are one big family; we’ve all been through the worst and the best of times.
“With the amount of losses we have had with students, it has hit us all very very hard, but we have helped each other get through it and it really makes me happy to see how strong we are for one another.”
Her own experiences dealing with loss continue to shape Bumbalough’s future plans, and she is working towards a goal of being a grief counselor.
“I want to help others who have gone through what I’ve gone through,” she said. “Losing a loved one is hard and it doesn’t get better; you just start to cope with not seeing them every day, hoping maybe they will come through the door.
“Everyone deals with grieving differently,” Bumbalough added. “But if I could help just even one person, I would feel like I have reached one of my biggest goals.”
Hailey Hammer (and puppy) celebrate a season-opening home run. (Photo courtesy Hammer)
The regular season hasn’t even started and already Hailey Hammer’s bat is warmed up.
The Coupeville High School grad teed off all day Friday, bashing four extra-base hits, including an epic home run, in a preseason double header with Grays Harbor.
Before going yard, she smacked three doubles.
“Today was a good day!,” said a jubilant Hammer.
A 12-time letter winner (volleyball, basketball, softball) during her storied Wolf career, she’s a sophomore at Everett Community College.
During her first season as a Trojan, Hammer was limited by injuries, playing in 12 games, but still hit a crisp .300 at the plate.
EVCC, which ten-runned Grays Harbor in both games, opens the regular season Feb. 25.
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