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Summer ball? A smashing success!!

Posted in Baseball, Little League, Softball, tagged baseball, Central Whidbey Little League, Chelsea Prescott, John Fisken photos, PicMonkey collage, Scout Smith, Softball on July 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »

A taste of what Central Whidbey Little League offered this summer.

The future is alive and well and swinging a big bat.

Baseballs and softballs were pounded all across the prairie this summer, as Central Whidbey Little League put together another successful season.

At the tippy top, the 9/10 softball squad, which repeated as District 11 champs and returned to the state tournament for the second straight season under the tutelage of coaches Mimi Johnson, Katy Wells and Lark Gustafson.

Also of note was CMS 7th grader-to-be Chelsea Prescott (the centerpiece of the photo collage above) who was the only girl to play Majors baseball.

She flung heat from the mound, and, based on what I’ve seen of her swinging in video footage, she hits with just as much, if not more, ferocity.

From players about to hit high school — like softball thumpers Veronica Crownover and Sarah Wright — to kids playing t-ball for the first time, CWLL was awash in talent.

Cow Town is building from the ground up, and the future is a bright one.

To all the coaches, parents and volunteers who make our local little league hum along so well, job well done.

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Pineapple Ninjas head home, heads held high!!

Posted in Little League, Softball, tagged Central Whidbey Little League, District 11, Mimi Johnson, Pineapple Ninjas, Softball, state tournament on July 12, 2015| Leave a Comment »

The Pineapple Ninjas at rest. (Megan Somes photo)

Isabelle Wells enjoys a post-tourney milk shake. (Katy Wells photo)

Coaches (l to r) Mimi Johnson, Katy Wells and Lark Gustafson have led teams to back-to-back district titles.

Tracking down food, but never too busy to stop for a photo op. (Jacque LaRue photos)

Impromptu dance party.

“We’ll be back to see you next year!!”

They’re building a tradition.

Back-to-back District 11 titles. Back-to-back trips to the state tournament.

With softball fever raging at every level in Coupeville, the younger generation is making a statement. They plan to keep the fire burning on the prairie.

And while the season may have ended Sunday for the Central Whidbey Little League 9/10 All-Star softball sluggers — the Pineapple Ninjas dropped a close 14-11 game to East Seattle in Vancouver — the afterglow of the season will last for a long time.

As she prepared to pull her players back out of the swimming pool and head home, Central Whidbey coach Mimi Johnson was justifiably proud.

The Pineapple Ninjas don’t have the huge base of players that the big-city teams draw from, but they have pluck like no one’s business.

“Girls did great!,” Johnson said. “We battled!!”

And guess what, big-city teams?

They’ll be back and they’ll keep getting better and going deeper in these tournaments.

Central Whidbey softball is on the rise, across every age division, across every team.

Little League to high school, they are getting stronger, more confident, and their belief in themselves, as individual players and as a unit, grows with every day, every play.

They go by many names.

The Pineapple Ninjas, the Sizzlin’ Sisters, the Venom, and then, one day, they all become Wolves.

And the howl of success that is sweeping the prairie never stops echoing.

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“We held our own!!”

Posted in Little League, Softball, tagged Central Whidbey Little League, Marysville, Softball, state tourney, Vancouver on July 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »

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.

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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On the road, and super-excited!!

Posted in Little League, Softball, tagged Central Whidbey Little League, Pineapple Ninjas, Softball, state tourney on July 10, 2015| Leave a Comment »

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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Pineapple Ninjas are ready for their close-up!!

Posted in Little League, Softball, tagged Central Whidbey Little League, John Fisken photos, Pineapple Ninjas, playoffs, Softball on July 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

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

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

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

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

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

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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