Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Hardball heroes nab final swing

July 23, 2020 by David Svien

The bright future of Coupeville baseball. (Photo courtesy Jeff Porter)

One more game, before another shutdown.

Coupeville’s Babe Ruth baseball squad hasn’t had much time on the diamond this summer, with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic throwing a huge wrench into things.

But Thursday the Wolves took the field to host Anacortes, and, while they fell 5-3 despite a late rally, they got to play, which was a win in itself.

It was Coupeville’s sixth, and final, game of this shortened season, as it only has nine players and won’t go on to play in any tournaments.

The mere fact the Wolves were on the CHS diamond might have come to a surprise to some, as Washington state Governor Jay Inslee issued new limits on gatherings which went into effect July 20.

Counties in Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plan, such as Island County, are currently restricted to 10 people getting together.

However, after some digging by Oak Harbor Babe Ruth officials, it was determined there was an exclusion for outdoor sporting events.

Which brings us to Thursday, when the scrappy Wolves fell behind 5-0, then almost came all the way back in the bottom of the seventh and final inning.

Coupeville opened its last at-bats of the game, and season, with four straight walks, as Camden Glover, Johnny Porter, Marcelo Gebhard, and Aiden O’Neill all got aboard thanks to eagle eyes.

That set up the top of the order, and Scott Hilborn and Jack Porter responded, whacking back-to-back singles to make the Anacortes coaching staff start sweating in the autumn-like weather.

But the visitors got away with one, finding a way to stop the Coupeville onslaught and deny Wolf fans a chance to storm the field in celebration.

Anacortes got on the board early, plating two runners in the first, then two more in the second.

A final tally in the top of the sixth provided a little bit of a cushion.

Jack Porter, Johnny Valenzuela, and Hilborn split the pitching duties for Coupeville, with Valenzuela whiffing seven hitters across five innings of work.

Hilborn and Jack Porter paced the Wolf offense, collecting a pair of singles apiece, while Chase Anderson and Valenzuela also picked up base knocks.

Coupeville tallied seven walks, led by two each from Gebhard and O’Neill, to go with its six hits.

Eight of the nine Wolves in uniform reached base Thursday, with Landon Roberts rounding out the lineup for a team with a bright future, and, hopefully, many more games ahead of it.

Posted in Baseball | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

WIAA tries to keep school sports alive

July 21, 2020 by David Svien

Cross country runners could be in action this fall. Maybe. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The proposal for a new-look four-season athletic schedule.

Hope lives. For now, at least.

While acknowledging things are changing on a daily basis, and there are still a lot of questions to answer, the Executive Board of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association offered a plan Tuesday for high school sports being played during the 2020-2021 school year.

Under the plan, the WIAA will try to work around the COVID-19 pandemic by shifting sports deemed “high-risk” or “moderate-risk” by health officials, moving them from this fall to next spring.

For Coupeville, that means football, volleyball, and soccer are on the move to 2021, with the state going from a traditional three-season athletic year to a temporary four-season one.

Only “low-risk” sports — cross country and boys tennis at CHS — will begin practices in early September (or later), and then only if certain benchmarks are met.

The WIAA Executive Board, which is working with state health officials and Governor Jay Inslee’s office, plans to meet July 28 to hash out what that exactly means.

For now, the Wolves look as good as anyone, as Island County is in Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plan, the minimum level required to play “low-risk” sports.

Counties must be in Phase 4 to play “moderate-risk” sports, while WIAA officials have said “high-risk sports” will only be viable in a “Phase 4-plus” environment, and what that means is still anyone’s guess.

If it’s decided the benchmarks for starting “low-risk” sports haven’t been met by the first week of September, those sports could start later.

They could also be moved from “Season 1” to “Season 3,” with no high school sports being played until January.

The plan, which you can see in more detail in the photo above, is, like everything in our pandemic-ravaged world, a work in progress.

“When you look at dates, those are definitely written in pencil,” WIAA Executive Director Mick Hoffman said with a weary half-smile during a follow-up press conference.

 

How the four-season plan would break down for CHS:

 

Season 1
(9/7 to 11/8)

Cross Country
Boys Tennis

 

Season 2
(1/4 to 3/7)

Girls Basketball
Boys Basketball

 

Season 3
(3/1 to 5/2)

Volleyball
Football
Girls Soccer
Boys Soccer

**Cross Country/Boys Tennis (if Season 1 cancelled)**

 

Season 4
(4/26 to 6/27)

Softball
Baseball
Girls Tennis
Track and Field

 

A few of the many questions everyone wants an answer to:

 

**Schools are currently deciding whether to go with 100% in-person classes, 100% online classes, or a mix of both. How will that affect whether a school plays?

Short answer: no one knows yet.

 

**On the new schedule, there’s a gap between Season 1 and Season 2. Why?

It’s to give WIAA officials more flexibility to start the season late, or end it late, as they deal with the issues around returning to play, weather conditions, and the start of the traditional flu season.

 

**Will shorter seasons mean less games?

Maybe.

The WIAA gives leagues and schools a lot of leeway on scheduling, so, if teams can play, it’s up to people like CHS Athletic Director Willie Smith to figure out how many games they can get in.

 

**Instead of three-sport athletes, if the new schedule goes down as intended, could we see four-sport athletes?

Absolutely.

While seasons will slightly overlap, Hoffman said the WIAA is likely to allow some preseason practice requirements be met by playing a sport in the prior season.

That would allow athletes to be ready for games in the next sport much quicker than in previous years.

 

**Could there be multiple state champs per classification in each sport?

Possibly.

If the WIAA is unable to hold traditional state tournaments, one idea being considered, Hoffman said, is to have multiple regional events, limiting travel, with each champ earning a state title trophy.

For now, though, it’s just an intriguing idea on the back burner.

 

**If teams can play, will there be enough refs and umpires to hold games?

Maybe.

A survey of officials state-wide showed 30% of them are “not comfortable working at this time.” If that holds up, especially in areas where officials are predominately older, it could present serious issues.

 

**What about monitoring athletes and coaches for COVID-19? And what if positive tests start coming in?

Currently, the WIAA is not requiring tests, but Coupeville athletes have to present a written note from their parent or guardian before each practice asserting they don’t have a fever or show symptoms.

After that, well, no one really seems to have a concrete answer.

 

**What about middle school sports?

That’s on the list of things to get done, but the WIAA hasn’t gotten there yet.

 

**Will fans be allowed to attend games?

Possibly.

“We certainly hope so,” Hoffman said. “It’s important for kids to play in front of the people who love them.”

Posted in Everything changes | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Falcon Nation needs our help

July 21, 2020 by David Svien

Nevin (left) and Taylor Daniels.

A two-vehicle T-bone crash Monday right outside of Freeland claimed the life of a member of the South Whidbey High School Class of 2021.

Taylor Daniels, who played for the Falcon soccer team, was airlifted to Harborview, where he passed away.

Older brother Nevin Daniels was transported to Providence, where he is recovering. A pregnant passenger was taken to Whidbey Health for a precautionary evaluation.

The accident happened at the intersection of Highway 525 and Bush Point Road just after 5 PM.

Friends of the Daniels family have set up a GoFundMe to aid them.

“We know we can’t take this unimaginable pain away, but we can help take some of the financial burden away,” wrote organizer Holly Sharp-Hezel.

“This is a time when family and friends make the difference. Let’s come together and show these wonderful people how much we love them, how much we care and support them.

“Funeral costs should not be on their mind right now, especially when they have another son to take care of during his recovery.”

 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/taylor-and-nevin-daniels

Posted in Fundraisers | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Learn her name, respect her game

July 21, 2020 by David Svien

Tia Wurzrainer: three sports, 1000% effort. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Numbers don’t always tell the full story.

And that’s why, to fully appreciate what Tia Wurzrainer brought to Coupeville High School athletics the past four years, you needed to see her play in person.

From a distance, she didn’t score a staggering amount of goals on the soccer field, and didn’t net a record-busting number of baskets on the hardwood.

But watch Tia play in person, whether it was soccer, basketball, or tennis season, and you would quickly gain an appreciation of why she was so valued by coaches, and so beloved by her teammates.

The young girl who once sat quietly eating her sandwich back in a corner at her family’s restaurant, Christopher’s on Whidbey, emerged as one of the hardest-working, far-tougher-than-expected athletes to ever pull on a Wolf jersey.

Tia did the dirty work, and then asked for more, always with a smile.

On the soccer field, she sacrificed her body game after game, a defender who seemingly feared no scoring ace, and wasn’t gonna take no crap from no one, no matter how fancy the rival school might be.

She protected her side of the field with a burning intensity, slamming into frays, chasing down breakaways, fighting for every 50/50 ball, making life considerably easier for the CHS goalkeepers who camped out behind her.

Give her a chance to score, and she could, but Tia made her name holding down the backline, where she netted All-Conference honors and earned mad respect from anyone foolish enough to challenge her.

As fall faded into winter, she would move from the pitch to the basketball court, but her persona as a quietly tough-as-nails roustabout never changed.

Tia slices to the hoop for a bucket in a big win over arch-rival South Whidbey.

The kind of “glue” player every coach needs, she was that rare teen athlete who not only accepted her role, but openly embraced it.

Need a lock-down defender?

A hustler and a scrapper?

A pass-first player who could help keep her team flowing under big-time pressure?

A staunch supporter of each and every one of her teammates?

Tia was the answer for all those needs, and she always seemed to play with the same intensity and effort regardless of whether she was starting or coming off the bench.

Proving she was a true three-sport star, she never skipped a season, joining Avalon Renninger to form a deadly doubles duo on the tennis court each spring.

Always a deadly assassin on the tennis court.

The pair meshed almost flawlessly, both in playing style, and with the grace and drive they exhibited match after match.

Team leaders, captains, and stellar competitors, the duo were on the fast track to make it to the state tourney, only to see their senior season derailed by COVID-19.

While Tia and Avalon didn’t get the chance to make a run at glory in Eastern Washington, that shouldn’t detract in the slightest from what they accomplished when given a chance to play.

While reflecting on their net careers, CHS tennis guru Ken Stange marveled at what Wurzrainer had brought to his program.

“Tia … calm, cool, and collected.

“She would probably argue with me, but I think Tia is perfect.

“Kind, intelligent, intuitive, and hard working. I don’t think I ever heard a single negative word pass through her lips.

“Her work ethic was second to none. Anyone would be happy to have her as a partner, me included.”

Some athletes get a chance to put up big numbers, making it easy for people in far-off states or other countries to have at least a loose idea of what they accomplished.

But it’s those like Tia, the ones you need to be camped out in the bleachers, or on the bench, or out there on the floor with her, to really appreciate, who make an impact which can’t be matched.

If you know, you know.

And, if you don’t know, you really, truly missed out.

Today, we swing open the doors at the Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Fame and welcome Tia to our hallowed digital hideaway, where she is reunited with Avalon, her tennis doubles partner.

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

All in all, a very appropriate choice of words to describe two of the best, as athletes and as people, to ever emerge from Coupeville.

Wurzrainer and Renninger? They were kind of a big deal.

Posted in Girls Basketball, Girls Soccer, Girls Tennis, Hall o' Fame | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Buy a book, inspire the next generation

July 20, 2020 by David Svien

A simple purchase can help a community.

Swing by the Kingfisher Bookstore today, while wearing a face mask and practicing strong social distancing skills, and help Coupeville Schools build a diverse, inclusive library of books.

But first, pop back up to the photo above to get all the info on the project.

Posted in Black Lives Matter | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »