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Wright has the winning touch

April 16, 2022 by David Svien

Coupeville grad Sarah Wright (center, in catcher’s gear) is enjoying a stellar college softball season. (Photo property Sewanee softball)

She’s an artist with a bat in her hands.

Playing in the regular season finale Saturday in Danville, Kentucky, Coupeville grad Sarah Wright put together another strong performance on the softball diamond.

The Sewanee: University of the South junior collected three hits, including a double, and two RBI as the Tigers split a doubleheader with Centre College.

The biggest of the two RBI came in the opener, where it proved to be the game-winner.

Trailing 3-0 heading to the top of the seventh and final inning, Sewanee rallied for four runs to pull off the stunner.

Freshman pinch hitter Kaila Seger drilled a three-run home run to right-center to tie things up, before Wright lofted a long sac fly to plate the go-ahead run.

Sewanee, which finishes the regular season at 7-24, now advances to the double-elimination Southern Athletic Association Tournament.

The Tigers are expected to begin play Apr. 21, but the opponent and site have yet to be revealed.

Wright, who finally got to play a full college season in her third go-round, after the pandemic trimmed down her first two seasons, is one of just three Tigers to have started all 31 games this season.

She leads Sewanee in at-bats (95) and is tied for first in runs (15) and home runs (2).

Wright has 23 hits — including four doubles — 16 RBI, three walks, and a tidy .607 OPS.

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American assassin blitzes British ballers

April 16, 2022 by David Svien

Coupeville grad Makana Stone takes a break from her professional basketball career to talk with British students. (Photo property Leicester Riders)

She set the nets on fire.

Coupeville grad Makana Stone knocked down a game-high 21 points Saturday, spurring the Leicester Riders to a key victory.

Romping past the Cardiff Met Archers 88-58, Leicester claimed its third victory in its last four games and clinched fourth place in the 13-team Women’s British Basketball League.

With two regular season games left on the schedule, the Riders are 14-8 in league action, 18-10 overall.

Saturday’s victory was a nice bounce-back for Leicester, which less than 24 hours earlier had racked up a season-low in points in a loss to the high-flying Sevenoaks Suns.

Picking Cardiff Met apart, Stone and Co. jumped out to a 24-18 lead after one quarter of play, and never relinquished the advantage.

Up 45-28 at the half, the Riders pushed the lead out to 63-42 heading into the fourth quarter, then tossed in another 25 points over the final 10 minutes just to put an exclamation point on things.

Stone, one of the few Leicester players to consistently score against Sevenoaks, snatched seven rebounds Saturday to go with her 21-point explosion.

Brooklyn Mcalear-Fanus added 15 points, while Oceana Hamilton and Alison Lewis each went for 14, as the Riders shared the ball all day.

As she nears the end of her first season of pro hoops, Stone has tallied 253 points, 170 rebounds, 36 assists, 24 steals, and three blocks.

Leicester caps the regular season with a rematch against Sevenoaks Apr. 22, before a bout with Manchester Met two days later.

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They’re savages! Savages, I say!!

April 15, 2022 by David Svien

Gwen Gustafson was one of 22 Wolves to reach base Friday, as Coupeville thrashed La Conner twice. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

They are vengeance unleashed.

Even when they try and pull back the reigns a bit and try not to unnecessarily embarrass opponents, it’s hard for the Coupeville High School softball team to be anything less than dominant.

Case in point, Friday’s doubleheader at La Conner, where the Wolves, playing everyone in a uniform — varsity and JV — still romped to 23-0 and 23-1 wins over the outmatched Braves.

The sweep gives Coupeville nine straight wins and lifts it to 5-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 10-1 overall.

As they roll towards a second consecutive undefeated NWL championship, the Wolves get a chance to punch upwards all of next week.

Coupeville faces 1A Meridian, 3A Oak Harbor, and 2A Lakewood in non-conference tilts, a challenge Kevin McGranahan’s squad craves.

Coupeville is 4-1 this season against schools from larger classifications, with its only loss coming to 1A royalty Lynden Christian.

 

Game #1:

Mixing varsity and JV players, Coupeville pounded out a season-high 29 hits a day after dinging Sultan for 27 base-knocks.

With senior pitching ace Izzy Wells surrendering just a pair of singles, and whiffing 12 Braves, the Wolves were just as brutally efficient on the other side of the ball.

The game might have seemed close for a hot moment, as Coupeville led just 1-0 exiting the first inning, but then its big-game sluggers unleashed their bats.

Six runs in the top of the second stretched the lead out, with four more coming in the third and another three in the fourth inning.

The Wolves wrapped things up by pushing nine more tallies across the plate in the fifth, then shuffled their roster dramatically for the nightcap.

Mckenna Somes had a five-hit performance in game one of a doubleheader.

 

Game #2:

This time out, twin hurlers Allie and Maya Lucero combined to chuck a four-inning no-hitter, with nine of 12 outs coming via punch-outs.

With many of their regular starters sitting the finale out, the Wolves still cracked 13 hits, giving them a 42-2 advantage on the afternoon.

Freshman Savina Wells, who rested in the opener, returned to the starting lineup and promptly walloped a home run, while CHS also piled up a staggering 18 walks.

Wolf 8th grader Teagan Calkins earned four of those free passes, with Alondra Cruz and Madison McMillan eking out three walks apiece.

Up 7-1 after one inning, Coupeville dropped nine runs on the board in the second, then coasted in with four and three-run rallies in the remaining frames.

 

Friday stats:

Edie Bittner — 2 walks
Taylor Brotemarkle — 1 single, 1 double, 2 walks
Teagan Calkins — 4 walks
Camryn Clark — 1 walk
Alondra Cruz — 3 walks
Mia Farris — 3 singles, 1 double, 1 triple
Gwen Gustafson — 1 single, 1 walk
Jada Heaton — 1 single
Violette Huegerich — 1 single
Lily Leedy — 1 single
Allie Lucero — 1 single, 1 walk
Maya Lucero — 3 singles, 1 walk
Katie Marti — 2 singles, 1 walk
Chloe Marzocca — 1 single, 2 walks
Madison McMillan — 1 double, 3 walks
Melanie Navarro — 2 singles, 1 double, 1 walk
Maya Nottingham — 2 singles, 1 double
Sofia Peters — 1 double
Audrianna Shaw — 1 single, 1 double, 2 triples
Mckenna Somes — 4 singles, 1 double
Izzy Wells — 4 singles, 1 triple, 1 walk
Savina Wells — 1 single, 1 home run

Wolf coach Aaron Lucero gazes in wonder as the Wolves decimate all challengers.

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Hardball aces earn sweet sweep

April 15, 2022 by David Svien

Scott Hilborn fires a bullet Friday as Coupeville High School baseball sweeps a doubleheader from La Conner. (Morgan White photo)

It was a great birthday present.

Coupeville High School varsity baseball coach Will Thayer celebrated his cake day in grand style Friday, guiding his squad to a doubleheader sweep at La Conner.

The twin victories lift the Wolves to 5-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 7-5 overall.

That keeps Coupeville just a game back of defending league champ Friday Harbor (6-0) and a half-game up on Mount Vernon Christian (5-2) as the teams battle for conference supremacy in the seven-team NWL.

Friday’s doubleheader was a pretty solid beat-down too, as the Wolves soaked in the rare sun and ran away with 11-2 and 21-4 wins.

 

Game #1:

CHS pitchers Scott Hilborn and Hawthorne Wolfe combined to whiff 15 Braves in the victory, holding La Conner at bay until the Wolf sluggers got crackin’.

“Took a minute for our bats to warm up, but a good game,” Thayer said.

Coupeville opened the scoring by pushing two runs across in the top of the second, then tacked on another tally in the third.

The top of the fourth was where things busted wide open, however, as the Wolves rained down five runs in a rally keyed by base-knocks from Hilborn and Jonathan Valenzuela.

Hawthorne Wolfe and Co. kept their bats sizzlin’ in the road wins. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Coupeville, which added three runs in the fifth to round out its scoring, took advantage of whatever La Conner gave it.

The Wolves cracked eight hits, with Cole White, Sage Sharp, and Valenzuela recording two apiece, while also walking seven times.

Whatever hopes La Conner had of pulling off the upset faded every time a ball hit one of their fielder’s gloves, as the Braves committed a horrifying nine errors to make life tough for their pitchers.

 

Game #2:

Coupeville cut this one short, with a 12-run fourth inning helping the Wolves seal the deal in a game mercy-ruled after five frames.

“One of my favorite games I ever coached,” Thayer said. “Everyone played and we had fun.”

The Wolves sent 8th graders Chase Anderson and Coop Cooper to the mound in the nightcap, and the young guns sizzled, getting nine of 15 outs via the strikeout.

Chase Anderson brings the knee-buckling heat. (Morgan White photo)

The ball flew off of Coupeville’s bats as well, with six different players recording two hits as the Wolves rang up 15 base-knocks in the finale.

Wolfe cracked a triple to lead the way, while Hilborn, Peyton Caveness, Johnny Porter, and Anderson all bashed two-baggers in support.

 

Friday stats:

Chase Anderson — 1 single, 1 double, 2 walks
Peyton Caveness — 1 single, 1 double, 1 walk
Coop Cooper — 1 single
Scott Hilborn — 2 singles, 1 double, 1 walk
Cole Hutchinson — 1 walk
Xavier Murdy — 2 singles, 3 walks
Aiden O’Neill — 1 single
Jack Porter — 1 double
Johnny Porter — 1 double, 1 walk
Sage Sharp — 2 singles, 1 walk
Jonathan Valenzuela — 2 singles, 2 walks
Cole White — 4 singles
Hawthorne Wolfe — 1 single, 1 triple, 1 walk
Kai Wong — 1 walk

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Stone soars, Riders struggle

April 15, 2022 by David Svien

Makana Stone rumbles in the paint. (Photo property Leicester Riders)

The offense never got out of neutral.

Held to a season-low scoring output Friday, the Leicester Riders fell 62-41 to a highly ranked Sevenoaks Suns squad seeking a bounce-back win.

A game after surrendering 102 points in a shocking upset to a lower-rung Nottingham franchise, the Suns were in lock-down mode in the lone Women’s British Basketball League game of the day.

The loss drops Leicester to 13-8 in league play, 17-10 overall.

Coupeville grad Makana Stone was one of the few Riders to find holes in the Sevenoaks defense, banging down low for 12 points and 10 rebounds.

She and Hannah Robb tied for team-high scoring stats, while Suns star Janice Monakana topped all players with 16 points.

Sevenoaks, which sits in second place in the 13-team WBBL, held off fourth place Leicester at every step of the way.

The Suns grabbed an early 20-14 lead, before stretching the advantage to 32-21 by the half.

Leicester trailed by as many as 20 points in the second half and could never get the lead down to single-digits, hitting on just 14 of 62 field goal attempts in the game.

Stone, in her first season of professional basketball, continues to build her stats game, however.

With the double-double, she has 232 points, 163 rebounds, 36 assists, 24 steals, and three blocked shots on the season.

Leicester returns to action Saturday with a game against the Cardiff Met Archers, who are 5-16 in WBBL regular season play.

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