1A state playoffs | Coupeville Sports

Posts Tagged ‘1A state playoffs’

Cow Town hits the big time!!

Posted in Baseball, Boys Tennis, Golf, Softball, Track, tagged 1A state playoffs, CHS Wolves, Ken Stange, The Rock on May 29, 2014| Leave a Comment »

The Rock, representing. (Ken Stange photo)

It has been a spring to remember.

As the smallest 1A school in the state, Coupeville High School has overcome the odds at every step, sending athletes to the state tournament in (count ’em!) five sports.

Wolf baseball has been, girls’ golf (Christine Fields) is there right now and track (Makana Stone), softball and boys’ tennis (Ben Etzell and Aaron Curtin) all hit the road Thursday morning for the trek to various locales in Eastern Washington.

It’s been six years since baseball made it this far, 12 for softball and Etzell and Curtin are the first boys’ tennis players to go to the big dance during Ken Stange’s run as CHS tennis coach.

Enjoy it while it happens. Spring 2014 — one pleasant surprise after another.

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Lone Wolf en fuego!!

Posted in Golf, tagged 1A state playoffs, Christine Fields, CHS Wolves, golf on May 28, 2014| Leave a Comment »

“Incoming missile and…

another birdie for me!!”

Christine Fields is tearin’ the joint up.

Playing in the 1A state girls’ golf tourney for the third straight year, the Coupeville High School junior is in fifth place after Wednesday’s opening round.

Fields, who finished 8th as a freshman and 15th as a sophomore, teed off at high noon in Lake Spanaway and was red-hot all the way round the links, carding an 84.

Defending champ Bree Wandersheid of Goldendale is atop the leader board with a 76, followed by Lauryn Keating of Elma (78), Hannah Roh of King’s (81) and Kendra Meeker of Friday Harbor.

South Whidbey’s Rosie Portillo, who Fields plays along side during the regular season, shot an 87 and will join her Wolf compatriot in Thursday’s second round.

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Be there (or be dead to me)!!

Posted in Softball, tagged 1A state playoffs, CHS Wolves, sendoff rally, Softball on May 28, 2014| Leave a Comment »

McKayla Bailey and Co. are state-bound. (Robert Bishop photos)

The Wolves fuel the fire between playoff games. Left to right are Madeline Roberts, Madeline Strasburg, Haley Sherman and Hailey Hammer.

OK, you might need to be a few minutes late to work.

Better yet, just take the day off.

Thursday morning you need to get yourself to the Coupeville High School gym by 9:45 AM or so, as we rally in the parking lot to give the Wolf softball squad a proper send-off to the state tourney.

The team that wouldn’t give in or back down, the team that baked and bought me more cookies than all the other CHS sports combined, departs for Richland and the 1A championships at a few minutes after 10 AM.

14 girls and two coaches making a trip that Coupeville hasn’t taken in 12 years, since the glory days of 2002, when the Wolves finished 3rd at state in their first-ever appearance in the fastpitch era.

Tennis players Ben Etzell and Aaron Curtin and track sensation Makana Stone also depart for various Eastern Washington locales tomorrow morning, hopeful of bringing home their own state trophies.

Golfer Christine Fields is a little closer to home, playing Wednesday and Thursday in Lake Spanaway for a state title.

And, of course, Wolf baseball made their own trek last weekend, though going to Anacortes was a little shorter trip. If they had made it through to the Final Four and were headed to Yakima, we’d do the same for them.

The seniors on this year’s team (Breeanna Messner, Haley Sherman and Madeline Roberts) were six the last time Wolf softball went to the Big Dance.

There are no guarantees of a return trip.

Granite Falls stormed through the Cascade Conference this season, winning the regular season title with only one league loss. But they’re sitting at home now, as the 2A state tourney gears up to start without them.

This is special.

It would be great if the Wolves went back every year, but there’s just as much chance these young women will be approaching 30 the next time a CHS squad gets this far.

Don’t miss what could be a one-time opportunity to send them off in style.

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Numbers don’t lie!!

Posted in Baseball, Boys Tennis, Golf, Softball, Track, tagged 1A state playoffs, CHS Wolves, One Whidbey, Suck it ATM, SWHS Falcons on May 27, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville made it to state in five sports this spring.

Dear ATM, grab a few more hundred dollar bills and go wipe your sweet, sweet tears with them.

Whidbey Island ruled this spring.

There are eight teams in the 1A/2A Cascade Conference, and Coupeville and South Whidbey combined to claim 10 of the conference’s 23 appearances at state.

Both the Wolves and Falcons were represented in five of the six spring sports, as geographically isolated public schools came in ahead of the big bucks, scholarship-offering, big city programs.

Archbishop Thomas Murphy (four sports) and King’s (three) couldn’t match the Whidbey schools, while Cedarcrest (two), Sultan (two), Lakewood (one) and Granite Falls (one) trailed far behind.

Coupeville was the only school to send both its baseball and softball teams to state, while also qualifying in girls’ golf, track and boys’ tennis (the season is in the fall, but state in the spring).

South Whidbey was right there with the Wolves, with baseball, boys’ soccer, girls’ golf, track and girls’ tennis represented.

Track was the great equalizer, as all eight schools got athletes through to state, while softball and tennis were the most demanding, with only two schools hitting pay dirt in each sport.

Breakdown by sport:

Baseball — Coupeville, South Whidbey, ATM

Softball — Coupeville, Sultan

Boys’ soccer — ATM, King’s, South Whidbey

Golf — Coupeville, ATM, King’s, South Whidbey, Cedarcrest

Track — Coupeville, ATM, King’s, South Whidbey, Cedarcrest, Granite Falls, Sultan, Lakewood

Tennis — Coupeville, South Whidbey

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“Don’t let up! Play from the heart!!”

Posted in A freakin' American hero, Softball, tagged 1A state playoffs, Ashley Heilig, CHS Wolves, Softball on May 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Ashley (Ellsworth-Bagby) Heilig, still feisty.

“Ma’am, yes ma’am!!” (Amy King photo)

Twelve years ago, Coupeville shocked the world.

Led by the feisty, pigtail-rockin’ Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby, the Wolf softball squad traveled to the state tourney and almost won the entire thing in their first go-round.

Four wins in five games later (the only loss to eventual champ Adna) and the 2002 team was forever immortalized, their third-place banner hanging prominently in the CHS gym. It’s the best finish by a team in school history.

Now, led by the triple threat trio of seniors Breeanna Messner, Madeline Roberts and Haley Sherman, who were in first grade back then, Coupeville is headed back to state this weekend.

Win or lose, the trip through the playoffs has been electric, filled with epic home runs (Maddie Big Time is dialed in), gut-check pitching from McKayla Bailey, who has thrown 99.2% of the pitches this season, and contributions from every girl on the 13-member squad.

As David and Amy King and their miracle squad get ready for the trip to Richland, the star of the 2002 team, now going by Ashley Heilig after her recent marriage, stopped by to deliver a few words unto her successors.

The feisty one speaks:

Congratulations, ladies!

You have worked so hard, you deserve this!

I can remember back in 2002 what an exciting time it was for us to make it to state.

It was the first year we switched from slow pitch to fast pitch so there was a huge learning curve, so we were shocked to even have made it that far.

We were lucky to have such a talented team of girls and so are you!

Now that you have made it this far, this is where the real work begins. Don’t let up. Play from the heart and make some amazing history for Coupeville Softball.

Let’s see if you can do better then 3rd place!

Ashley Heilig

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