Aaron Curtin | Coupeville Sports

Posts Tagged ‘Aaron Curtin’

Let the insanity begin!!

Posted in Athlete Supreme, Polls, tagged Aaron Curtin, Athlete Supreme, CHS Wolves, Hailey Hammer, Makana Stone, polls, third time on May 17, 2015| 1 Comment »

Clockwise, from top left, Valen Trujillo, Lauren Rose, Madeline Strasburg, Jacki Ginnings, Kacie Kiel, Julia Myers, Hailey Hammer, Makanas Stone. (John Fisken photos)

Clockwise, from top left, Valen Trujillo, Lauren Rose, Madeline Strasburg, Jacki Ginnings, Kacie Kiel, Julia Myers, Hailey Hammer, Makana Stone.

Clockwise, from top left, Aaron Curtin, Wiley Hesselgrave, CJ Smith, Matt Shank, Josh Bayne, Lathom Kelley, Sebastian Davis, Joel Walstad.

Wild West rules.

That’s what we’re going with as we kick off our 3rd annual Athlete Supreme battle, honoring those who played for Coupeville High School in 2014-2015.

You can vote as many times as your little voting finger can handle. Seriously.

So don’t complain if someone else goes wild.

Either get in there and scrap or take the high road and lose. Up to each of you.

From the moment the poll opens (that’s now) until noon Thursday, it’s open warfare.

Then we’ll declare a victor and someone will get a brief giddy rush of joy in joining former winners Nick Streubel and Amanda Fabrizi in claiming a contest with no real trophy, but some bragging rights.

In the first two years of the contest I went with 12 nominees (six Wolf girls and six boys), but this year I bumped it to 16.

Even so, a lot of very deserving CHS athletes got left off the list, starting with those who only played one sport or were limited by injuries.

But I had to cut somewhere, and even if I chose 61 and not 16, someone would be snubbed.

So remember, it’s a silly contest. But feel free to mentally cuss me out if it makes you feel better.

The nominees (alphabetically):

Josh Bayne — Olympic League MVP in football. All-State pick on both sides of the ball. Star baseball player.

Aaron Curtin — Going to state for second straight year in tennis. Threw a no-hitter in baseball. Star basketball player.

Sebastian Davis — Very strong tennis season. #2 scorer in soccer in his first season in the sport.

Jacki Ginnings — Team leader in soccer. #1 singles player and winner of league tourney in tennis.

Hailey Hammer — Capping 12-letter career (volleyball, basketball, softball) with another strong year. Hit an out-of-the-park grand slam against Klahowya.

Wiley Hesselgrave — All-League in football and basketball. Led basketball team in scoring.

Lathom Kelley — Big hitter/power rusher in football. Team’s fastest (and most versatile) male athlete in track.

Kacie Kiel — Volleyball and basketball star who played every game with a huge smile. Hit an epically clutch three-pointer in wildest game of the season.

Julia Myers — Anchored soccer’s defense in goal, then dropped elbows (and a lot of buckets) for league champs in basketball.

Lauren Rose — Starter at key positions (setter in volleyball, catcher in softball) for two varsity teams — as a freshman. Helped lead JV basketball squad to 9-0 league record.

Matt Shank — Rock-solid football lineman and basketball big man.

CJ Smith — Fast-emerging star in three sports (football, basketball, baseball).

Makana Stone — Olympic League MVP in basketball. Scored 367 points in 22 games (best by a CHS girl since 2003). Busting records every day as she heads towards a third straight trip to state as a track runner.

Madeline Strasburg — Volleyball star, electrifying force of nature on the basketball court.

Valen Trujillo — Queen of the floor burns as a volleyball player, hard-charging singles sensation in tennis.

Joel Walstad — Put up impressive numbers as starting QB in football (and got a college scholarship out of it), team leader in basketball and soccer.

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Heartache on the prairie!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged Aaron Curtin, baseball, Cascade Christian, CHS Wolves, playoffs on May 9, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Fueled by breakfast burritos, Carson Risner smacked a double in Saturday’s playoff loss. (John Fisken photos)

The game wa sthe final one for Wolf seniors Aaron Trumbull (pictured), Josh Bayne, Kyle Bodamer, Aaron Curtin and Risner.

It was the final game for Wolf seniors Aaron Trumbull (pictured), Josh Bayne, Kyle Bodamer, Aaron Curtin and Risner.

Baseball can be a cruel game.

Only one team walks off the diamond at the end of the year truly happy and the fate of entire seasons can come down to a handful of what seem at the time like relatively minor plays.

For Coupeville High School, its season ended prematurely Saturday on a sun-drenched prairie, as the Wolves fell victim to chance more than visiting Cascade Christian.

The 1-0 district playoff loss hinged on a ball that bounced off a glove, a minor base-running mistake and an inability to get a bunt down.

Take away a fluky run in the top of the first — the Cougars used a walk, a passed ball and a ground-out to move their batter to third, then brought him home when a chopper took a bad bounce and skittered off of Wolf third baseman Julian Welling’s glove — and we’re still playing.

Both pitchers were largely on-point, with Coupeville senior Aaron Curtin scattering just a pair of meaningless singles, and the Wolf defense making some nice plays to atone for the early error.

CHS ended a brief threat in the second when they trapped a Cougar between second and third in a rundown, then Wolf catcher Carson Risner gunned down a potential base stealer in the third.

The only problem is, there wasn’t much room to breathe and Coupeville couldn’t come up with that one big hit it so desperately needed.

Twice the Wolves pounded out doubles — their only two hits on the afternoon — only to watch in silent horror as the runner died a slow death on the base-paths.

The first time came in the bottom of the second, when Risner swatted a shot to right field and out-hustled the throw back in.

Fueled by breakfast burritos mom Jennie Prince fed him pre-game, the senior had some power to his swing.

Pinch runner Joey Lippo moved to third on a ground-out, but never got to touch home, as the Wolves ended the inning with a ground-out that rolled right straight to the Cascade first baseman.

Going Risner slightly better, Clay Reilly smoked a lead-off double down the left field line to kick-start the third and the stands were rockin’.

Unfortunately, the Wolves never came knockin’ at home, as the visiting pitcher bore down and notched back-to-back strike outs.

After a walk to Josh Bayne put two aboard, Cascade Christian closed out the last major Coupeville threat by snagging a liner off of Curtin’s bat.

The Wolves got the lead-off hitter on base in the sixth, but Cole Payne was erased in a double play when he was trapped too far off of first base when Bayne’s liner was nabbed by the Cougar second baseman.

Coupeville’s last dying breath came in the seventh, when freshman Hunter Smith cranked a one-out shot that seemed to have base hit written all over it.

Instead, a Cougar came flying out of nowhere and latched on to the liner in mid-air for a rolling catch that delighted the large contingent of Cascade fans next to the third base dugout.

With the win, Cascade Christian advances on to the double-elimination portion of districts, while Coupeville ends its season at 9-10.

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Just win, baby!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged 1A Olympic League, Aaron Curtin, baseball, CHS Wolves, CJ Smith, playoffs, small ball on May 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Aaron Curtin brings the heat. (Shelli Trumbull photo)

Wolf seniors (l to r) Kyle Bodamer, Aaron Trumbull, Aaron Curtin, Josh Bayne and Carson Risner. (Jimmy Myers photo)

In it to win it.

Using a mix of stellar pitching and quality “small ball” offense — two things it will need to have success in the playoffs — the Coupeville High School baseball squad ran away with an 8-1 win Tuesday over visiting Chimacum.

The Senior Night triumph, featuring another first-rate pitching performance from Aaron Curtin, clinched second place in the 1A Olympic League and guaranteed a home playoff game this Saturday for the Wolves.

Now 9-8 overall, 5-3 in league play, Coupeville will try and ruin undefeated Klahowya’s Senior Night Thursday, then welcome Cascade Christian to town for a 1 PM loser-out district playoff game.

Win that game and they advance to the double-elimination portion of districts, from which three of four teams will qualify for state.

Looking for a bit of revenge against a Chimacum squad they had stumbled against a week ago, the Wolves chipped away, notching a run in the second and another in the third.

Both runs came the same way — a single, a steal of second and then an RBI single.

Small ball at its best.

In the second, it was Hunter Smith setting the table and Aaron Trumbull bringing him home, while Josh Bayne and Carson Risner filled those roles in the second.

With Curtin dang near unhittable — he gave up just one fluky hit through the first six innings — the Wolves put the game away with a burst in the fifth.

The Wolves juiced the bags on a single from CJ Smith, a walk from Cole Payne and a bunt single from Bayne.

The senior speedster was so quick to the bag Chimacum’s pitcher could only shake his head in disbelief after fielding the ball, with a throw being pointless.

Coupeville then started rolling in the runs, without doing anything dramatic, scoring on a wild pitch, an error on a ball hit into the hole at short by Risner and a missed third strike.

“Not a “I need to talk to the hitting coach about how hard they hit it” inning, but some small ball and putting pressure on their defense,” said CHS hardball guru Willie Smith.

The Wolves tacked on three more in the sixth the same way, with Clay Reilly, CJ Smith and Payne scoring on an error, a sac fly and a passed ball.

While Chimacum shot itself repeatedly in the foot, Coupeville took advantage and did collect nine hits.

Bayne and CJ Smith led the way with two base knocks apiece.

Curtin never gave the Cowboys a chance to mount a comeback, whiffing the side twice while racking up nine K’s in a complete game win.

His defense had a hiccup in the seventh, booting a pair of balls to account for Chimacum’s lone run.

Never missing a beat, however, Curtin calmly closed the game out with a final punch-out on a ball so nasty all the Cowboy hitter could do was stand and watch it blow by him for strike three.

To see the playoff brackets, jump over to http://www.olympicleague.com/tournament.php?tournament_id=1542&sport=6

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Wolf frosh dazzles Redhawks!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged 1A Olympic League, Aaron Curtin, Aaron Trumbull, baseball, CHS Wolves, Hunter Smith on May 4, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Wolf freshman Hunter Smith tossed five solid innings on the mound and crunched a two-run double in a 12-2 win at Port Townsend. (John Fisken photos)

Aaron Trumbull had another big day, knocking in four runs with his quick bat.

The other Smith brother can fling a fastball, too.

A game after Coupeville High School junior CJ Smith was superb on the mound against Klahowya, younger brother Hunter took the ball Friday and shut down Port Townsend.

The Wolf freshman struck out seven over five innings, while not surrendering an earned run, as CHS rolled to a 12-2 victory.

The win gave the Wolves a three-game season sweep of the Redhawks and lifted them to 4-3 in the Olympic League, 8-8 overall.

Coupeville closes the regular season with a home game against Chimacum Tuesday and a road game at Klahowya Thursday.

Win one of those games and the Wolves clinch the #2 seed in the league and a home playoff game May 9.

Playing a Port Townsend squad mired in last place, Coupeville went out and did exactly what they needed to do — step on a team and step on them hard.

The Wolves rediscovered their hitting mojo and put good aluminum on the ball all day.

“I was pretty excited about how we got our runs,” said Wolf coach Willie Smith. “We got 11 hits on the day and I would say that the majority of our outs were all well-hit balls that were either line drives, deep drives, or hard grounders.”

With the Redhawks playing solid defense, Coupeville responded by running the bases aggressively and pushing for runs.

After chipping away with a run in the first (Carson Risner knocked in Cole Payne, who had singled and stole second) and another in the second (Aaron Trumbull walked, stole second and scored on an error), the Wolves exploded in the third.

Raining down seven runs in the inning, CHS batted around, with Aaron Curtin starting the inning with a walk and closing the offensive attack nine batters later with an RBI on a sac fly.

In between his plate appearances, the Wolves got a two-run double from Hunter Smith, RBI singles from Trumbull and Julian Welling and a two-run single from Josh Bayne.

“It was nice to see us actually produce runs through solid hits rather than rolling over on grounders and allowing the other team to make errors to get our runs,” Willie Smith said.

Port Townsend scratched out two runs in the fourth, using a walk, Coupeville’s lone error and a two-run triple to get a rally briefly started.

But, as soon as the damage began, Hunter Smith snuffed the fire right back out, striking out the next Redhawk to strand the runner at third.

Determined to catch the earliest ferry back to the Island, the Wolves banged home three more in the fifth to put the game on ice.

Cameron Toomey-Stout walked and stole second, Gabe Wynn singled and stole second (a recurring theme on the day), then Hunter Smith walked to juice the bags for Trumbull.

Swinging a wicked hot bat all afternoon, the senior promptly lashed a shot to right center to bring home all of his younger teammates, capping a four-RBI day.

Coupeville spread out its offense, with every player who drew an at-bat reaching base via hit or walk.

“I was very happy with our approach at the plate,” Willie Smith said.

The hardball guru was also quite pleased with his young hurler and how he handled the in-game pressures.

“Defensively, it was a lot of Hunter; he did a great job of locating his fastball and keeping them off balance with a solid curve.”

“He got two sliding catches in left field from Aaron Curtin, but I’m pretty sure he was just showboating!,” he said with a laugh.

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“Baseball can be very humbling!!”

Posted in Baseball, tagged 1A Olympic League, Aaron Curtin, baseball, CHS Wolves, Hunter Smith on April 27, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Wolf hurler Aaron Trumbull was effective Monday, but the defense behind him, and his team’s offensive attack, were not. (John Fisken photo)

It has been a season of inconsistency for the Coupeville High School baseball squad.

When the Wolves are good, they’re very, very good. And when they’re not, they can drive a coach to distraction.

“As we found out today, baseball can be a very humbling game,” said CHS hardball guru Willie Smith. “One minute you make a great play, hit the ball hard, hustle out a hit, then the next … is today.”

Taking several steps backward, the Wolves came out flat (“a disturbing trend in the last few games”) and were anemic on offense and wild on defense, allowing host Chimacum, winless in 12 prior games this season, to stroll to a 7-3 win.

The loss, the team’s third in the last four games, dropped CHS to 7-7 overall, 3-2 in Olympic League play.

It was also not the confidence builder the Wolves might have wanted heading into their rematch Wednesday with Klahowya (13-0, 3-0), the state’s #1 ranked 1A team.

Playing a Cowboy squad they might have expected to roll, the Wolves instead scuffled for most of the afternoon, almost pulled out a win, then fell apart again at the dispiriting end.

Coupeville hurler Aaron Trumbull was effective on the mound, but his defense sputtered behind him, leading to three unearned runs and a quick deficit to overcome.

The Wolves finally got on the board in the fourth, when Aaron Curtin singled, stole second and came around to score on a ground-out from Trumbull.

Briefly rallying, Coupeville tied it up at 3-3 with two runs in the top of the sixth.

Curtin cracked a double to right, before Carson Risner reached base when Chimacum juggled his hard-hit ball.

Cameron Toomey-Stout, running for Risner, stole second to set up fellow frosh Hunter Smith, who delivered a two-run single back up the middle.

Coupeville looked like they might get more, with Clay Reilly eking out a walk, but the Wolves stranded two (“our downfall of late”) and couldn’t break the tie.

As quickly as things went the way of the Wolves, they took a u-turn, however.

Chimacum immediately rebounded with a four-run rally in the bottom of the inning, with one play perfectly capturing all of Coupeville’s agony in one horrifying snapshot.

An RBI singled plated one Cowboy, then the Wolves threw the ball away twice on the play.

After failing to get a second runner coming home, Coupeville airmailed the ball back into center, allowing the hitter to come all the way around.

A ragged defense and a sudden lack of punch at the plate — Curtin (2), Hunter Smith (2) and Risner (1) accounted for the team’s five hits — both worry Willie Smith.

“We need to figure out how to hit the ball again and we don’t have much time to get it done,” he said. “Some have some minor things to fix, many have mental things to fix; either way we have to get it done and that will be mine and our coaches jobs.

“Right now, it’s about getting back to being consistent and playing strong defense again; if we can do that we will be alright, if not, well then we will have an early May.”

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