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Wolves keep swinging until the end!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged baseball, CHS Wolves, Clay Reilly, playoffs, Seattle Christian on May 13, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Staff ace CJ Smith is one of three seniors who the Wolves will lose to graduation. (Sylvia Hurlburt photo)

Junior left fielder Gabe Wynn is one of seven starters who could return next season. (John Fisken photo)

Better than Klahowya.

The Coupeville High School baseball squad bowed 6-1 to Seattle Christian Thursday, ending its playoff run, but they didn’t get shellacked like their Olympic League rivals.

The Eagles were drilled 10-1 when they faced the Warriors in the opening round of the district playoffs and were one and done.

The Wolves, as league champs, got two tries, but a loss to Cascade Christian Tuesday put them in a precarious spot, and Seattle Christian finished the job behind stellar pitching.

Coupeville finished its first year under Marc Aparicio at 10-12.

“Great season. Wish it would have lasted a bit longer,” said the hardball guru.

With the win, Seattle Christian gets a chance to play for a berth in the state playoffs Saturday.

Their foe will be Vashon Island, the Nisqually League’s #1 seed, which was upset 4-2 Thursday in the district championship game by Cascade Christian.

The Warriors blitzed Coupeville behind a superb performance by hurler Alex Evenson, who took a perfect game into the sixth inning.

The Wolves refused to go down easily, however, breaking up the no-no on a sharply-hit single by junior Clay Reilly.

While he was gunned down by half a step on a subsequent steal attempt, CHS then put together three consecutive singles to plate its only run of the afternoon.

The base knocks came off of the bats of Ethan Marx, Matt Hilborn and Hunter Smith.

Coupeville added a fifth hit in the seventh, when Kory Score laced a single, but that was it for the late-game revival at the plate.

Seattle Christian scored early, putting two across in the first, plating three in the second and tacking on a final run in the third, then coasted home.

While the loss ended Coupeville’s season, the Wolves, a very young team, can look back in pride on being the first CHS baseball squad to win a league title since 1991.

They lose just three seniors, with staff ace CJ Smith, rock-solid catcher Cole Payne and utility man Brenden Gilbert bidding farewell to the program.

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“Glad to have that one behind us…”

Posted in Baseball, tagged baseball, Cascade Christian, CHS Wolves, playoffs, ten runned on May 10, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Kory Score, seen here in an earlier game, had one of Coupeville’s two hits Tuesday. (Sylvia Hurlburt photo)

You can’t say Marc Aparicio doesn’t have a positive outlook on life.

All season long, the first-year Coupeville High School baseball coach has remained on an even keel, through big wins and tough losses.

So, having watched his squad suffer through its worst game of the season Tuesday, while playing on the biggest stage yet, he stayed on message.

“Every setback is a set-up for a comeback.”

The Wolves will need a bounce-back to keep their season going, with a 13-0 loss against Cascade Christian, in a district playoff game held at Curtis High School, putting them in must-win mode.

Coupeville (10-11 on the season) heads to Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma Thursday (4 PM) to meet Seattle Christian (11-9) in a loser-out game.

Win and the Wolves return to Curtis HS Saturday (12 PM), with a chance to punch their ticket to state.

To follow the bracket, pop over to:

http://www.nisquallyathletics.com/tournament.php?tournament_id=1906&sport=6

The Wolves will be back at full strength Thursday after playing minus starting shortstop Hunter Smith against Cascade Christian.

With its lead-off hitter MIA thanks to a one-game suspension (fallout from an ejection for arguing balls and strikes in the regular season finale), Coupeville shuffled the lineup slightly Tuesday.

Sophomore Julian Welling got the nod on the mound, with staff ace CJ Smith sliding to short to cover for his brother.

Things started out halfway decent, with both teams coming up scoreless in the first.

Cascade Christian punched a single, but Welling ended the inning with a strikeout, then the Wolves put two runners on in their half of the inning.

A single from CJ Smith and a walk to Gabe Wynn seemed like a promising start, but CHS left two aboard and it would prove to be the most sustained offensive attack the Wolves would mount the entire game.

The Cougars exploded for seven runs in the top of the second, stringing together five hits and taking advantage of several Coupeville errors.

Miscues bit the Wolves in the rear all afternoon, as several more errors in the fourth led to another six runs being plated.

At the same time, Coupeville had little success at the plate, with only a Kory Score single and a pair of third-inning walks to its credit after the first inning.

Score’s base knock in the fourth was immediately followed by three straight Wolves being punched out on strikes.

One bright spot at the tail end of the game came from sophomore hurler Nick Etzell, who retired four batters on eight pitches after coming on in relief.

As he headed home, Aparicio was already looking towards the future, while perhaps ruing his choice of pregame meals.

“I think we determined our bad luck started when I ate a hot dog off the ferry,” he said. “I don’t recommend it. Not sure how long it had been sitting there.

“Glad to have that one behind us. Looking on to the next game.”

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Diamond gems sparkle!!

Posted in Baseball, Softball, Wolves in college, tagged baseball, Ben Etzell, CHS Wolves, Monica Vidoni, Softball on May 9, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Monica Vidoni gives a teammate a lift up. (Photo courtesy Vidoni)

Madeline Roberts hangs out with mom Lisa Edlin. (John Fisken photo)

One season ends, while three others roll on.

Of the four Coupeville High School grads currently playing college softball or baseball, Monica Vidoni was the first to kick her season off, and now she’s the first to reach the finish line.

Vidoni and her Rainy River Community College (Minnesota) teammates wrapped a 28-14 season by playing in the NJCAA Region 13B tourney this past weekend.

The Voyaguers won two games, with their freshman outfielder chipping in with a pair of hits, an RBI and a spectacular, juggling catch.

Vidoni snagged a ball over her head, only to have the ball pop out of her glove. Diving down, she successfully re-snared it.

“It was a scary catch,” Vidoni said with a laugh.

She finished the season with a .310 batting average, 20 hits (including three home runs and two doubles), 12 RBI, 16 runs and seven walks.

The other three Wolf alumni playing college ball — Ben Etzell, Madeline Roberts and Hailey Hammer — started their seasons later than Vidoni and still have games left to play.

Etzell, a sophomore at Saint John’s University in Minnesota, starts the postseason this Thursday.

The Johnnies (25-12) open the MIAC tourney against Hamline University in Cold Spring, Minnesota.

Etzell is 2-1 with 33 strikeouts in 10 games on the mound for Saint John’s, while he has six hits, seven runs, two doubles, four walks and four RBI at the plate.

Hammer, a frosh at Everett Community College (15-17) has four regular season games left in her first campaign.

She has amassed 13 hits (including a dinger), six RBI, eight runs and five walks while fighting through injury trouble.

Roberts, who is closing in on the end of a two-year run at Shoreline Community College, has nine hits, five walks, four stolen bases, four runs and three RBI for a 12-14 squad.

The Dolphins have six games left in their season.

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Sweet, sweet revenge on the menu?

Posted in Baseball, tagged baseball, Cascade Christian, CHS Wolves, playoffs, Tuesday! Tuesday! Tuesday! on May 7, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Cole Payne and fellow Wolf veterans will get a chance for revenge in their playoff opener. (Sylvia Hurlburt photo)

One year and one day.

That will be the gap between playoff baseball games waged by Coupeville and Cascade Christian.

May 9, 2015, the Cougars brought an end to Willie Smith’s coaching career, sending the longtime CHS hardball guru into retirement after beating the Wolves 1-0 on Whidbey.

Now, the two teams meet again this Tuesday, May 10, only this time on a neutral field, and without the specter of a loss ending a season hanging over things.

Coupeville (10-10 on the season) is the #1 seed from the 1A Olympic League, having won its first baseball league title in 25 years.

Because of that, the Wolves skipped the one-and-done round this year and start districts off in the double-elimination portion.

Cascade Christian (10-6) survived a loser-out game Saturday, when it nipped Chimacum 2-0.

The Cougars and Wolves tangle at 4 PM Tuesday at Curtis High School in University Place.

The winner advances to the district championship May 12 against either Nisqually League champ Vashon Island (13-4) or Seattle Christian (11-8), which eliminated Klahowya 10-1 Saturday.

To take a gander at the district playoff bracket and ponder the different ways Coupeville could win two games and advance to state, pop over to:

http://www.olympicleague.com/tournament.php?tournament_id=1906&sport=6

Cascade Christian and Coupeville are fairly similar, at least stat-wise.

The Cougars (ranked #25 by ScoreCzar) have outscored foes 84-58 (5.25-3.63 per game), while the Wolves (#26 in the latest computer tally) sit at 109-94 (5.50-4.70).

Coupeville will be down a man, though, as sophomore lead-off hitter Hunter Smith has to serve a one-game suspension for being ejected in the season finale for arguing balls and strikes.

Wolf baseball moms are planning a send-off for the team Tuesday. Tentative plans have it set for 11:30 AM in front of the CHS gym.

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“A good season of growth for all involved!!”

Posted in Baseball, tagged baseball, CHS Wolves, Jonathan Thurston, JV, Mike Etzell on May 5, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Hardball guru Mike Etzell (Sylvia Hurlburt photo)

That moment when hardball guru Mike Etzell realizes he’s left the book in the hands of the freshmen. Be afraid. Be very afraid. (Sylvia Hurlburt photo)

The future of Wolf baseball. (Scott Losey photo)

Mike Etzell has seen a lot of things in his years on the diamond as a baseball coach.

When he looked at the book from Wednesday’s JV game in Klahowya, the Coupeville High School hardball guru discovered something new, however.

“As for the book – oh my,” Etzell said with a laugh. “The book was done by a committee of a few fellas who shall remain nameless to protect the not-so-innocent…”

It’s a work of “beauty” that starts in ink, ends in pencil, has batters listed for the ninth inning (in a seven inning game), and at one point just has a giant question mark scrawled in place of a play.

Still, look hard enough and you can decipher a 10-4 loss to the host Eagles, which brings the Wolf young guns to a final record of 5-3-1 on the season.

Coupeville jumped on Klahowya for two in the first, with Cameron Toomey-Stout (walk) and Ty Eck (single) both coming around to score.

The Eagles responded with four in the first and four more in the second, stringing together a “series of softly-hit ground balls,” while the Wolf offensive mojo faded a bit.

CHS rallied to plate two more in the fourth.

We know Nick Etzell and Eck scored, but I don’t care how long you look at the book, you ain’t figuring out how they scored.

Jonathan Thurston and Nick Etzell shared pitching duties for the Wolves in the JV season finale.

While the Wolves lost, Mike Etzell (who was worked with Chris Smith this season, who was back on Whidbey Wednesday for a varsity game) came away pleased with a lot of what he saw this season.

“Unfortunate ending to a good season of growth for all involved,” he said. “We wish we could suit ’em up for a few more…”

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