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Wolves spark OH Babe Ruth to epic win!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged baseball, CMS Wolves, Joey Lippo, OH Babe Ruth on May 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Joey Lippo goes low to snag the ball at short. (Joe Lippo photo)

Andrew Eaton (left) and Kamren Mebane, stars on the rise. Time for their parents to move to Coupeville… (Teresa Besaw photo)

Contributed by Joe Lippo

With a January wind blowing in from right field like a freezing typhoon, the Oak Harbor Babe Ruth squad welcomed Sedro-Woolley to town.

Sedro came ready to play, as they were present and accounted for fully an hour and a half before game time.

Josh Margraff started on the mound, and ran into some issues early on, but his fielders kept the ‘Cats in the game, allowing no runs through two innings.

In the third, Coach Trisler changed it up, putting Coupeville eighth graders Joey Lippo and Hunter Smith in at shortstop and catcher, respectively, and installing Chris Trisler on the mound.

Although this is supposed to be a Coupeville sports blog, it was Oak Harbor pitcher Trisler who really stole the show.

Nearly everyone in the lineup got hits, including doubles from Lippo (who is now off the schneid), Gabe Eck, and Kamren Mebane (who advanced to third on an error).

Others were unlucky at the plate, with Smith smacking two really good hits only to be robbed by Sedro outfielders in ESPN Top Ten fashion.

While Oak Harbor steadily racked up the runs, Trisler was just as steadily sitting Sedro batters down, striking out nearly every batter he faced.

Those that made contact were quickly thrown out by the infield of Caleb Fitzgerald, James Besaw and Thomas Anderson.

Likewise, some balls made it to the outfield to be soaked up by Andrew Eaton, Eck and Mebane.

In the bottom of the fifth, with the score 8-0, Mebane, Anderson and Lippo all reached base to load them up for Trisler.

After that it was time to break out the rye bread and mustard as Trisler launched a walk off grand slam over the center field fence, ending the game in five.

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Wolves power OH baseball squad!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged baseball, CMS Wolves, Gabe Eck, Joey Lippo, Ty Eck on May 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Joey Lippo

Contributed by Joe Lippo.

There were four boys from Coupeville who were invited to play on the Oak Harbor Babe Ruth Wildcats travel baseball team.

CMS 8th graders Hunter Smith and Joey Lippo and 7th graders Gabe and Ty Eck made the cut this year.

To recap the start of the season, the Oak Harbor boys were having issues finding the sweet spot, and dropped their first six games.

Admittedly, these games were against teams from the older section of the league, including a Ferndale team that made the Everett Silvertips look small.

However, things started coming together this week.

A trip to Mount Vernon resulted in a loss, but the Cats answered back with a convincing win in the second game of the home and away series.

Saturday they took the long ferry ride to Friday Harbor for a double header.

The first game featured Friday Harbor scoring all its runs in the first and second innings, and then getting totally outplayed in the last five.

Smith and Lippo accounted for two RBI in the comeback attempt, and Gabe Eck made several key catches at center field. Thomas Anderson flashed the leather at third base, while Kamren Mebane soaked up everything that came his way at first.

It was not to be however, and the game ended as several players could be heard wishing for “one more inning” to complete the comeback.

The second game saw the Oak Harbor bats staying alive to take an early lead off hits from James Besaw, Drew Eaton and Chris Trisler.

Through the middle innings, Friday Harbor chipped away at the Wildcat lead, and the score at the top of the 5th was 6-4 in favor of Oak Harbor, but with Friday Harbor coming on strong.

Sensing that the momentum had shifted away from his team, Coach Shawn Trisler put Josh Margraff on the mound, shifted Ty Eck to second and put Lippo in at shortstop.

Then Margraff, Lippo and Smith, who was catching, proceeded to shut down Friday Harbor over the next three innings.

Margraff threw everything under the sun, including a breaking ball that went straight for the batters head, and then sank neatly across the plate.

Lippo made a dazzling play at shortstop, and Smith picked off a runner at third.

The bats also came back in the sixth for Oak Harbor, as it ran the score up to 8-4.

The bottom of the 7th featured a Friday Harbor home run, but that was all they could muster as Margraff helped his own cause with a pickoff at 2nd and a strikeout.

He capped things by fielding a comeback ball neatly, flipping to Besaw at first for the final out and an 8-5 win.

Both games featured a season low for errors (a problem that Oak Harbor has been struggling with), and more hits, a sure combination for victory.

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By any means necessary!!

Posted in A freakin' American hero, Baseball, tagged baseball, Ben Etzell, CHS Wolves, pitch count on May 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Bam.

Ben Etzell can still lift his arm, so it’s all good. (Sylvia Arnold photo)

He was carrying them to state, even if his arm fell off.

Coupeville High School senior right hander Ben Etzell was flat-out brilliant (once again) Saturday, crushin’ it in the hottest spotlight.

With his team’s first trip to state in six seasons hanging in the balance, he hucked 143 pitches over eight innings against Overlake in a tri-district game.

As Wolf reliever Aaron Trumbull warmed up, the Wolves came through in the bottom of the eighth to send Etzell out a winner.

When Kurtis Smith smoked a single back up the middle, Jake Tumblin went from zero to 90 in .03 of a second, singeing the base paths as he tore from second to home with the game-winning run in a 1-0 thriller.

Now, Etzell has a week to ice his arm down and get ready for Rochester in the opening game of the state tourney.

16 teams left alive, and one of them is because of the dude who hit 143 on the counter.

P.S. — Rochester had a pitcher, Dylan Fosnacht, throw 194 pitches over 15 innings in a district game last week, garnering national attention.

Let’s get ready to rumble!!

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State tourney, here we come!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged 1A tri-districts, Aaron Curtin, baseball, CHS Wolves on May 18, 2014| 1 Comment »

Senior Morgan Payne is all smiles after his team advanced to state. (Shelli Trumbull photos)

Assistant coach Chris Tumblin and Kurtis Smith, who won a state title together in little league, enjoy another diamond delight.

“We’re going to Anacortes!” Cause no one wants to go to Castle Rock. No one.

Sometimes third place is better than second.

With two wins in two games at tri-districts Saturday, the Coupeville High School baseball squad clinched its first trip to state since 2008, and, better yet, will get to start fairly close to home.

The Wolves (14-10) slipped past Overlake 1-0 in eight innings and then swatted Life Christian 6-3 to run their record against fellow 1A schools to a shiny 6-2.

As the third-place team from tri-districts, Coupeville will open the state tourney in Anacortes Saturday, May 24.

The Wolves will face Rochester (16-6) in a loser-out game. Win and they advance to play the survivor of Cedar Park Christian (18-2) and Hoquiam (15-8) for a chance to make the final four in Yakima.

Cascade Conference rival South Whidbey lost 5-2 to CPC to finish second and will have to travel further, heading down to Castle Rock to play Tenino.

Win that and the Falcons face the winner of Life Christian and Woodland.

If the two Whidbey schools meet for a fifth time this season (they’ve split the first four meetings), it will be in Yakima and both schools will be guaranteed a state banner.

The Wolves are flying high on an emotional wave right now.

After gutting out the win over Overlake — scoring the winning run in the bottom of the eighth when a Kurtis Smith single scored Jake Tumblin — Coupeville jumped on Life Christian early.

The Wolves used a two-run double from Aaron Curtin and RBI singles from Aaron Trumbull and Cole Payne to stake hurler CJ Smith to a quick 4-0 lead.

Despite taking a shot off the shins at one point, he made it stand up.

After Life Christian scraped its way back into the game at 4-3, CHS scored two in the sixth to slam the door.

The game’s final ball was a chopper to Josh Bayne, who made the throw to second and kept Coupeville’s second-half charge going strong.

The Wolves are 4-1 in the playoffs this season after going 0-2 a season ago.

State brackets:

http://www.wiaadistrict1.com/tournament.php?act=view&league=1&page=1&school=0&sport=6&tournament_id=1251

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Ticket punched!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged baseball, Ben Etzell, CHS Wolves, Kurtis Smith on May 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Kurtis Smith, hero of the prairie.

Watch out, here comes Whidbey!

Jake Tumblin scored from second on an RBI single off the bat of Kurtis Smith in the bottom of the eighth inning Saturday morning, lifting the Coupeville High School baseball squad to a 1-0 extra-inning victory over Overlake at the 1A Tri-District tourney.

The win clinched a state berth for the Wolves (13-10) for the first time since 2008 and they will join Island mates South Whidbey in being part of the big dance.

Coupeville, which started the day at Sehome High School, now moves over to Meridian to play in the 3rd/4th place game at 4 PM.

If the Wolves win, they open the state tourney May 24 in Anacortes. If they lose, they travel to Castle Rock.

Either place, if they win two games next Saturday, they would head to Yakima for the state semifinals and the school’s first banner in any team sport in a decade plus.

Playing their private school counterparts Saturday, Coupeville benefited from another strong performance on the mound from Ben Etzell. The senior hurler twice punched out a batter to end an inning with a runner camped at third.

The second time he pulled the trick came in the top of the seventh, when Overlake had the bags juiced.

Etzell got defensive help from Tumblin, his catcher, and centerfielder Wade Schaef.

Schaef pulled off the web gem of the morning when he snagged a difficult fly to center, then gunned down a runner straying off of second to complete the double play.

With the game still scoreless, and Etzell about to be lifted in favor of reliever Aaron Trumbull, CHS finally found a run in the bottom of the eighth.

Schaef led off with a walk, but was forced at second on a grounder by Tumblin. The speedy senior then took second on a passed ball, before scampering home to be mobbed after Smith ripped a shot back up the middle.

The final run of the group that won a state title in little league as eighth and seventh graders rolls on, and the questions remains: why not us?

Why not, indeed.

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