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Battle for #1 spot rages

Posted in standings, tagged baseball, CHS Wolves, girls tennis, Northwest League, Softball, standings on April 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

CHS softball coach Kevin McGranahan ponders the possibilities. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The lightest week of the season looms.

With spring break arriving for Coupeville schools, the Wolves have an extremely limited schedule over the next seven days.

Girls tennis is completely off, while track and field competes just once, traveling to Bellingham Saturday, Apr. 8 for the Birger Solberg Invitational.

CHS baseball doesn’t return to the field until the same day, when it will be in Concrete for a road game.

Meanwhile, the only Wolf team with multiple events on the schedule is softball, which plays a makeup game Thursday, Apr. 6 at home against Cedar Park Christian-Bothell, then hits the road to Concrete two days later.

Where things stand heading into the slow part of the season:

Northwest League baseball:

School	League	Overall
MV Christian	5-0	5-2
Coupeville	3-1	5-3
Friday Harbor	1-1	1-3
Darrington	2-3	3-3
Orcas Island	2-3	4-3
Concrete	0-2	0-2
La Conner	0-3	1-5

Northwest League girls tennis:

School	League	Overall
Coupeville	1-0	1-2
Friday Harbor	0-1	0-1

Northwest League softball:

School	League	Overall
Darrington	3-0	4-0
Friday Harbor	2-0	5-2
Coupeville	2-1	4-3
Orcas Island	1-3	1-7
Concrete	0-2	0-4
La Conner	0-2	0-7

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Fab frosh spark diamond rally

Posted in Baseball, tagged baseball, Camden Glover, CHS Wolves, late rally, Orcas Island on April 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Camden Glover delivered big pitches and big hits to spark a come-from-behind win Saturday. (Photo courtesy Stevie Glover)

The rally caps worked.

Sparked by big plays from freshmen Camden Glover and Coop Cooper, the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad roared from behind Saturday, scoring four runs in the final two innings to topple visiting Orcas Island 5-4.

The victory lifts the Wolves to 3-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 5-3 overall, and gives them sole possession of second place in the seven-team NWL heading into spring break.

Coupeville, which trails just Mount Vernon Christian (5-0) in the race to defend its league crown, returns to action next Saturday, Apr. 8, when it travels to Concrete.

Saturday’s showdown pitted the Wolves against a very-tough Orcas squad, and Mother Nature let the showdown go on, opting not to bust out rain as expected.

The two teams delivered a pitcher’s duel early, with the game knotted at 1-1 after three innings.

Coupeville pushed a run across in the bottom of the second thanks to consecutive singles from Jonathan Valenzuela, Jack Porter, and Glover, while Orcas responded with a run of its own in the top of the third.

That tally was set up by a walk and a pair of Wolf errors, as the hometown hardball squad struggled a bit with its glovework.

Orcas crept ahead with two runs in the fourth, and another in the fifth, with another error and a wild pitch being daggers which pierced the Wolves.

Even down 4-1, CHS wasn’t ready to accept its impending loss, however.

The Wolves manufactured a run in the bottom of the fifth, with leadoff hitter Scott Hilborn earning a two-out walk, before stealing second, moving to third on a balk, and scampering home on a passed ball.

That cut the margin to 4-2, and Glover, on in relief to start the sixth, closed the game with two scoreless innings of work on the mound.

After surrendering a single to kick things off, he retired the next three Vikings in a row, setting the stage for the big rally.

The bottom of the sixth was a showcase of steady Wolf nerves, with Valenzuela and Porter nabbing walks, the latter after being plunked by a wayward pitch.

Then came the crunch time base knocks, as Glover and Cooper delivered back-to-back blows which found openings in the defense.

Glover’s single to left sliced the deficit to 4-3, while Cooper’s shot up the middle — with a little help from an Orcas error — plated two runners to give CHS a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

The Vikings didn’t go down easy, drawing two walks in the top of the seventh, but Coupeville’s young hurler wasn’t having it.

Rearing back and throwing heat, Glover got the final two outs of the game on big strikeouts, as he finished with three K’s.

Coupeville’s starting pitcher, Hilborn, rang up seven Vikings across five innings of work, giving the Wolf duo a combined 10 punchouts on the afternoon.

Saturday stats:

Chase Anderson — One walk
Coop Cooper — One single
Camden Glover — Two singles
Scott Hilborn — One walk
Jack Porter — One single, one walk
Jonathan Valenzuela — One single, two walks

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Bad inning betrays hardball squad

Posted in Baseball, tagged baseball, CHS Wolves, Mount Vernon Christian, Northwest League, Scott Hilborn on March 30, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Wolf seniors (l to r) Scott Hilborn, Jonathan Valenzuela, and Piotr Bieda play at home Saturday. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Do we have to count every inning?

Take away the bottom of the fifth Thursday, and the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad returns from the road with a win in a first-place battle with Mount Vernon Christian.

Unfortunately, one bad frame — with the Wolves surrendering seven runs to the Hurricanes — was enough to send them to a 12-7 loss.

That drops Coupeville to 2-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 4-3 overall, while MVC (4-2) gets to 4-0 in conference action.

The Wolves built a 3-0 lead, let it slip away for a moment, then regained the advantage before the frame o’ death proved fatal.

MVC rapped out four hits in the bottom of the fifth, including an RBI double, but also benefited from drawing four walks — with three of those coming with the bases loaded, forcing in a run.

Coupeville also hurt itself in the inning by committing two errors and allowing another run to scamper home on a wild pitch.

The seven-run burst turned a 6-5 Wolf lead into a 12-6 deficit, which proved to be too much to recover from.

Things had looked much brighter in the early going, as starting pitcher Jonathan Valenzuela faced the minimum batters through two innings.

He gave up one walk, but immediately picked the runner off, rifling the ball to first-baseman Landon Roberts to catch the Hurricane straying.

After squandering a Chase Anderson double and a Cole White walk in the top of the first, the Wolves broke through to score a pair in the second, and another run in the third.

Coop Cooper put Coupeville up 2-0 with a two-run single to center, plating Camden Glover (walk) and Jack Porter (single), before Glover came back around to lash an RBI single an inning later.

MVC finally broke Valenzuela’s spell in the bottom of the third, scoring four runs thanks to a mix of walks, Wolf errors, and a well-placed sac fly.

Trailing for the first time, Coupeville responded in the top of the fourth, reclaiming the lead at 6-4 thanks to a bunch of steals and RBI singles from Anderson and White.

The Hurricanes nailed another sac fly to cut things to 6-5, but Glover ended the bottom of the fourth by snuffing out a would-be base thief trying to scramble to third base.

That seemed to set the stage for a back-and-forth battle, befitting the game being a battle for sole possession of first place in the NWL, but the terrible, horrible, no good fifth inning was fast approaching.

Once it fell behind for good, Coupeville put runners aboard in both the sixth and seventh but could only get one guy home.

That was Anderson, who walked, stole second, and lit out for home on a Valenzuela RBI single to center in the sixth.

While the loss stings, the Wolves get a chance to get right back on a win streak Saturday, when they host Orcas Island.

First pitch is at noon.

Thursday’s stats:

Chase Anderson — One single, one double, one walk
Coop Cooper — One single, one walk
Camden Glover — One single, one walk
Aiden O’Neill — One walk
Jack Porter — Two singles
Yohannon Sandles — One walk
Jonathan Valenzuela — One single, one walk
Cole White — One single, one walk

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Diamond men claim huge win

Posted in Baseball, tagged baseball, Chase Anderson, CHS Wolves, Friday Harbor, Scott Hilborn on March 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Fab frosh Chase Anderson, ready to make the magic happen. (Morgan White photo)

“The Magic Man” delivered.

Freshman Chase Anderson, already a grizzled vet in his second season of high school ball, smacked a game-busting RBI single in the top of the sixth inning Tuesday, lifting Coupeville to an important early-season win.

That base knock, and a stellar pitching performance from senior Scott Hilborn, sparked the Wolves to a 3-1 win on Friday Harbor.

With the victory, CHS gets to 2-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 4-2 overall.

Even more important, those first two conference W’s have come against La Conner and Friday Harbor — the other two 2B schools in the seven-team NWL.

While 1B schools Orcas Island and Mount Vernon Christian look ready to tangle with the 2B schools for the league title, Coupeville’s shot at making the state playoffs solely rests on how it does against schools in its own classification.

The Wolves play both La Conner and Friday Harbor twice more in the regular season, but a 2-0 start bodes well for the future.

Especially after CHS won a true gut-check on the road Tuesday afternoon.

Trailing 1-0 through three innings, the Wolves knotted things at 1-1 in the top of the fourth, thanks to timely hitting and some Friday Harbor miscues.

Anderson dropped a bunt, then flustered the host team badly enough to land on second base during the ensuing error-fest by the Wolverines.

The frosh phenom moved to third base on a Cole White single, only to be picked off the bag.

No worries, however, as Wolf senior Jonathan Valenzuela promptly lashed an RBI single to center, sending White scrambling home with the tying run.

Friday Harbor’s opening tally, which came thanks to an error and an RBI double off the bat of senior Geoffry Volk, was the only time the hosts dinged Coupeville ace Scott Hilborn.

Pitching the way dad (and coach) Steve taught him, the Wolf senior whiffed 10 batters across six innings of work, with most of his K’s coming at clutch moments.

With the game knotted at 1-1, and the younger Hilborn throwing heat, Coupeville surged ahead in the top of the sixth.

The Wolf hurler zipped a one-out single to center, then stole second and third to set the stage for his young teammate.

Anderson’s blow also landed in the middle of the outfield, then Coupeville notched an insurance run thanks to a walk to White and a sac fly from Valenzuela.

Desperate to get back into the game, Friday Harbor pushed hard, getting two runners aboard in the bottom of the sixth, and another in the seventh, and final, frame.

Both times Coupeville pitchers came up huge.

First, Scott Hilborn induced a grounder back to the mound to end the sixth, pivoting and plopping the ball into the waiting glove of Landon Roberts at first base.

Then, in the seventh, Valenzuela came out of the bullpen to slam the door shut, ripping off back-to-back strikeouts to open things.

Friday Harbor slipped a single into a gap, bringing the tying run to the plate, but the Wolverines were denied, their final out of the day a weak grounder to second.

All that left was the celebration, with the Wolves flexing the win all over Instagram.

Coupeville, which has a road game at MVC Thursday and a home clash against Orcas Saturday, got something from everyone in the lineup in the road win.

Jack Porter led the way, pasting a pair of hits, while White collected a base knock and a walk.

Scott Hilborn, Anderson, and Valenzuela had singles, with Coop Cooper, Roberts, Peyton Caveness, Johnny Porter, Aiden O’Neill, and Seth Woollet also seeing field time.

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Wolves spring into early-season perfection

Posted in standings, tagged baseball, CHS Wolves, Northwest League, Softball, track and field on March 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Djina Radenovic and her fellow CHS netters have two matches scheduled for next week. (Jackie Saia photo)

Pristine so far.

The three Coupeville High School spring sports teams to keep track of win/loss records are all undefeated in Northwest 2B/1B League play.

Of course, since the new season is still barely upon us, a combined 3-0 mark in conference rumbles isn’t yet enough to earn the Wolves any league titles.

But it’s a good start.

Mother Nature willing, Coupeville teams have a busy week ahead, with each of the four spring programs having at least two events on the schedule.

Wolf softball and baseball top things with three games apiece.

The hardball nine hit the road Mar. 28 and Mar. 30, playing Friday Harbor and Mount Vernon Christian, respectively, then close the week at home Apr. 1 with a tilt against visiting Orcas Island.

Meanwhile, the softball sluggers travel to Friday Harbor with baseball, before hosting Cedar Park Christian-Bothell Mar. 31 and Orcas the next day.

Coupeville’s net crew will be in Granite Falls Mar. 27, before playing at home Mar. 31 against Friday Harbor.

And finally, Wolf track and field has a pair of road trips, heading to Mount Vernon Mar. 29 for a league meet, before making an appearance Mar. 31 at the Trojan Twilight meet in Meridian.

As we look towards the week ahead, a peek at current win/loss marks:

Northwest League baseball: