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Sluggers stage successful cancer fundraiser

Posted in Baseball, Softball, tagged , , , , , on April 7, 2026| Leave a Comment »

CHS softball sluggers (l to r) Haylee Armstrong, Sydney Van Dyke, and Cami Van Dyke played for others Saturday. (Photos courtesy Grant Van Dyke and WhidbeyHealth Foundation)

It was a solid day’s work.

Both the Coupeville High School softball and baseball teams won their home games Saturday, but there was more to the afternoon than just on-field action.

The Wolf sluggers spearheaded a Coupeville vs. Cancer event which raised $2,390.20 for WhidbeyHealth’s MAC Clinic through the sale of t-shirts and food.

Both teams dressed up for the occasion, with softball players sporting different colored socks to reflect different forms of cancer, while the diamond men wore special shirts.

Several players offered impassioned speeches about family members who have been impacted by cancer, and, for the first time this spring, home games were played on the prairie under clear blue skies.

The event required the coordinated efforts of many, led by Wolf Moms Michele Thule and Michelle Armstrong.

Also playing a large role was Rainy Simpson from the WhidbeyHealth Foundation and MAC nurses Sherry Phay, Lisa Toomey-Stout, and Courtney Gray.

The WhidbeyHealth Foundation sponsored the baseball team t-shirts, while the Coupeville Booster Club provided softball’s socks.

Ashley’s Design printed the shirts, and CHS coaches covered the cost of 100 hamburgers and 100 hotdogs.

 

Playing key roles:

Shaloma Allen
Joe and Michelle Armstrong
“Granny” Chris Baker
Mandi Black
Shawn Calkins
Mindy Grove
Lark Gustafson
Steve Hilborn
Rachel King
Leann and Nate Leavitt
Aaron and Jess Lucero
Dane Lucero
Tony Martin
Scott and Lara Maynes
Tamra Patterson
Morgan Payne
Mike Pearson
Jennifer Rains
Jon Roberts
Alix Roos
Dina Shaw
“Auntie” Bettie Sifuentes
Kristi and Brent Stevens
Mariah Stoker
Michele and Doug Thule
Colleen and Grant Van Dyke
Emily Zenz

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And then … a pause

Posted in Baseball, Girls Tennis, Softball, tagged , , , , on April 5, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Mikayla Wagner runs towards Spring Break. (Marquette Cunningham photo)

Everyone is taking a break.

Well, maybe not everyone, but a whole lot of people will be out of office next week as Spring Break fever ripples across the land.

There are only three baseball games and two softball rumbles featuring Northwest 2B/1B League teams on the schedule for the week of Apr. 6-11, and none of those feature a Coupeville squad.

The Wolf track stars and tennis players are also sidelined, though everyone will be back in action the following week.

Which likely means it’ll be sunny skies from now through next Sunday, and then Mother Nature will launch a comeback in time to bedevil the schedule makers.

While we wait to see what the weather forecasters have in store for us, here’s where things sit through Apr. 5:

Olivia Martin flies for home. (Julie Wheat photo)

 

Northwest League baseball:

School League Overall
Coupeville 4-0 6-2
MV Christian 4-0 8-1
Friday Harbor 2-2 3-4
Orcas Island 2-2 3-5
La Conner 1-2 2-5
Concrete 0-3 0-3
Darrington 0-4 0-8

 

Northwest League girls’ tennis:

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

 

Northwest League softball:

School League Overall
Coupeville 4-0 8-0
La Conner 2-0 3-1
Orcas Island 3-2 4-4
Friday Harbor 2-2 3-5
Darrington 0-3 1-3
Concrete 0-4 0-4

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Pain, sweet pain equals a Wolf win

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on April 4, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Carson Grove (and his CHS teammates) sacrificed their bodies for a win Saturday afternoon. (Jackie Saia photo)

Pain is temporary, victories are forever.

Winning in a most unusual manner Saturday, the Coupeville High School baseball team beat visiting East Jefferson 4-3 in extra innings thanks to a walk off hit batsman.

And while sophomore catcher Carson Grove delivered the win by getting plunked with the bases full in the bottom of the eighth inning, he was the fourth(!) Wolf to get nailed in just that frame, and seventh(!) in the game.

With the non-conference win, the Wolves avenge an earlier loss to East Jefferson, finish off a 3-1 week, get to 6-2 on the season, and head into Spring Break on a high.

Coupeville is off until Apr. 13, when it travels down Island to clash with next-door neighbor South Whidbey.

The week-plus break should allow the Wolves to heal up from all their bruises and any lingering injuries, with the hope the bats have warmed up by their return to the diamond.

Base knocks were in short order Saturday, and CHS went into the bottom of the seventh trailing 2-0.

Which just meant it was time for the rally caps to come out on the first truly spring-like game day the Coupeville diamond squads have enjoyed on the prairie this season.

Aiden O’Neill opened his team’s last set of at-bats by being plunked, before moving up to third thanks to a passed ball and an East Jefferson error.

The Wolves only manufactured four hits on the day, but Grove delivered one at a key moment, lacing an RBI single to center to plate O’Neill and finally get his team on the board.

The speedy backstop pilfered second base and came in to tie the game up at 2-2 thanks to another error by the unraveling visitors, but East Jefferson escaped, barely.

That sent the game to extra frames, with both teams scoring in the eighth.

A walk and a long double plated the go-ahead run for the visitors, but Wolf hurler Camden Glover closed out a strong performance on the mound by forcing a pop fly to first baseman Riley Lawless.

That set up the most improbable of finishes in the bottom of the eighth, as the Wolves sent five batters to the plate, got all five aboard, and brought two in to score.

Trent Thule got whacked by a wayward pitch to kick things off, followed by Glover lacing a single. After that, it was pain, sweet pain.

Coop Cooper got plunked to juice the bags, before O’Neill wore a pitch to force in the tying run, and Grove capped the HBP parade, absorbing one more jolt to set off the prairie victory celebration.

The strong finish more than made up for a slow start, as Coupeville struggled a bit in the early going.

East Jefferson pushed across a score in the first and another in the third, while the home team seemed stuck in neutral.

The Wolves had two runners aboard in the first after Glover socked a double, but had a runner nailed at home. An inning later, CHS again put two on base, only to see both of them picked off.

The third, fourth, and fifth went by too quickly for CHS, with just a Lawless walk, though the sixth provided an intriguing hint of things to come, as Leo Rodriguez and Thule got smacked by pitches that got away from the East Jefferson pitcher.

Glover did his part, whiffing 10 Rivals across eight innings of work, and kept things close while chucking 106 pitches.

After that, all the Wolves needed was a little luck … and a high tolerance for pain.

 

Saturday stats:

Coop Cooper — One walk
Camden Glover — One single, one double, one walk
Carson Grove — Two singles
Riley Lawless — One walk
Aiden O’Neill — Three walks
Leo Rodriguez — Two walks
Trent Thule — Two walks
Chris Zenz — One walk

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Eagle-eyed Wolves walk to success

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , , on April 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Riley Lawless and friends sit atop the Northwest 2B/1B League standings. (Jackie Saia photo)

Why run, when you can walk?

Taking full advantage of 14 free passes Thursday, plus five Darrington errors, the Coupeville High School baseball squad kept its early season run of success going with a 6-2 win over the Loggers.

The victory, which came on a chilly, if relatively wind-free prairie, lifts the Wolves to 4-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 5-2 overall.

Coupeville will cap a busy week Saturday with its fourth game in a six-day period, hosting non-conference foe East Jefferson.

First pitch is set for 2:30 PM, and the baseball action will be accompanied by a Coupeville vs. Cancer fundraiser, with proceeds going to WhidbeyHealth.

Thursday’s win, which gives CHS a season sweep of Darrington, featured a stellar pitching performance from sophomore hurler Carson Grove, who set down 13 Loggers on strikes across six innings of work.

Tack on a scoreless seventh from relief ace Trent Thule, and the visitors had few scoring opportunities.

Though, to be fair, the Loggers did score first, pushing across a run in the top of the second thanks to a single, a stolen base, and a passed ball.

Coupeville had its chances to get out in front big in the early going, only to see Darrington escape each time.

The Wolves loaded the bags in the first with no outs, only to strand all three runners, then came away with just a single tally in the second despite once again cramming the basepaths full.

Grove scored the tying run after reaching on an error, but a groundout back to the pitcher with the bases juiced ended things prematurely.

Not to worry, as Darrington’s pitching staff couldn’t keep the ball in the strike zone and kept giving Coupeville opportunities until the Wolves finally hit pay dirt.

A three-run third inning proved to be the difference, with walks to Coop Cooper, Aiden O’Neill, Grove, and Chris Zenz setting the table, and a Leo Rodriguez single cracking things open.

Up 4-1, Grove gave one run back in the fourth, before reverting into shut-down mode the rest of the way.

Coupeville closed out the top of the sixth with a slick double play, the ball going from Cooper to Grove to Glover, then tacked on two insurance runs in the bottom half of the frame.

Malachi Somes provided one of Coupeville’s two hits to start things up, but again it was a familiar story of Wolf walks and Logger errors.

With their softball counterparts in the stands for the seventh inning, the Darrington hardball hitters had hopes of a comeback, but it wasn’t to be.

Glover made a strong play to start the inning, charging in from shortstop to snag a bouncer and gun down the runner, and Thule slammed the door shut to move Coupeville back into a first-place tie atop the NWL standings with Mount Vernon Christian.

 

Thursday stats:

Coop Cooper — Two walks
Camden Glover — Two walks
Carson Grove — Two walks
Riley Lawless — One walk
Aiden O’Neill — Two walks
Leo Rodriguez — One single, two walks
Malachi Somes — One single
Trent Thule — Two walks
Chris Zenz — One walk

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Diamond men walk to a win

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , , on March 31, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Camden Glover struck out eight in four innings Tuesday, earning a win in Darrington. (Jackie Saia photo)

Pick your moments.

For the Coupeville High School baseball squad, the window of opportunity opened in the top of the sixth inning Tuesday afternoon.

To the Wolves credit, they seized it.

Trailing 2-1 at Darrington, with two outs and nobody aboard, struggling to scrape out hits, Steve Hilborn’s diamond men pulled off a stunning reversal, getting eight consecutive hitters on base from that point and pulling away for what would become a 6-2 win.

The victory, coming less than 24 hours after a non-conference loss to East Jefferson, gets the Wolves to 3-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 4-2 overall, with a rematch against Darrington set for Thursday on Whidbey Island.

It also pushes CHS back into a first-place tie with Mount Vernon Christian atop the conference at the quarter mark of the 12-game league schedule.

Things were looking a bit dire in the sixth for the Wolves, despite Coop Cooper leading off the frame with a double.

A groundout, followed by a successful pick-off play from Darrington, and Coupeville seemingly had nothing to work with.

CHS hadn’t scored since the first, and had stranded three runners an inning before, allowing the Loggers to hold on to their lead by the narrowest margin.

Then Darrington’s pitchers forgot how to throw a strike. Literally.

Consecutive walks to Trent Thule, Malachi Somes, and Chris Zenz loaded the bases, before a free pass to Carson Grove pushed a runner home to knot things at 2-2.

That brought leadoff hitter Chase Anderson to the plate, and he delivered, crushing a bases-clearing double to center — one of just four Wolf hits on the afternoon — and the entire game had flipped.

Not that Darrington was done walking folks.

Aiden O’Neill got a free trip to first, before the Loggers went to a new pitcher, who promptly plunked Camden Glover and Cooper wham-bam to give Coupeville its final run.

Glover, who tossed four innings after coming on in relief of Anderson, made that stand up, retiring six of the final seven hitters he faced, with five going down on strikeouts.

For the game, the Wolf pitchers combined to whiff 13, with Glover tops with eight, while limiting Darrington to just two hits across seven innings.

While Coupeville didn’t get many more base knocks of their own, three of their four hits were of the extra-base variety, while CHS also racked up 12 walks.

The visitors opened the scoring in the top of the first, with O’Neill walking (what else?), stealing second and third, then scampering home to score on a Darrington error.

While the Wolves went down 1-2-3 in both the second and third, strong defense, including nailing a runner trying to steal third, kept the game at 1-0 until the Loggers scraped out a run in the third, and another in the fourth.

The first Darrington run came in on a passed ball, the second on an RBI single, but after that Anderson and Glover were largely lights out the rest of the way.

Coupeville loaded the bases in the fifth, packaging walks to Riley Lawless and O’Neill around an Anderson single, but the Loggers escaped by snagging a two-out pop up in foul territory.

That set the stage for the sixth, and this time the Wolves were able to take advantage, keeping an early-season run of success going.

 

Tuesday stats:

Chase Anderson — One single, one double
Coop Cooper — One double, one walk
Camden Glover — Two walks
Carson Grove — One walk
Riley Lawless — One walk
Aiden O’Neill — Three walks
Leo Rodriguez — One double
Malachi Somes — One walk
Trent Thule — Two walks
Chris Zenz — One walk

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