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Posts Tagged ‘Camden Glover’

Rally kings stun Braves

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , , on April 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Wolf pitchers (l to r) Landon Roberts, Camden Glover, Seth Woollet, and Coop Cooper celebrate. (Sherry Bonacci photo)

Never count ’em out.

After twice rallying from three runs down Thursday, the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad forced extra innings with visiting La Conner, then KO’d the Braves on a walk-off hit.

When Camden Glover’s RBI single in the bottom of the eighth hit paydirt on the prairie, it capped an improbable, but very rewarding 9-8 victory.

It also keeps the Wolves, now 3-2 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, just a game out of first place.

Coupeville, which is 4-7 overall heading into a trip to Forks Saturday, is tied with Friday Harbor in the NWL standings.

Those two sit a half-game behind Orcas Island (3-1) and a game back of current frontrunner Mount Vernon Christian (4-1) with half the season left to play.

Thursday’s titanic tilt went in favor of La Conner for much of the afternoon, though Coupeville kept chipping away and hanging around.

After trailing 1-0 early, the Wolves pushed two runners across in the bottom of the second to take their only lead of the game until the day’s final play.

Landon Roberts knotted the game at 1-1 on an RBI groundout, before Peyton Caveness, who leads the Wolves in most offensive categories this season, delivered an RBI single to put his team in front.

Peyton Caveness (8) fires up his team. (Jackie Saia photo)

Coupeville wouldn’t score again until the fifth, however, giving the Braves ample opportunity to surge back in front.

Four runs in the top of the third put La Conner up 5-2, but then Wolf pitchers strung together three scoreless frames to give their offense time to warm back up.

CHS notched a pair of runs in the fifth, with Steven Gonzalez, Carson Grove, and Roberts stepping up with big-time hits, before the Wolves got all the way back with a tally in the sixth.

Cole White lashed a single, stole second, scooted to third on a wild pitch, then screamed home with the tying run when La Conner once again couldn’t maintain control of the madly bouncing baseball.

Back in a 5-5 tie, the Wolves were rocking and rolling and then … gave it all right back.

The Braves smacked a pair of base hits and took advantage of a Coupeville error to plate three runners in the top of the seventh, and things looked bleak.

Until they didn’t, as the yo-yo effect the game had continued to play out in often surprising fashion.

Grove, just an 8th grader, delivered his second hit of the game to lead off Coupeville’s last stand, but was promptly erased thanks to a fielder’s choice.

The Wolves kept coming, however, with a single from Roberts and a walk to Glover keeping things interesting.

Seth Woollet skittered home on a wild pitch to cut it back to 8-6, Caveness launched a sac fly to make it 8-7, and then the game ended.

Or it should have.

White lofted a fly ball that would have been the final out, except La Conner fudged the catch, the ball popping loose from the third baseman’s glove as Glover steamed home with the tying run.

Given new life, and extra baseball, Coupeville took advantage.

Roberts, the fourth Wolf to take the mound on the day, set the Braves down in order in the top of the eighth, as the visitors went down swinging one-two-three.

“Don’t stop believing!” (Ember Light photo)

That sent the hometown heroes back to the plate with the game in their hands, and they played their final song to precision.

Woollet poked a leadoff hit, before Roberts dropped a gorgeous bunt down the third-base line, beating the throw for an infield single.

An error on the La Conner first baseman moved the winning run to third, and Glover rose to the moment, immediately punching a solid line drive to left to plate Woollet and set off a celebration.

That capped a 15-hit performance for the Wolves, with Glover and Roberts leading the way with three base knocks apiece.

Caveness and Grove each added two, with Jack Porter, White, Gonzalez, Coop Cooper, and Woollet rounding out the hit parade.

Coupeville’s pitchers combined to whiff 12 Braves, with Glover picking up six K’s to lead the way. Roberts (3), Woollet (2), and Cooper (1) also chipped in to the effort.

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Enter Sandman, exit Hurricanes

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , , on March 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Yohannon Sandles was raking Friday, in more ways than one. (Sherry Bonacci photo)

“BE BIG!!”

Wish granted.

Rallying from four runs down late Friday, the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad survived nail-shredding tension and pulled out a stunning come-from-behind win in extra innings, sending its fans home happy, one step ahead of the encroaching darkness.

To get there, shanking visiting Mount Vernon Christian 5-4 in nine gut-wrenching frames, the Wolves dodged disaster, found a new groove, and listened to their fans constant plea to seize the moment.

And thanks to career-defining performances from players as diverse as Yohannon Sandles and Camden Glover, CHS evens its Northwest 2B/1B League record at 1-1, moves to 2-3 overall, and, hopefully, turns a corner while the season is still young.

A game after being no-hit in a loss to Friday Harbor, the Wolves came up with clutch base-knocks against MVC, while shutting down the Hurricane hitters when it mattered most.

Camden Glover, seen in sunnier times, was lights out Friday, a day before he turns 16. (Photo courtesy Stevie Glover)

Trailing 4-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth, Coupeville was hanging tough thanks to a huge pitching performance from Glover.

Coming on in relief of Peyton Caveness — who was fairly sharp himself but had been dinged by a play here, a play there — Glover was lights out.

The burly sophomore, who celebrates his 16th birthday Saturday, went 5.2 innings, striking out 10 while not giving up a single hit.

But with just six outs left to play with, the Wolves needed something to start clicking offensively.

They found their mojo thanks to some pain, some hustle, and some precision hitting.

Aiden O’Neill led off the bottom of the sixth by wearing a pitch, the ball whacking off his body with a dull thud.

Not one to grimace or show any discomfort, the speedy sophomore instead bounded down to first, then promptly shot down to second on a steal.

He came around to score Coupeville’s first run on a hard-hit grounder off the bat of Sandles, and CHS seemed to be in business.

Until the Wolves briefly stalled out, stranding runners at second and third to end the inning.

Not a problem, however, as Glover mowed down the side in the seventh, and then his teammates rose to the moment in their “final” at-bats.

Pinch hitter Aidyn McDermott led off with a single that chewed up the glove of the MVC third baseman, before Caveness thumped an RBI double.

The Hurricanes looked like they were going to escape, however, striking out the next batter and putting themselves an out away from scampering back to the vans, a visit to McDonalds possibly in their early evening plans.

To which the Wolves said, stow those burgers and fries, buccos, with Cole White and Sandles knocking in runs with back-to-back perfectly placed blasts.

Sandles gets dynamic. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Suddenly it was 4-4, we were headed to extra innings, and the overflow crowd of MVC fans were beginning to kvetch.

Just the way Cow Town likes it.

Glover survived a tense moment in the top of the eighth, plunking two batters before getting a ‘Cane slugger to weakly launch a foul ball right to first baseman Caveness with the bags juiced.

Coupeville put two runners aboard in the bottom half of the frame thanks to MVC errors, and the visitors reloaded the bases in the top of the ninth thanks to walks, but neither team could break through.

With already black skies getting darker and the game pushing three hours, that set up a fab finale in the bottom of the ninth.

White rapped a one-out single, then moved his lanky body down the line at a rapid rate on a steal, before Sandles wrote the final best-selling chapter.

Hitting cleanup, the Wolf junior, famous for his crowd-pleasing photos on the Coupeville Barstool Instagram account, capped his best day as a CHS diamond dynamo.

With his fan club hootin’ and hollerin’ on every pitch, Sandles dug his cleats into the prairie dirt, swung from his heels, and launched a gorgeous laser into faraway left field.

Ball hit grass, White’s toes tapped home plate, and the rush was on, as the Wolves poured out of the dugout to envelop their stellar second baseman.

Peyton Caveness and Co. swung big in key moments. (Morgan White photo)

Sandles finished with three hits (according to the official book), though some might argue he actually had four depending on how you viewed one base knock which was recorded as an error.

Joining him in the hit parade were White, who rapped two, Caveness — who whacked a two-bagger — Landon Roberts, and McDermott as CHS outhit MVC 8-2.

O’Neill, Caveness, Glover, and Jack Porter walked to round out the offense.

With the wild win in hand, the Wolves prep for a super-busy week, if weather permits.

Coupeville is slated to travel to Orcas Island next Tuesday, host Sequim Wednesday, trek to Concrete Friday, and host South Whidbey Saturday.

Oh, and the Wolf JV will play in Oak Harbor Monday, leaving very few open dates on the schedule.

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Trojans walk past Wolves

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on March 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville sluggers Peyton Caveness (left) and Landon Roberts endured a less-than-balmy “spring” day on the prairie Monday, kicking off a new season of Wolf baseball. (Sherry Bonacci photo)

March 11 is too dang early to be playing baseball on the prairie.

When you have off and on rain spatters, occasionally fiendish wind gusts, and an all-around soul-draining coldness that lingers for two-hours-plus, and you tell yourself, “Well … I’ve certainly seen worse,” I’m not sure that’s a good thing.

But this is Cow Town, so you suck it up, buttercup, and move on, thankful at least that you finally got some gloves, which help a bit.

I’ve covered high school baseball games in Coupeville since the ’90s, so Monday’s dank, dark season opener against Meridian was nothing out of the ordinary.

Which has never stopped me from complaining.

But anyways, to the diamond action itself, instead of this detour into my one-man play “It’s Too Dang Cold Out Here!!”

What we, the huddled masses saw, was a 20-6 non-conference win for the visiting Trojans, as they took full advantage of a lot of free passes.

It was the type of game where Coupeville slipped behind 8-0, put together one stellar inning to cut the margin down to 8-4, then gave up 12 more runs as pitch after pitch caught a ride on a wayward breeze and slipped just outside the strike zone.

Like the weather itself, there were a few bright rays of sunshine for the Wolves, but too many dark clouds to make the day a complete winner.

The good news?

Clean up some small stuff, like walks, passed balls, and wild pitches, and Coupeville has the potential to go off on another run like they did a season ago when their journey went all the way to the state tourney.

At which point we had one 60-degree day, and we’ve never stopped talking about it.

Monday’s melee on the prairie began at a hair past 4:00 PM, though the angry skies made things look like it was already time for the cows to go back in the barn.

Lanky lefty Landon Roberts got the start on the mound for the Wolves, and opened and closed the top of the first by whiffing Trojan hitters.

In between, however, Meridian scraped out a run thanks to walks and a sac fly, grabbing a lead it would never relinquish.

Roberts blanked the Trojans in the second, but a couple of soft infield choppers and more free passes allowed the visitors to stretch things out to 4-0 through three frames.

Coupeville struggled at the plate in the early going, getting just a Camden Glover walk and a Peyton Caveness single through the first four innings.

Meridian tacked on two runs in the top of the fourth and two more in the fifth, again without making much contact, and the Wolves found themselves in an 8-0 hole.

That was when CHS Athletic Director (and longtime former Wolf baseball guru) Willie Smith wandered in for a peek at the new-school diamond men.

Which seemed to light a fire under his school’s sluggers, as they erupted in the bottom half of the fifth inning.

Walks to Johnny Porter and Aiden O’Neill set the table, and Coupeville got its first run of the season thanks to Porter scooting home on a Meridian error.

Caveness and Yohannon Sandles promptly ripped back-to-back base-knocks, with the former sliding in with an RBI triple and the latter poking an RBI single into a gap.

Three more walks — eked out by Jack Porter, Glover, and Coop Cooper — forced in another run, and at 8-4 the Wolves were in full-on rally mode.

Unfortunately, that was where the good times came to a sudden halt, with the Trojans making a nice defensive play to rob Coupeville on a liner which looked like it was heading to pay dirt.

The score got skewed in the sixth, as Meridian racked up walk after walk to turn an 8-4 lead into a 20-4 margin, but the Wolves continued to fight.

Down to its final at-bats, Coupeville pushed two more runs across in the sixth.

Roberts and O’Neill whacked singles, while Sandles clubbed an RBI double, earning a huge round of applause from his fervent fan club in the stands.

The Wolves were only outhit 7-6 on the day, but gave up 24 walks, with Coupeville pitchers hitting Trojan batters eight times.

The “best” wayward pitch smacked off a Meridian thigh, making a sound sort of like a cow being hit by a stun gun.

That baby echoed, is what I’m saying.

Coupeville used five pitchers in the game, with Roberts, Caveness, O’Neill, 8th grader Carson Grove, and Cole White combining for seven strikeouts.

Caveness and Sandles led the Wolf hit parade with two apiece, while Roberts and O’Neill collected the other base-knocks.

Glover walked three times, with Cooper, O’Neill and both Porter boys also nabbing a free pass.

After a few days off, Coupeville gets back at it with a road trip to South Whidbey Friday, before hosting North Mason Saturday.

The Wolves are slated to play six of nine games in March at home.

Toss in the trip to Langley and they don’t leave The Rock until Mar. 26, when they venture off to Orcas Island.

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Destroy you today, destroy you tomorrow

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on February 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

They can mug Camden Glover, but they can’t stop him from scoring. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

They’re ready for the spotlight.

With nine seniors on the current Coupeville High School varsity boys’ basketball squad, there will be plenty of open roster spots next year.

Ready to move up and make their mark? This year’s JV players, who capped an impressive run Tuesday night.

Destroying host La Conner 74-32, with 11 of 12 players scoring, the Wolves finish 7-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 14-2 overall.

Coupeville’s only losses were a one-point game with 3A Oak Harbor decided on the final play, and a three-point loss to 1A Mount Baker in the season opener.

Other than that, the Wolves ran wild all season.

“Both coaches are super proud of the progress each boy made in this season,” said JV co-coach Jon Roberts.

“We feel confident that we have provided (varsity) coach (Brad) Sherman with a team he can win a championship with next year.”

“So, you’re going to go out there and run ’em off the floor. Any questions?”

Tuesday’s beat-down, like most of the Wolf wins, was an explosive affair fueled by a team-wide attack.

You might stop one of the incoming Wolves flying down the hardwood, but there are four more guys, all capable of filling up the hoop, hot on his heels.

Six different CHS players popped the net as they built a 23-5 advantage by the first break, with Johnny Porter and Aiden O’Neill leading the way.

Jump to the second quarter and it was Jack Porter and Sage Arends bringing the pain, both collecting six points — with Arends notching a pair of three-balls — as Coupeville shoved the lead out to 42-16 at the half.

The second half was more of the same, as a different Wolf led the offense in each frame.

In the third quarter it was rampaging big man Camden Glover, throwing down eight of his team-high 12 points, while the fourth quarter was a showcase for Davin Houston, who stung the Braves in multiple ways.

Literally, as the furious frosh knocked down a three-ball, a two-point bucket, and a free throw in the quarter.

Jack Porter finished with 10 in limited minutes to back up Glover and his 12, while O’Neill (9), Johnny Porter (8), Jayden McManus (8), Arends (6), and Houston (6) all filled up the book.

But wait, cause they’re not done!

Makai Myles (5), Riley Lawless (4), Easton Green (4), and Landon Roberts (2) also scored, while Malachi Somes made his presence felt on the defensive end of the floor.

 

Final scoring stats:

Camden Glover – 211
Jack Porter – 174
Johnny Porter – 133
Aiden O’Neill – 111
Landon Roberts – 86
Riley Lawless – 62
Malachi Somes – 45
Jayden McManus – 44
Davin Houston – 40
Easton Green – 25
Sage Arends – 13
Makai Myles – 11

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Wolves winners at any speed

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , on January 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Riley Lawless just wins. End of story. (CHS Yearbook staff photo)

Change the rules, still gonna beat you.

Having bounced across the briny sea on a Washington state ferry which was both slow and freezing cold — a delightful combo — the Coupeville High School JV boys’ basketball squad was aching to take it out on someone Friday night.

So, even with a decision to play their game with a running clock, the Wolves overcame all obstacles, blasting host Orcas Island 29-14.

Hitting nine of 10 free throws, even as the clock madly ticked away during those trips to the charity stripe, CHS improves to 3-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 8-2 overall.

And, if they survive another frosty ride across the water and make it back to Cow Town, the Wolves won’t have to leave The Rock for a bit.

The JV hosts La Conner and Mount Vernon Christian next week, and don’t hop on a bus again until Jan. 27.

At which point it will hopefully be a balmy 40 degrees outside — otherwise known as summer in Washington state.

Jayden McManus lets it fly. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Friday’s tilt on Orcas started as a low-scoring affair, as both teams adjusted to the different flow of play.

Up 6-5 at the first break, Coupeville slightly stretched its advantage out to 12-7 by the half.

The third quarter was not for lovers of offensive fireworks, with both teams recording just a single bucket apiece, but the fourth made up for it.

At least for the Wolves.

Seven different Coupeville players put the ball through the bottom of the net in the final frame, with Johnny Porter banking in four points to key a 15-5 closing run.

For the game, nine of the 10 Wolves to see the floor scored, with Camden Glover and Johnny Porter leading the way with six each.

Aiden O’Neill (4), Malachi Somes (4), Jayden McManus (2), Riley Lawless (2), Landon Roberts (2), Jack Porter (2), and Davin Houston (1) also scored, with Easton Green doing all the dirty work that coaches love.

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