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Posts Tagged ‘CHS Wolves’

Win big, win with class

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , on April 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Wolf sluggers (l to r) Madison McMillan, Mia Farris, and Jada Heaton combined to reach base six times in Saturday’s home finale. (Jennifer Heaton photo)

Love and success for everyone.

Coupeville’s younger players paid emotional tributes to their senior leaders Saturday, while the generations came together to cruise to another big softball victory on the prairie.

Playing at home for the final time this spring — and FINALLY getting decent weather — the Wolves romped to a 17-2 win over visiting La Conner, while trying not to embarrass a Braves program working hard to build for the future.

Coupeville exits the weekend sitting at 10-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 13-5 overall, having won 10 of its last 11 games.

The Wolves travel to Friday Harbor next Thursday, May 4, with the winner claiming the one playoff berth offered to 2B teams in District 1, then close the regular season May 12 with a non-conference road rumble at South Whidbey.

La Conner’s softball team is a work in progress, and their players are hard-working and scrappy.

But they are still well off the pace set by Coupeville, which was demonstrated once again Saturday afternoon.

With all five of its 12th graders in the starting lineup on Senior Night, the Wolves put all 11 hitters on base in the first inning but settled for a 6-0 lead.

Teagan Calkins and Taylor Brotemarkle swatted home runs to left, with the second of those taters also scoring Mia Farris, but CHS accounted for all three outs in the inning by having runners intentionally leave base early.

Coupeville pushed seven more runs across in the second frame, with Farris and Brotemarkle crunching two-run base knocks, and the (polite) rout was on.

CHS coach Kevin McGranahan got field action for all 16 players on his roster, with 15 reaching base, and pulled the strings perfectly to keep the game going until the teams had played five innings.

The Wolves notched a lone run in the third to make it 14-0, gave back two tallies in the fourth, then closed things out with three more scores in their half of the inning.

Coupeville seniors unite on the prairie, with the batter, the player in the on-deck circle, and everyone on base being grizzled vets. (Katrina McGranahan photo)

The game marked the home swan song for Wolf seniors Sofia Peters, Allie Lucero, Gwen Gustafson, Melanie Navarro, and Maya Lucero.

That group lost their freshman season when spring sports were cancelled for Covid, then only played 12 games as sophomores due to ongoing pandemic restrictions.

But they hung tough, continued to work, and have played vital roles as the Wolves have gone 41-8 during their time in the program.

And they aren’t done yet.

 

Saturday stats:

Haylee Armstrong — One single
Taylor Brotemarkle — One double, one home run, one walk
Teagan Calkins — One single, one home run, one walk
Mia Farris — One single, two walks
Gwen Gustafson — One single, two walks
Jada Heaton — One walk
Layla Heo — One walk
Allie Lucero — Three walks
Maya Lucero — One single, one walk
Chloe Marzocca — Two walks
Madison McMillan — One single, one walk
Melanie Navarro — One single, two walks
Sofia Peters — Three walks
Bailey Thule — One walk
Melanie Wolfe — One walk

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Hardball heroes romp to Senior Night win

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on April 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Cole White picked up two RBI Saturday as Coupeville strolled to a 14-1 win. (Morgan White photo)

Precision pitching, precision hitting.

Sparked by a five-inning no-hitter from hurler Scott Hilborn, the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad pounded out 15 base knocks Saturday, routing visiting La Conner 14-1.

The Senior Night win, coming on an afternoon when the Wolves honored Hilborn, Jonathan Valenzuela, and foreign exchange student Piotr Bieda, gives CHS 10 wins in its last 11 games.

Now 12-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 14-4 overall, Coupeville sits alone in first place, a half-game up on idle Mount Vernon Christian.

The Hurricanes are 11-1 in NWL play, with two conference tilts left to play, while the Wolves finish the regular season with a road trip Thursday to play Friday Harbor.

Coupeville was supposed to have a home non-league rumble with Sultan Monday, but that game was suddenly canceled by the Turks, who are scrambling to finish their own conference schedule.

The Wolves, playing Saturday under sunny skies and with no prairie wind buffeting them for the first time all season, closed their home campaign in style.

Chase Anderson, lashin’ lasers.

Scott Hilborn retired the first 10 hitters he faced, surrendering only a pair of walks in the late going.

He whiffed 10 Braves, with La Conner eking out its lone run in the fourth inning thanks to a walk, a stolen base, a wild pitch, and an RBI groundout.

Coupeville was ahead 9-0 at the moment the Braves finally got on the scoreboard, having pushed five runners across the plate in the first, three more in the second, and a lone tally in the bottom of the third.

The Wolves responded to La Conner scoring by tacking on five more runs in the fourth, pushing the game into mercy-rule territory.

All nine CHS players to see action in the game scored, with seven of them recording hits.

Freshman Chase Anderson had the hottest bat, peppering La Conner with four hits, while Jack Porter blasted a pair of doubles while racking up a team-high four RBI.

 

Saturday stats:

Chase Anderson — Four singles
Peyton Caveness — Two walks
Coop Cooper — One single
Camden Glover — One single, one walk
Scott Hilborn — Two singles, one double
Jack Porter — One single, two doubles
Jonathan Valenzuela — One single, one double, one walk
Cole White — One single

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Win today, build for the future

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , on April 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Cousins Haylee Armstrong (left) and Capri Anter, just 8th graders, promise a bright future for Wolf softball. (Jackie Saia photo)

“We did great!”

Coupeville High School JV softball coach Katrina McGranahan came away from Thursday’s road trip to Darrington pleased with what she witnessed.

Her Wolves rapped out 16 hits on their way to a 17-7 win, but getting field time for her young players was the biggest victory.

With most of Coupeville’s foes not fielding JV squads, McGranahan and Co. went 2-0 in limited action.

CHS was supposed to have one more contest for its second team, but a game next week at 2A Sedro-Woolley was canceled due to the potential host team having a lack of players.

That was even more reason for the Wolves to take advantage of Darrington being ready, willing, and able to play Thursday.

Coupeville was missing several players due to illness, but shuffled its roster, sliding a few varsity players down to fill gaps in the lineup.

Wolf 8th graders Capri Anter and Haylee Armstrong both saw time in the pitcher’s circle, with the duo combining to whiff four Loggers.

Coupeville’s three varsity hurlers — Allie Lucero, Maya Lucero, and Gwen Gustafson — are all seniors, leaving plenty of opportunity for the young guns to claim that role going forward.

“Capri did a great job,” McGranahan said. “She was able to hold her own right from the start and stayed solid the entire time.

“Haylee also got some much-needed work in. They both have potential so they need all the time they can get to practice!”

Coupeville pounced from the get-go, raining down six runs in the top of the first and never looking back.

While Darrington narrowed the gap to 7-6 after three frames, the Wolves roared right back into killer mode, slapping five runs on the board in both the fourth and fifth innings.

Along with bashing a ton of hits, CHS took time to work on the finer points of the game.

“Darrington was a decent JV team,” McGranahan said. “They put the ball in play and ran the bases and made the outs.

“But it just wasn’t comparable with what our team was, and for that reason the girls got to work on some skills that tend not to get any work.

“They were batting lefthanded, slap hitting, bunting, and push bunting,” she added. “These were all skills that we have practiced before but never really get the chance to use in games!”

 

Thursday stats:

Capri Anter — Two singles, one double, one walk
Haylee Armstrong — One triple, one walk
Teagan Calkins — Three singles, one walk
Gwen Gustafson — Three singles
Layla Heo — Two singles, one walk
Melanie Navarro — One walk
Sofia Peters — Two singles
Bailey Thule — One single, one triple, two walks

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Hit-happy JV rolls to win

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on April 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Landon Roberts, covering first base in a varsity game, got the win on the mound in Thursday’s JV game. (Morgan White photo)

Lights on, bats rarin’ to go.

The first time Coupeville and Darrington clashed in a JV baseball game this season, sunset on the prairie forced a tie after six hard-fought innings.

Thursday was different, as the squads took advantage of the Loggers being able to click on field lights, allowing the Wolves time to hammer out a 16-5 win.

The victory lifts the CHS young guns to 1-4-1 on the season, with two games remaining on the schedule.

Coupeville’s JV is slated to play Monday, May 1 at home against non-conference foe Sultan, then travel to Sedro-Woolley the next day for their finale.

Thursday’s rumble under the lights was all Coupeville, all the way, though Darrington did manage to narrowly avoid being ten-runned after five innings, pushing the game to six frames before the Wolves closed things out.

Coupeville jumped on the Loggers for seven runs in the top of the first to set the mood, added a single tally in the second, then pushed three more across in the third to build an 11-2 lead.

The Wolves failed to score only once, in the fourth, tagging Logger hurlers for three more runs in the fifth and a final two in the sixth.

Coupeville’s biggest blow came from Jack Porter, who launched a legit inside-the-park home run which missed hitting the football stands beyond center field by just a few feet.

The Wolves sent three pitchers to the mound, with starter Landon Roberts whiffing six of the 18 hitters he faced.

Jack Porter came on in relief in the fourth, while Peyton Caveness was lights out in the sixth, setting three straight Loggers down on strikes.

“Peyton had a wicked off-speed pitch that froze guys,” CHS coach Jon Roberts said. “Good game under the lights! Cool experience for all.”

 

Thursday stats:

Piotr Bieda — Two walks
Myca Clarkson — One single
Jaje Drake — Three walks
Jack Farrell — One single, one walk
Marcelo Gebhard — One walk
Matthew Gilbert — One single, two walks
Aidyn McDermott — One walk
Jack Porter — One home run, one walk
Johnny Porter — Two singles, one double, one walk
Landon Roberts — One single
Yohannon Sandles — One walk
Seth Woollet — One single, two walks

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Steady Wolves nab another win

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , on April 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Sophomore sluggers Madison McMillan (left) and Jada Heaton have helped carry Coupeville to a 12-5 record. (Jennifer Heaton photo)

They never flinched.

Locked in a low-scoring rumble for a bit Thursday in Darrington, the Coupeville High School varsity softball squad could have panicked when the host Loggers cut their deficit to a single run.

Instead, the Wolves ripped off seven unanswered runs, threw down back-to-back scoreless innings on defense, and rolled to their ninth win in their last 10 games.

Eventually exiting with an 11-5 win, Coupeville gets to 9-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 12-5 overall.

Now the Wolves head home for Senior Night Saturday — played at 1:00 PM in the afternoon — then close the season on the road.

After facing off Saturday with La Conner (2-7, 2-13), CHS travels to Friday Harbor (7-1, 10-4) Thursday, May 4, before playing a non-conference game May 12 at South Whidbey.

The Friday Harbor clash will determine the NWL champs, and which team earns District 1’s lone playoff berth for 2B schools.

Thursday’s rumble with 1B Darrington, while having no effect on playoff positioning for the Wolves, was still a solid test for Kevin McGranahan’s squad.

“We had to earn this one today; took us awhile to get the bats going,” Coupeville’s coach said.

“The girls stayed the course, and eventually we got some clutch hits to plate some runs and pull away enough to get the W.”

The Loggers, who sit in third place in the conference, hung tough, trailing just 4-3 after four innings.

Both teams went down 1-2-3 in the first, with Wolf hurler Allie Lucero striking out the side, before Coupeville pushed three runners across in the top of the second.

Walks to Madison McMillan and Allie Lucero primed the well, with Maya Lucero crunching a two-run double to left to get the scoreboard operator working.

Melanie Navarro laced an RBI single over the shortstop’s head to make it 3-0 — one of three times the senior slugger reached base — before Darrington escaped.

Melanie Navarro has swung a big bat for the Wolves. (Jackie Saia photo)

The Loggers scraped together their own run in the bottom half of the inning, capitalizing on a bunt which burrowed deep into the dirt in fair territory, but CHS immediately matched the score.

Taylor Brotemarkle singled, went to second on an error, coasted into third on a wild pitch, then tapped home on a hard-hit grounder off the bat of the always-mashin’ McMillan.

Navarro doubled to center in the fourth, only to be stranded, while Darrington scored twice during their at-bats– without getting the ball out of the infield — and suddenly it was a nail-biter at 4-3.

But, no fear, no blinking, just going out and executing for the Wolves.

Fab frosh Teagan Calkins used a bit of alert base running to score in the fifth, before CHS tacked on two runs in the sixth and four more in the seventh to stretch the lead back out to 11-3.

Super sophomores Jada Heaton and Mia Farris both picked up two RBI’s during the surge, with Calkins coming back around to swat a two-run single past Darrington’s diving shortstop.

As important as the runs were, Coupeville’s pitching and defense also came up big in the moment, blanking the Loggers in the fifth and sixth.

Allie Lucero, who finished with 11 strikeouts, set down five consecutive Darrington hitters, while McMillan ended the sixth by tracking down a wayward pop fly over second base.

While the Loggers made one final push, scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh, Calkins ended things.

Jumping out from behind home plate, she plucked a spinning ball off the dirt and fired it to Maya Lucero at first for out #21, sending her team home carrying yet another victory.

 

Thursday stats:

Taylor Brotemarkle — Two singles
Teagan Calkins — Two singles
Mia Farris — One double, one walk
Jada Heaton — One single
Allie Lucero — One walk
Maya Lucero — One double, two walks
Madison McMillan — One walk
Melanie Navarro — One single, one double, one walk
Sofia Peters — One walk

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