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Posts Tagged ‘Darrington’

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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Chilly prairie, sizzling sluggers

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

Capri Anter has a big bat and she’s not afraid to use it. (Jackie Saia photo)

They’re always hunting for runs.

The Coupeville High School softball squad is jam-packed with fleet-footed, quick-thinking athletes, always looking to disrupt their foes on the basepaths.

That was showcased again Thursday, as the Wolves hammered the ball, then ran visiting Darrington ragged during a 15-0 win on the chilly prairie.

With the victory, Aaron Lucero’s sluggers get to a pristine 4-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 7-0 overall, with a non-conference home game against East Jefferson (1-5) set for Saturday.

That tilt, slated to tip off at 2:30 PM, is also the annual Coupeville vs. Cancer fundraiser, with proceeds going to WhidbeyHealth.

Thursday’s matchup was a well-rounded beatdown, with the Wolves controlling every facet of the game.

Lucero went three deep with his pitching staff, as Adeline Maynes whiffed five across three innings of work before cousins Haylee Armstrong and Capri Anter each chucked a frame.

Armstrong picked up two K’s, before making a nice snag in center field in support of Anter, who also struck out a batter and got a defensive gem from backup third-baseman Emily Rains, as she snapped up a hot grounder and slapped on the game-ending tag on an incoming runner.

Coupeville pushed four runners across in the bottom of the first to get all the runs it would need but didn’t stop there.

The first rally was kicked off by back-to-back hits from Sydney Van Dyke and Teagan Calkins.

But it was Anter who made the heavens roar, delivering a thunderous RBI triple that bounced off the wall in left field, just a hair shy of earning her sweet, sweet cash from her dad for an out-of-the-park home run.

CHS did get a tater, but of the inside-the-park variety, when Maynes walloped a grand slam to highlight a nine-run second inning.

The sophomore sensation belted the ball deep to left, then trucked around the basepaths, almost running over her teammates in front of her as the Wolf bench urged the stragglers to get movin’.

Two batters after Maynes flexed her biceps, Emma Cushman laid down a beauty of a bunt.

With Olivia Martin motoring in front of her, the Wolf duo freaked out the Logger defense, which airmailed several throws on the play, allowing The Cushinator to turn an artful single into a round trip around the bags.

Up 13-0 at that point, Coupeville managed to get most of its bench into the game, with Zariyah Allen, Emma Leavitt, Rains, Zayne Roos, and Allie Powers all seeing field time.

The Wolves closed their scoring with hot-hitting 8th grader Cami Van Dyke lacing a two-run single to straightaway center in the third, before coasting in for the win, with their eyes already set on delivering their postgame sing-along.

While there’s been barely a hint of sun this spring, at least during home games, Coupeville remains red-hot, having outscored its foes 107-12, with five of the seven wins ending early thanks to the mercy rule.

 

Thursday stats:

Capri Anter — One triple, one walk
Teagan Calkins — One single, one double, one walk
Emma Cushman — One single
Olivia Martin — One walk
Adeline Maynes — One single, one home run, one walk
Chelsi Stevens — One single
Cami Van Dyke — Two singles
Sydney Van Dyke — Two singles, one walk

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Smash, bash, another foe down with a crash

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , on March 31, 2026| 1 Comment »

Coupeville sophomore first-baseman Ava Lucero was flawless in the field Tuesday and deadly at the plate. (Jackie Saia photo)

Aim for the mountains.

Look out to center field at Darrington, and that’s what you’ll see peeking down on the Loggers softball field — a range of craggy targets.

So, the smash sisters took advantage Tuesday, as the Coupeville High School sluggers lashed liners to all fields, including a Chelsi Stevens moonshot which cleared the fences, en route to demolishing their hosts 21-2.

The lopsided win, in which CHS coach Aaron Lucero was able to get action for all 17 girls on his active roster, lifts the Wolves to 3-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 6-0 overall.

Combined with an Orcas Island loss to Friday Harbor, it also moves Coupeville back into sole possession of first place in the conference, with a rematch against Darrington set for Thursday on Whidbey Island.

By that time, they may have found the ball Stevens launched into the stratosphere. Maybe.

It came just four batters into the game yet was already the fourth booming shot unleashed by a CHS squad which has outscored its foes 92-12 this season.

Lethal leadoff hitter Haylee Armstrong jumped on the first pitch of the afternoon, cracking a ball a Darrington outfielder couldn’t handle, while Teagan Calkins mashed a triple to left-center two batters later.

Up to the plate came Stevens, flexing her bat and eyeballing the Logger pitcher.

Boom! The sophomore cleanup hitter delivered with a clang, the ball arcing up, up, and still further up into the blue sky, while the Darrington outfielders watched helplessly as the two-run tater screamed its way halfway back to Whidbey before landing.

It was wash, rinse, and repeat from there for the Wolves, who tacked on another run in the first, thanks to an Ava Lucero RBI double, before pushing six across in the second frame.

Stevens again came up big her second time around, with a long RBI double, while Capri Anter, Lucero, and Emma Leavitt also connected on run-scoring hits.

Wolf hurler Adeline Maynes was unhittable in the early innings, throwing high, hard cheese and collecting strikeouts, with the game put on ice thanks to a 15-batter, nine-run third inning which lasted approximately 45 minutes and change.

Sydney Van Dyke, Calkins, and Stevens walloped back-to-back-to-back extra-base blows to start the frame, with Cami Van Dyke, Leavitt, and Allie Powers chipping in with key base knocks to keep the never-ending rally chugging along.

From midway through the third to the end of the fourth, Aaron Lucero kept his scorebook keeper hoppin’, mixing and matching players in the lineup to give his reserves crucial game action to build for the future while keeping the score from getting to 50-0.

Zariyah Allen, Olivia Martin, Allie Powers, Marina Jadwin, Arianna Vinson, Zayne Roos, and Emily Rains all earned plate appearances, while Emma Cushman (defense) and Emma Leavitt (offense) combined to form a dynamic duo in right field.

Darrington, a plucky team, did scrape out two runs in the fourth, but Calkins and Anter got them back with RBI singles in the fifth.

Flame-throwing Wolf hurlers Maynes and Armstrong combined to net eight strikeouts, while Ava Lucero, playing a spotless first base, pulled off three unassisted put-outs on grounders to highlight a top-flight defense.

 

Tuesday stats:

Capri Anter — Three singles
Haylee Armstrong — One triple
Teagan Calkins — One single, one triple, one walk
Emma Leavitt — One single, one double
Ava Lucero — One single, one double, one walk
Adeline Maynes — Two walks
Allie Powers — One single
Emily Rains — One walk
Chelsi Stevens — Two doubles, one home run
Cami Van Dyke — One single
Sydney Van Dyke — Two singles, one double, one triple

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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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Regular season wraps, playoffs heat up

Posted in Basketball, tagged , , , , on February 8, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Kennedy O’Neill gazes into the future. (Aleksia Jump photo)

It’s a whole new world.

Having wrapped up regular season play this week, Northwest 2B/1B League varsity basketball teams are playoff bound.

Well, except for the Concrete boys and Darrington girls, who both went one-and-done in the postseason and have moved on to other pursuits.

The other 12 NWL teams are still alive, however, with the Concrete girls and Darrington boys deep into the 1B District 1 tourney, while the five 2B schools kick off the double-elimination District 1/2 royal rumble starting Feb. 12.

As playoff fever grips the land, this is the final edition of our weekly look at win/loss records — at least until spring sports get up and going.

As we exit, a look at where things sit through Feb. 8:

 

Northwest League boys’ basketball:

School League Overall
MV Christian 10-0 17-4
Orcas Island 8-2 13-7
Darrington 5-3 13-7
Friday Harbor 5-5 5-15
Coupeville 4-6 7-11
Concrete 1-7 5-17
La Conner 0-10 0-19

 

Northwest League girls’ basketball:

School League Overall
MV Christian 10-0 18-2
La Conner 8-2 13-6
Concrete 5-3 17-5
Orcas Island 5-5 11-9
Friday Harbor 3-7 7-13
Coupeville 2-8 5-13
Darrington 0-8 4-13

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