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Posts Tagged ‘Darrington’

Bash sisters claim league title

Posted in Softball, tagged CHS Wolves, Darrington, Northwest League, Softball, Taylor Brotemarkle on April 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Jada Heaton brings her A-game both on sunny days and cold, windy ones like Mother Nature offered up Saturday. (Claire Kalwies-Anderson photo)

The title is once more theirs.

A Coupeville High School varsity softball squad which starts three 8th graders and two freshmen clinched the Northwest 2B/1B League title Saturday, decimating visiting Darrington 14-1 on a blustery, frigid prairie.

The win lifts the Wolves to 8-0 in conference play, 11-4 overall.

And while there’s plenty more regular season action ahead on the schedule — games against La Conner, Nooksack Valley, South Whidbey, and (maybe) Concrete — Kevin McGranahan’s team got to bask in the moment of reclaiming its title.

At least for a moment. And then it’s on to achieving other goals.

After falling just short against Friday Harbor last season and missing out on the NWL’s lone 2B playoff slot, Coupeville is ahead of schedule this time around.

With no seniors, the Wolves start 8th graders Ava Lucero, Adeline Maynes, and Sydney Van Dyke, plus fab frosh cousins Haylee Armstrong and Capri Anter.

That fivesome, and veterans Teagan Calkins, Jada Heaton, Mia Farris, Madison McMillan, and Taylor Brotemarkle, have meshed well this season.

Taylor Brotemarkle surveys her kingdom. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

That fiery mix of youthful vigor and grizzled experience was on display Saturday, as everyone in the lineup contributed, while the Wolf backups were their usual rowdy selves, keeping warm by enthusiastically cheering nonstop.

They had plenty to roar for, as pitching ace Maynes fired BB’s, whiffing seven Loggers and largely staying out of trouble.

She got some defensive help, with Armstrong making a superb dig on a low throw at first, while Brotemarkle and McMillan showed off the guns from short and third, respectively.

Farris closed the game, and officially clinched the title, by tracking down a high, twisting shot to center, perfectly reading the wind and not allowing the ball to get past her.

Offensively, the Wolves attacked from the first pitch and never relented.

Armstrong cracked a leadoff single, then scooted around the basepaths, stealing second base and freaking Darrington out so badly it committed two errors while trying, and failing, to catch her.

Farris followed with a walk, then the CHS bash sisters erupted.

“Sit back and witness my feats of strength!” (Photo by Claire Kalwies-Anderson)

Brotemarkle mashed a triple to center, the ball steadily rising as it soared over the head of the fielder, then two batters later “The Red Dragon” let Darrington feel her full fury.

That would be Calkins, the sophomore catcher following in mom Jackie’s diamond footsteps, and she belted a two-run home run to left, the ball screaming in agony as it headed up towards Prairie Center.

Up 5-0 after one inning, the Wolves pushed four more across in the second, and another five in the third to really stretch the lead out.

McMillan and Calkins had back-to-back run-scoring base knocks, while Brotemarkle and Van Dyke later added their own RBI singles to the assault.

Putting a cap on things, Heaton dropped an absolutely gorgeous sacrifice bunt to plate a runner, then skipped all the way back to the dugout.

Saturday stats:

Capri Anter — One walk
Haylee Armstrong — One single, one walk
Taylor Brotemarkle — One single, one triple, one walk
Teagan Calkins — One single, one home run, one walk
Mia Farris — Two walks
Madison McMillan — One single, one walk
Sydney Van Dyke — One single, one walk

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Senior Night win for diamond men

Posted in Baseball, tagged baseball, CHS Wolves, Darrington, Northwest League, Senior Night on April 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Coop Cooper and Co. are atop the league standings. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Alone in first place.

After thrashing visiting Darrington 11-1 Saturday on Senior Night, the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad sits atop the Northwest 2B/1B League standings by itself.

Garnering their seventh-straight conference victory, the Wolves get to 8-2 in NWL play, pushing them a half game up on Orcas Island (7-2), which had its weekend game rained out.

Coupeville has one sure thing left on the schedule, traveling to La Conner next Thursday, May 2.

There’s been no official word yet on whether CHS will get a chance to make up its game with Concrete which was washed away by Mother Nature earlier this week.

Regardless, the Wolves, who sit at 9-8 overall, are playing their best ball of the season with the playoffs just around the corner.

Saturday, having outlasted the rain, but not the wind and cold, Coupeville’s diamond men outhit Darrington 6-4 and won the battle of walks 12-0.

Five of those free passes came from Wolf hitters getting plunked, as the Logger hurlers were a bit wild while trying to throw through the prairie breeze.

“Just try and hit this!”

Meanwhile, CHS pitchers Seth Woollet and Peyton Caveness, two of the four hometown seniors honored before the game, threw with utter precision.

Joined by Cole White and Aidyn McDermott in the Class of 2024, the mound duo combined for seven strikeouts while muffling Darrington for most of the afternoon.

The visitors actually had two runners aboard in the top of the first, but came up empty, thanks to Woollet inducing a weak groundout at crunch time.

His teammates immediately pounced, throwing down two runs in their half of the frame to effectively end the game before the fans even had time to complain about how it’s April 27 and where is the frickin sunshine??

White led off with a walk, then cruised home after Chase Anderson thumped a triple to right. A bobbled ball on a hot shot off of the bat of Caveness added to the early rally.

Peyton Caveness takes a mighty cut.

From there, Coupeville steadily poured it on, pushing a run across in the third, four more in the fourth and three in the fifth.

The game’s final run, courtesy Woollet being hit by a wayward pitch, before moving steadily around the bags thanks to a passed ball, wild pitch, and grounder from Coop Cooper, ended the game in the sixth, as the mercy rule was enforced.

Before getting there, Coupeville got big run-scoring hits from Johnny Porter, Caveness (twice), and Camden Glover.

Saturday stats:

Chase Anderson — One triple, one walk
Peyton Caveness — One single, one double
Coop Cooper — One double, two walks
Camden Glover — One single
Aidyn McDermott — One walk
Jack Porter — Two walks
Johnny Porter — One single
Landon Roberts — Two walks
Cole White — Two walks
Seth Woollet — Two walks

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Deadly diamond divas ding Darrington

Posted in Softball, tagged CHS Wolves, Darrington, Frozen, hit parade, Jada Heaton, Mia Farris, Softball on April 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Bailey Thule was one of 11 Wolves to reach base Monday in a 21-1 win at Darrington. (Jackie Saia photo)

When the dam broke … damn.

The Coupeville High School varsity softball squad went down 1-2-3 in the top of the first inning Monday in Darrington, continuing a cold trend at the plate from its last game.

Then, boom, back to reality.

The Wolves unloaded on the Loggers during a 17-batter, 14-run top of the second — only ending things by intentionally having a runner leave early for the third out — and were well on their way to a 21-1 win mercy-ruled after four frames.

The victory, coming against the team closest to it in the standings, lifts CHS to 6-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 9-4 overall.

The Wolves haven’t technically clinched the league title, with a game-and-a-half lead on Darrington and Friday Harbor, which both sit at 5-2, with four conference tilts to play.

But they’ve also outscored the Loggers and Wolverines 47-2 across three wins, so Vegas ain’t exactly taking too many bets on CHS falling apart down the stretch run.

Kevin McGranahan’s squad, which starts three 8th graders and two freshmen, can put things to rest this week, with home games against Orcas Island Tuesday, Concrete Thursday, and Darrington Saturday.

Haylee Armstrong (left) and Shania Kenney celebrate another victory. (Michelle Armstrong photo)

For a brief moment in the Darrington sunshine, the Loggers entertained hopes of an upset. Then reality came crashing down.

Up 1-0 after an inning of play, the home team stumbled to start the second frame, then a tsunami of base knocks washed all of its hopes and dreams away.

Madison McMillan, Teagan Calkins, and Sydney Van Dyke walked to juice the bases, before Joltin’ Jada Heaton got spectacular.

Belting a two-run single to center — the first of two multi-RBI hits she would have in the inning — Jennifer’s favorite daughter put her team ahead for good.

From there, the runs came fast and furious.

Ava Lucero plated one on an RBI groundout, before Mia Farris crunched a two-run double to center and McMillan sliced a two-run single to right.

Van Dyke sent a teammate scampering home on an infield single to make it 8-1, then Heaton arrived back at the plate, intent on terrorizing the Loggers again.

This time the junior outfielder pasted a two-run triple to straightaway center, the ball merrily skipping away into the deepest, darkest regions of the field.

To which Farris told her best bud, if you can do it, so can I, welcoming a new pitcher to the circle by unleashing her own two-run triple.

After scratching out its one run early, Darrington could do little against Wolf hurlers Adeline Maynes and Haylee Armstrong, who combined to whiff four.

Content to coast in with the win, the Wolves plated three more in the third, and another four in the fourth to enforce the mercy rule.

Softballs incoming! (Kevin McGranahan photo)

The final rally featured Mia the Magnificent tagging a ball off the top of the wall, missing a home run by inches, before McMillan cleared the fences with a towering tater.

The deadly duo was likely aiming at the snowy peaks which can be seen from Darrington’s diamond.

“Mia wanted me to tell you that her double was crushed to Mt. Whitehorse, but at the last minute Elsa from Frozen grabbed it and threw it back in so it only counted as a double,” McGranahan said with a laugh.

Monday stats:

Capri Anter — One walk
Haylee Armstrong — One single, one walk
Taylor Brotemarkle — One single
Teagan Calkins — Two singles, one walk
Mia Farris — Two doubles, one triple
Jada Heaton — One single, one triple
Ava Lucero — One single
Adeline Maynes — One walk
Madison McMillan — One home run, two singles, one walk
Bailey Thule — One walk
Sydney Van Dyke — Two singles, one walk

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Wolf diamond men chomp Loggers

Posted in Baseball, tagged baseball, Carson Grove, CHS Wolves, Darrington, Johnny Porter on April 22, 2024| 1 Comment »

Carson Grove faced three batters in Darrington, striking them all out. (Photo courtesy Mindy Grove)

They’ve got a shot at sharing first place.

After toppling Darrington 13-1 in five innings Monday, the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad will immediately turn around and play its biggest game of the season Tuesday.

Now 6-2 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 7-8 overall, the Wolves host Orcas Island (7-1, 10-4) in a game set to kick off at 4 PM on the prairie.

Win that one and CHS earns a series split with the Vikings and moves into a tie atop the conference standings with three games left to play.

For a couple of hours at least, however, the Wolves can bask in the afterglow of decimating the Loggers to claim their fifth-straight league win.

Coupeville dominated the game in every aspect, racking up 10 hits and 13 walks, while using five pitchers to limit Darrington to just two base knocks.

The Wolves jumped on their hosts quickly, putting up a three-spot in the top of the first, and never looked back.

Peyton Caveness rapped a leadoff single, Cole White walked, then Steven Gonzalez plated the game’s first run on an RBI groundout.

A walk to Chase Anderson kept things hopping, with Jack Porter putting a punctuation mark on things with another hit.

Not content to stop there, CHS blew the game wide open with an eight-run rally in the second inning, turning a 3-1 lead into an 11-1 rout.

Five walks, including Aiden O’Neill and Jack Porter getting plunked, helped, while Johnny Porter socked both a double and triple in the same frame.

Johnny Porter is a hit machine. (Ryan Blouin photo)

Not that Coupeville really needed it, but the visitors added two more runs in the fourth to set the final score.

This time it was Anderson and Seth Woollet with key hits, while Easton Green, Jayden Little, and Landon Roberts all eked out free passes to keep the basepaths full.

Darrington’s hitters offered little resistance, with CHS coach Steve Hilborn able to juggle his pitching staff and limit everybody’s workload.

With three more games this week — the Wolves host Orcas Tuesday, Concrete Thursday, and Darrington Saturday on Senior Night — they’ll need fresh arms.

Monday saw Roberts get the start, then depart quickly, as he shared time on the mound with Carson Grove, Caveness, Coop Cooper, and Jack Porter.

The five-pack combined to whiff 10 Loggers, with Grove and Porter each striking out the side in their one inning of work.

Monday stats:

Chase Anderson — Two singles, one walk
Peyton Caveness — Three singles
Jack Farrell — One walk
Camden Glover — One walk
Easton Green — One walk
Steven Gonzalez — One walk
Nick Laska — One walk
Jayden Little — Two walks
Aiden O’Neill — One walk
Jack Porter — One single, one walk
Johnny Porter — One double, one triple
Landon Roberts — One single, one walk
Dylan Robinett — One walk
Cole White — Two walks
Seth Woollet — One single