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Posts Tagged ‘doubleheader sweep’

Sublime Senior Night for sluggers

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , on April 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Ja’Kenya Hoskins (left) pops over from track practice to get a photo with Wolf softball sensation Izzy Wells. (Katy Wells photo)

The breeze was cold, and the bats were hot.

Fueled up on hot dogs and cupcakes, the Coupeville High School varsity softball team ignored relentless prairie wind Friday, bashing 34 hits on Senior Night during a doubleheader sweep of visiting Orcas Island.

In control from first pitch to last, the Wolves strolled to 17-1 and 19-2 wins in games mercy-ruled after the top of the fourth inning.

With the twin thumpings, Coupeville gets to 7-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 15-2 overall.

The Wolves close the regular season with a trip to Darrington next Tuesday, May 3, then turn their gaze to the playoffs.

But first they honored seniors Mckenna Somes, Violette Huegerich, Audrianna Shaw, and Izzy Wells with a pair of romps.

How the day played out:

 

Game 1:

Playing a 12:30 matinee on a weekday to kick things off meant an early exit from school, and limited fans for the first pitch.

It also meant a bit of a slow start for the Wolves, who scraped out two runs in the first, tacked on six more in the second, then hit their stride with a nine-run burst in the third.

The ball jumped off Coupeville bats, with five different hitters collecting an extra-base hit during an all-out assault on Orcas pitching.

Izzy Wells pounded three doubles, and Shaw smacked a pair of two-baggers, but it was freshman Savina Wells who rifled an inside-the-park home run to drive a huge stake through the visiting Vikings.

The fab frosh zipped a frozen rope to deep center, then churned her way around the basepaths without breaking stride, her long legs crossing home way before the ball arrived back in the infield.

Orcas couldn’t get much going against Wolf hurler Allie Lucero, who whiffed four and kept her foes on their heels with well-placed pitches.

One of the few times the Vikings looked like they might be up to something, Coupeville ended the mini rally by picking a runner off third base, Lucero winging the ball to Madison McMillan for the wham-bam tag.

Mckenna Somes reached base four times Friday. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

 

Game 2:

With Orcas in town for most of the day, having taken a 6:45 AM ferry as it Island-hopped, Coupeville hosted a between-games barbeque for softball and baseball players, as well as assorted freeloader writer types.

Then, after a tribute to the 12th graders, the Wolf sluggers went right back to work.

This time, Coupeville dumped eight runs on the board in the first, settled for four more in the second, then capped the day with a seven-spot in the third.

Walks were the currency of choice in the nightcap, with the Wolves drawing 15 free passes, led by McMillan and Huegerich netting three apiece.

The latter was twice bonked by wayward pitches, with the second one nailing her in the batting helmet.

“Not again!” said her mom, as the tough-as-nails Huegerich ambled down to first, shaking her head back and forth as she did.

The Wolves still had their bats going when the ball was near the strike zone, rapping out 12 more base knocks, with Somes, Shaw, and Mia Farris collecting doubles.

Shaw, enjoying herself immensely in the final home game of her stellar prep career, alternated between hitting righty and lefty.

Despite not normally being a switch hitter, the senior centerfielder held up rather well, slapping a pair of hits while trying out the less-comfortable left side of the plate.

McMillan also stole home twice in the game, the second time bouncing off both the catcher and umpire as she successfully bowled over anyone and everyone in her pursuit of tapping home plate.

“Next time … next time I want you to slide,” said Wolf coach Kevin McGranahan, with a small smile.

The Orcas catcher, freshman Molina Stone, recovered to make the defensive play of the game, crashing into the fence behind home as she snagged a fast-falling foul ball over her head.

And then, at 5:21 PST an era ended on the windswept prairie, as McGranahan went out to lift Izzy Wells after she recorded the first out in the final half-inning.

The calm leader of the Wolves, the Izzinator is a rare young woman.

She pitched CHS to state as a freshman, saw a pandemic erase her sophomore season and slash her junior campaign in half, and now is writing a mega-successful final chapter in her high school career.

Coupeville is 42-12 since Izzy stepped onto the diamond, and she’s not done yet.

But, for a moment, as her teammates hugged her, as a now-overflowing fan section hollered for her, and as her faithful pooch gazed at her adoringly from the sideline, the elder Miss Wells got a moment well-deserved, and very much earned.

 

Friday stats:

Taylor Brotemarkle — 2 singles, 2 walks
Teagan Calkins — 1 double
Mia Farris — 2 singles, 1 double
Gwen Gustafson — 1 walk
Violette Huegerich — 4 walks
Allie Lucero — 1 single, 1 double, 2 walks
Madison McMillan — 3 singles, 1 double, 3 walks
Melanie Navarro — 2 singles, 2 walks
Sofia Peters — 1 single, 1 walk
Audrianna Shaw — 3 singles, 3 doubles
Mckenna Somes — 2 singles, 1 double, 1 walk
Izzy Wells — 2 singles, 3 doubles, 1 walk
Savina Wells — 4 singles, 1 home run, 1 walk

Melanie Navarro sends the softball flying far away. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

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Lippo lashes, Owls dominate

Posted in Baseball, Wolves in college, tagged , , , , on April 21, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Joey Lippo, hardball hero. (Photo courtesy Connie Lippo)

Things are trending upwards.

Sparked by Coupeville grad Joey Lippo, the University of Maine at Presque Isle baseball squad swept a doubleheader Thursday, running its winning streak to three games.

The Owls bopped the University of Maine at Farmington 6-1 and 18-5 in the twin-bill, improving to 6-19 on the season.

UMPI, which won just a single game last season, is starting to find its groove, and a big part of the credit goes to Lippo and his deadly bat.

The former Wolf, now a college sophomore, filled up the stat sheet Thursday, piling up two hits — including a double — two RBI, two walks, four runs, and a stolen base.

On the season, Skyy Lippo’s twin is one of just two Owls to have appeared in all 25 games.

Joltin’ Joey leads the UMPI hardball squad in runs (23), triples (2), RBI (18), and walks (11), and is tied for top honors in stolen bases (5) and home runs (1).

The former CHS three-sport star is second in at-bats (88) and hits (30), and third in batting average (.341), on-base percentage (.412), and slugging percentage (.455).

Lippo and Co. have 10 regular season games remaining, with four of them coming up this weekend, when UMPI is set to play back-to-back doubleheaders against Husson University.

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Wolf hardball squad cracks Concrete

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , , on April 19, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Senior Cody Roberts was dominant Tuesday, as Coupeville High School pitchers held Concrete to two hits in a doubleheader sweep. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

It was a shellacking in the sunshine.

Taking advantage of a surprisingly nice day Tuesday, the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad got two games in, with both being lopsided victories.

Sweeping visiting Concrete 11-0 and 19-0 in games mercy-ruled after five innings, the Wolves improve to 7-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 9-5 overall.

That leaves Coupeville a half-game back of defending league champ Friday Harbor (7-0 in NWL action) and two games up on third-place Mount Vernon Christian (5-3).

The next two games are as big as any this season, with the Wolves set to square off with their prime rivals.

Coupeville travels to MVC this Friday, Apr. 22, before hosting Friday Harbor Apr. 26.

The Wolves head into those games with the warm glow of victory cascading everywhere, after wrecking winless Concrete.

Not only did Coupeville outscore the Lions 30-0, it also outhit the visitors 23-2, pasting the ball to all fields.

 

Game #1:

The opener gave locals a chance to watch Cody Roberts tossing liquid heat, as the senior righty whiffed nine across four innings of work.

He no-hit Concrete during his time on the hill, scattering some walks to keep things interesting, before turning things over to 8th grade ace Chase Anderson.

The future of Wolf baseball also proved to be deadly in the present, with “The Magic Man” slamming the door with a pair of knee-buckling strikeouts after the Lions scratched out their only base-knock of the game.

Chase Anderson gets electric.

Offensively, Coupeville chipped, chipped, chipped away, before finally busting loose in the late going.

The Wolves opened the scoring in the bottom of the first thanks to Jonathan Valenzuela blistering a two-out, two-run single back up the middle.

From there Coupeville rinsed and repeated, pushing two more runners across in both the second and third to build a 6-0 lead.

Cody Roberts had the big blow in the second, bopping a double which curled down the left field line and hit paydirt.

With the lead in hand, the Wolves shoved the game into mercy-rule land by dumping five runs on the board in the fourth inning.

Coupeville mixed a flurry of hits — including a bunt single from the fleet-footed Anderson — and several Concrete errors to officially end things.

 

Game #2:

New pitcher, same results.

Coupeville senior Hawthorne Wolfe took the bump in the nightcap and went the distance, recording 13 strikeouts across five innings of (almost) no-hit ball.

The Lions poked a leadoff single into left to open the fifth inning, putting their first runner aboard since the game’s second hitter had his lower leg blown off by a wayward Wolfe pitch.

After that, the most entertaining man in high school sports entertainment was in lock-down mode, flicking fastballs past flailing Concrete hitters, then piling up base-knocks when he himself was at the plate.

Hawthorne Wolfe throws ’em, but you can’t hit ’em.

Wolfe crunched three of Coupeville’s 14 hits in the second game, and should have had a fourth one, only to be denied by an ump who left his seeing eye dog in the car.

Not that it ultimately mattered, as CHS put this game on ice quickly.

Sending 18 batters to the plate in the first inning, the Wolves tapped home plate 13 times, with the carnage only stopped by a runner being called out on interference on a pop-up to third base.

Mixing JV players with varsity veterans, Coupeville coach Will Thayer got action for everyone in uniform in the nightcap, doing what he could to ease the pain of a blowout.

The Wolves still added three runs in the second and another three in the fourth, with Concrete failing several times to get out of innings when it had the chance.

8th grader Aiden O’Neill walloped a gorgeous double to deep left to start one rally, with Jack Porter ripping a two-run single to cap another.

Along the way Wolf catcher Peyton Caveness was drilled not once, but twice, with pitches which got away from Concrete’s hurlers.

He wore both plunkings with style, earning a nod of approval from big sis Coral, who was hit approximately 43,917 times during her own stellar Coupeville softball career.

 

Tuesday stats:

Chase Anderson — 1 single
Peyton Caveness — 2 singles, 2 walks
Camden Glover — 1 walk
Scott Hilborn — 2 singles
Cole Hutchinson — 1 single
Xavier Murdy — 2 walks
Aiden O’Neill — 1 double, 1 walk
Jack Porter — 1 single
Cody Roberts — 1 single, 2 walks
Landon Roberts — 2 singles, 1 walk
Sage Sharp — 2 singles, 1 double
Jonathan Valenzuela — 2 singles
Cole White — 3 singles
Hawthorne Wolfe — 4 singles, 1 walk

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They’re savages! Savages, I say!!

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , on April 15, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Gwen Gustafson was one of 22 Wolves to reach base Friday, as Coupeville thrashed La Conner twice. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

They are vengeance unleashed.

Even when they try and pull back the reigns a bit and try not to unnecessarily embarrass opponents, it’s hard for the Coupeville High School softball team to be anything less than dominant.

Case in point, Friday’s doubleheader at La Conner, where the Wolves, playing everyone in a uniform — varsity and JV — still romped to 23-0 and 23-1 wins over the outmatched Braves.

The sweep gives Coupeville nine straight wins and lifts it to 5-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 10-1 overall.

As they roll towards a second consecutive undefeated NWL championship, the Wolves get a chance to punch upwards all of next week.

Coupeville faces 1A Meridian, 3A Oak Harbor, and 2A Lakewood in non-conference tilts, a challenge Kevin McGranahan’s squad craves.

Coupeville is 4-1 this season against schools from larger classifications, with its only loss coming to 1A royalty Lynden Christian.

 

Game #1:

Mixing varsity and JV players, Coupeville pounded out a season-high 29 hits a day after dinging Sultan for 27 base-knocks.

With senior pitching ace Izzy Wells surrendering just a pair of singles, and whiffing 12 Braves, the Wolves were just as brutally efficient on the other side of the ball.

The game might have seemed close for a hot moment, as Coupeville led just 1-0 exiting the first inning, but then its big-game sluggers unleashed their bats.

Six runs in the top of the second stretched the lead out, with four more coming in the third and another three in the fourth inning.

The Wolves wrapped things up by pushing nine more tallies across the plate in the fifth, then shuffled their roster dramatically for the nightcap.

Mckenna Somes had a five-hit performance in game one of a doubleheader.

 

Game #2:

This time out, twin hurlers Allie and Maya Lucero combined to chuck a four-inning no-hitter, with nine of 12 outs coming via punch-outs.

With many of their regular starters sitting the finale out, the Wolves still cracked 13 hits, giving them a 42-2 advantage on the afternoon.

Freshman Savina Wells, who rested in the opener, returned to the starting lineup and promptly walloped a home run, while CHS also piled up a staggering 18 walks.

Wolf 8th grader Teagan Calkins earned four of those free passes, with Alondra Cruz and Madison McMillan eking out three walks apiece.

Up 7-1 after one inning, Coupeville dropped nine runs on the board in the second, then coasted in with four and three-run rallies in the remaining frames.

 

Friday stats:

Edie Bittner — 2 walks
Taylor Brotemarkle — 1 single, 1 double, 2 walks
Teagan Calkins — 4 walks
Camryn Clark — 1 walk
Alondra Cruz — 3 walks
Mia Farris — 3 singles, 1 double, 1 triple
Gwen Gustafson — 1 single, 1 walk
Jada Heaton — 1 single
Violette Huegerich — 1 single
Lily Leedy — 1 single
Allie Lucero — 1 single, 1 walk
Maya Lucero — 3 singles, 1 walk
Katie Marti — 2 singles, 1 walk
Chloe Marzocca — 1 single, 2 walks
Madison McMillan — 1 double, 3 walks
Melanie Navarro — 2 singles, 1 double, 1 walk
Maya Nottingham — 2 singles, 1 double
Sofia Peters — 1 double
Audrianna Shaw — 1 single, 1 double, 2 triples
Mckenna Somes — 4 singles, 1 double
Izzy Wells — 4 singles, 1 triple, 1 walk
Savina Wells — 1 single, 1 home run

Wolf coach Aaron Lucero gazes in wonder as the Wolves decimate all challengers.

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Hardball aces earn sweet sweep

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , , , on April 15, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Scott Hilborn fires a bullet Friday as Coupeville High School baseball sweeps a doubleheader from La Conner. (Morgan White photo)

It was a great birthday present.

Coupeville High School varsity baseball coach Will Thayer celebrated his cake day in grand style Friday, guiding his squad to a doubleheader sweep at La Conner.

The twin victories lift the Wolves to 5-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 7-5 overall.

That keeps Coupeville just a game back of defending league champ Friday Harbor (6-0) and a half-game up on Mount Vernon Christian (5-2) as the teams battle for conference supremacy in the seven-team NWL.

Friday’s doubleheader was a pretty solid beat-down too, as the Wolves soaked in the rare sun and ran away with 11-2 and 21-4 wins.

 

Game #1:

CHS pitchers Scott Hilborn and Hawthorne Wolfe combined to whiff 15 Braves in the victory, holding La Conner at bay until the Wolf sluggers got crackin’.

“Took a minute for our bats to warm up, but a good game,” Thayer said.

Coupeville opened the scoring by pushing two runs across in the top of the second, then tacked on another tally in the third.

The top of the fourth was where things busted wide open, however, as the Wolves rained down five runs in a rally keyed by base-knocks from Hilborn and Jonathan Valenzuela.

Hawthorne Wolfe and Co. kept their bats sizzlin’ in the road wins. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Coupeville, which added three runs in the fifth to round out its scoring, took advantage of whatever La Conner gave it.

The Wolves cracked eight hits, with Cole White, Sage Sharp, and Valenzuela recording two apiece, while also walking seven times.

Whatever hopes La Conner had of pulling off the upset faded every time a ball hit one of their fielder’s gloves, as the Braves committed a horrifying nine errors to make life tough for their pitchers.

 

Game #2:

Coupeville cut this one short, with a 12-run fourth inning helping the Wolves seal the deal in a game mercy-ruled after five frames.

“One of my favorite games I ever coached,” Thayer said. “Everyone played and we had fun.”

The Wolves sent 8th graders Chase Anderson and Coop Cooper to the mound in the nightcap, and the young guns sizzled, getting nine of 15 outs via the strikeout.

Chase Anderson brings the knee-buckling heat. (Morgan White photo)

The ball flew off of Coupeville’s bats as well, with six different players recording two hits as the Wolves rang up 15 base-knocks in the finale.

Wolfe cracked a triple to lead the way, while Hilborn, Peyton Caveness, Johnny Porter, and Anderson all bashed two-baggers in support.

 

Friday stats:

Chase Anderson — 1 single, 1 double, 2 walks
Peyton Caveness — 1 single, 1 double, 1 walk
Coop Cooper — 1 single
Scott Hilborn — 2 singles, 1 double, 1 walk
Cole Hutchinson — 1 walk
Xavier Murdy — 2 singles, 3 walks
Aiden O’Neill — 1 single
Jack Porter — 1 double
Johnny Porter — 1 double, 1 walk
Sage Sharp — 2 singles, 1 walk
Jonathan Valenzuela — 2 singles, 2 walks
Cole White — 4 singles
Hawthorne Wolfe — 1 single, 1 triple, 1 walk
Kai Wong — 1 walk

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