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We got forked!!

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , , on April 7, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   Scout Smith had a pair of singles Saturday as Coupeville clashed with high-flying Forks in a doubleheader. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

This is not going to go the way you think.

Luke Skywalker’s words of wisdom in “The Last Jedi” were likely echoing around Coupeville Saturday, though, with all the wind, everyone could be forgiven for not hearing them.

On a day when the prairie was lashed by rolling, dirt-flinging, sustained winds that sliced through the souls of even the most die-hard of fans, the Wolf softball squad came back to Earth.

The CHS sluggers, coming off of a romp against Meridian, entered Saturday with a superb 6-1 record.

That record has now taken a ding or two, courtesy a very-impressive Forks team.

A Spartans unit that plays together as both a high school team and a travel ball squad showed what year-round commitment can inspire, as they drilled the Wolves 12-0 and 10-0 to sweep a doubleheader no one was sure would be played in the first place.

The non-conference losses drop Coupeville to 6-3, and its players, who managed just five hits on the day while battling flame-throwing Spartans and Mother Nature, will have some time to reflect on what went wrong.

CHS is off until next Saturday, Apr. 14, when it travels to Friday Harbor.

As he surveyed the damage, Wolf coach Kevin McGranahan was clear-eyed and committed to making sure his players bounce back quickly and efficiently.

“Long story short, Forks hit the ball and we didn’t,” he said. “We ran into a very good team today and we have some things to work on.”

The Spartans (7-2), who compete in the brutal Evergreen League, where they clash with fellow 1A powerhouses like Montesano, Elma and Hoquiam, are GOOD.

And yes, that word was meant to be all caps.

Forks, one through nine, hits with precision and power, it rarely make mistakes in the field and it boasts five pitchers with top-level stuff.

So, even though Wolf hurlers Katrina McGranahan and Scout Smith weren’t off by much Saturday, to beat the Spartans you would have to be close to flawless.

And Coupeville, whether bothered by the wind, the precision of their visitors, or a little jet lag from playing five games in six days, was not flawless on this day.

Game 1:

Katrina McGranahan came out all guns blazing, whiffing the side in the first, en route to nine K’s in the game.

But then things fell apart for a bit in the second, as Forks used four hits, including one greatly helped by the wind, which caused a routine fly ball to madly curve away from a CHS fielder at the last second, to bust things open.

Down 4-0 and unable to muster much offense, the Wolves went 11 batters into the game before they got their first runner aboard.

That was Smith, who ripped a one-out single to straight-away center in the fourth.

When the wind died (for at least six seconds) and McGranahan immediately followed with her own base-knock to right, the hints of a rally begin to emerge.

Only to be promptly smashed, as Forks cut down the lead runner on a grounder off the bat of Sarah Wright, then escaped the inning with a strikeout.

The game got away from CHS after that, with the Spartans plating three in the fifth (including a long two-run home-run) and five more in the sixth to enact the mercy rule.

Smith added a second single, while freshman Mollie Bailey toasted a single to center to cap Coupeville’s limited four-hit attack.

Game 2:

If the offense was blunted in the opener, it was DOA the second time around, with a Lauren Rose single and a Bailey walk accounting for the only Wolf base-runners.

Forks methodically picked away, scoring runs in small clumps, with the only bright spot for Coupeville coming from its defense.

Emma Mathusek nailed a runner coming in to third with a throw from left, Rose devoured everything which came her way in the middle of the infield and CHS turned a tricky double-play to stuff a rally.

The play of the game came from McGranahan, who was manning shortstop with Smith in the pitcher’s circle.

While Forks kept 99% of their hits on the ground Saturday, one Spartan lofted a ball high into the swirling madness in the first inning.

Breaking from short, McGranahan had to fight the wind, which caused the ball to suddenly reverse course, and an ump who couldn’t seem to get out of her way as she charged in, veered, then dove face-first.

Spearing the ball in the very tip of her glove, she snagged the orb as it dropped like an anvil, then held on through the collision with the ground, earning easily the biggest cheer of the afternoon.

Heck, even the ump who made her job harder was smiling about the play afterwards – a small victory on a rough and tumble day.

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Madness, mayhem … and a little grace!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, Middle School, tagged , , , , , , on March 29, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   A rough and tumble season finale at Forks included CMS spark-plug guard Kiara Contreras suffering an ankle injury. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

As season finales go, this one busted out all the fireworks.

After traveling all day Thursday, and then some, to get to Forks, the Coupeville Middle School basketball squads walked head-on into a wild afternoon on the court.

By the time the Wolves exited and headed back to the bus for their final trip home this season, they had two wins in as many games, though one came in an extremely odd manner.

The Wolf 7th graders romped to a 37-24 win, while the CMS 8th graders officially were credited with a forfeit win after the Forks coach pulled his players and took his ball home while trailing by five with 14 ticks left on the clock.

Seriously.

But first, the game that finished.

7th grade:

Carolyn Lhamon has steadily grown as a force in the paint for the Wolves, and she capped her first middle school season by throwing down a career-high 24 points.

While Lhamon by herself would have been enough to match Forks, she wasn’t alone.

Not by a long shot.

Maddie Georges tossed in seven in support, Nezi Keiper and Gwen Gustafson each added a bucket and Alita Blouin knocked down a pair of free throws to round out the attack.

With the win, the CMS 7th graders finished the season at 8-2 for first-year head coach Alex Evans.

The Wolves fell only to Sequim, a large middle school which funnels players to a 2A high school, and both of those games came down to the wire. One was decided late in the fourth, the other in overtime.

8th grade:

Where to begin?

The game was rough-and-tumble, to be charitable, with Coupeville shooting 35 free throws and losing spark-plug guard Kiara Contreras to a leg injury after she was sent intentionally flying by a Forks rival.

Up by one with 50 seconds to go, the home-town Spartans melted down mentally, throwing away the game and their cool.

Wolf scoring ace Anya Leavell struck twice, stealing a ball and turning it into a go-ahead layup, then pilfering yet another pass only to be tackled to the floor.

Unable to continue, she had to be replaced at the free throw line, with Coupeville coach Dustin Van Velkinburgh calling on Abby Mulholland to do the honors.

“Enter the momentum-swinging hero! After playing less than a minute, Abby steps to the free throw line and sinks them both,” said a proud coach.

After that, things went all to heck and beyond, with a steal on an inbound pass, a turnover, a missed Forks shot, a scramble for a loose ball and a Forks coach coming unglued.

Whistled for a technical, he continued to rant while Izzy Wells iced the game with a pair of charity shots.

And then the Forks coach took his ball and went home, refusing to play out the final 13.8 seconds of the season, forfeiting the game and any chance to close with class.

In the midst of a game where a Forks player cursed right at a ref’s face and Contreras was injured on a play that seemed to spring out of a time machine from the era when the Detroit Pistons “Bad Boys” used to throttle Michael Jordan, there was a saving grace.

It came in the way Coupeville’s players handled a potentially explosive situation on a foreign floor.

“There were a lot of times where we could have given into the fight but we didn’t,” Van Velkinburgh said. “We stayed the course, stayed together and got large contributions down the stretch to pull a wrestling match out to be a basketball game win.

“We end our season and I couldn’t be more proud of this group of young ladies.”

His squad finished 6-4, with their losses coming to Stevens and Sequim, two schools several times larger than Coupeville.

The victories built his team’s confidence, and the losses taught them what they need to do to improve.

As they prepare to move up to high school ball, Van Velkinburgh, who has guided these players through several years of SWISH basketball prior to this season, has seen the Wolves grow, develop and bond as a team, on and off the floor.

“I’m very excited for their future,” he said. “My hope is they continue to work hard and that they stay together.

“Amazing group of young ladies that I can truly say I have been blessed to share the court with.”

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It’s called a beat-down!!

Posted in Basketball, Middle School, tagged , , , , , on March 1, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   Carolyn Lhamon knocked down 14 points Thursday as the CMS 7th grade varsity shredded Forks, one of three wins for the Wolves on the day. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Wins for everyone.

Showcasing their defensive intensity, all three Coupeville Middle School girls basketball teams to play Thursday came away with comfortable wins.

Shredding visiting Forks, the Wolves sauntered to wins in both 7th and 8th grade varsity contests as well as an 8th grade JV bout.

The road-weary Spartans didn’t field a 7th grade JV team, which was the only thing keeping CMS from going 4-for-4 on the day.

8th grade varsity:

One play in and this thing was done. Pretty much.

Audrianna Shaw slapped home a layup on the game’s opening play, sparking a 19-2 run, and Coupeville coasted home with a 43-15 win.

The Wolves dominated on the defensive end of the floor, shutting down the Spartans in virtually every way.

If it wasn’t Ja’Kenya Hoskins ripping down rebounds, and yanking a few arms out of their sockets along the way, it was Kiara Contreras attacking the ball-handler like a rabid dog, glee in her eye and a smile on her face as she wreaked havoc.

This band of Wolves is aggressive, seasoned and  hungry for wins, and Forks found itself playing Wile E. Coyote to Coupeville’s anvil-droppin’ Road Runner.

The early 19-2 run, which went from the opening tip until right before the final 90 seconds of the first half, featured points from five different Wolves.

Izzy Wells was front and center, dropping in six of her game-high 16, while Anya Leavell, Contreras, Shaw and Hoskins all chipped in.

Forks finally stopped the bleeding, for a quick second, with a 5-0 mini-surge to end the half, but Coupeville went right back to work in the third quarter.

Once again ramping up the defense, the Wolves turned frequent Spartans turnovers into breakaway basket after breakaway basket.

Wells banked home another eight points on a variety of net-tickling jumpers, while Contreras pulled off the best play of the night.

Sprinting full force, the crafty Wolf guard pulled in a long outlet pass from Shaw, went airborne, then dipped under a flailing defender at the last possible second and popped the ball off the glass.

All of this while being pummeled around the head and shoulders and ending up face-first into the wall at the end of the court.

Coupeville took its foot off the gas pedal in the late going, but got a nice closing bucket from Ella Colwell, who took a pass from Contreras and rolled past her defender for a layup.

Wells outscored Forks herself (16-15), but got plenty of help, as Contreras, Shaw and Leavell each dropped in six.

Hoskins (5), Samantha Streitler (2) and Colwell (2) also scored, while Kylie Van Velkinburgh spent the afternoon setting up her teammates with hard-earned rebounds and sweet set-up passes.

8th grade JV:

A tale of two halves, and one player.

The game was a 4-3 defensive stalemate at the half, in favor of Coupeville, then Streitler hit the floor and the Wolves put the game away.

Playing just two quarters, so she’d also be eligible for the varsity contest, Streitler tossed in 11 points in the second half, keying an eventual 20-10 CMS victory.

The difference was the third quarter, when the Wolves used a 9-2 run, with Streitler dropping in every point, to put the game on ice.

Quicksilver Lily Leedy added four points, including an electrifying steal and breakaway bucket to put an exclamation point on things, while Abby Mulholland (3) and Jessenia Camerena (2) also scored.

Mulholland’s output came on a sweet three-ball late in the game, where she stopped ‘n popped over the outstretched arms of the defense.

Katelin McCormick, Angelina Gebhard, Mercedes Kalwies-Anderson and Alana Mihill also saw floor time for the Wolves.

7th grade varsity:

It’s not often you can go scoreless for the first nine minutes-plus of a game and still win in a romp, but that’s just what Coupeville’s young guns accomplished.

The Wolves didn’t score until Gwen Gustafson swished a jumper a minute into the second quarter, and yet the Wolves still pulled away to win 36-9.

CMS had plenty of opportunities in the first quarter, as an opportunistic defense headed up by Alita Blouin drove Forks batty. Unfortunately, the rim was utterly unforgiving.

Jump forward to the second quarter, and things took a marked turn for the better.

Carolyn Lhamon followed Gustafson’s jumper with a rebound and put-back to stake Coupeville to a 4-3 lead, and the Wolves would never trail again.

Blouin, living up to her nickname of “The Assassin,” was ruthless, ripping balls away, pilfering steals, crossing up Forks ball-handlers, then crashing hard to the hoop for three straight buckets to bust things wide open.

An epic bank shot off the fingertips of Hayley Fiedler capped a 12-2 run and sent CMS in to the halftime break up 12-5.

After that it was the Carolyn Lhamon Experience in full bloom, as the ace rebounder crushed the Spartans in the paint, then jumped out for a series of quick, super-soft jumpers as she scored 12 of her game-high 14 in the second half.

Two came off solid lead passes from Blouin, a third off a drive and dish from Maddie Georges.

Not content to let Fiedler have the longest shot of the afternoon, Trinity McGee stepped half an inch inside the three-point arc and banked home a gorgeous shot to cap a fourth quarter full of Wolf joy.

CMS spread its scoring around, with seven of the 10 players in uniform putting their name in the scoring column.

Lhamon’s 14 was followed by Blouin (8), Fiedler (4), Georges (4), Gustafson (2), Nezi Keiper (2) and McGee (2).

Jordyn Rogers and the battlin’ Lucero sisters, Allie and Maya, teamed up with Keiper and Lhamon to thoroughly dominate Forks on the boards.

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Never tell me the odds!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Middle School, tagged , , , , , on January 4, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   Logan Martin scored seven points in the final minutes of the fourth quarter Thursday, as Coupeville roared from 12 down to beat Forks 45-44. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Now that is going to be the longest, most tear-stained, really, really morbidly-quiet trip ever taken on a school bus.

When you blow a 12-point lead in the final six minutes, get gut-punched by a ref with impeccable integrity, then lose on the game’s final play, it doesn’t make for a pleasant evening.

So … good thing none of us live in Forks!

Cause the Coupeville side of the stands, the insanely-loud, deliriously-happy side, they exited the CMS gym Thursday flashing smiles, doing fist-bumps and basking in the glow of an early contender for best game of the year.

Even if we are only four days in to 2018.

So, what drove the Wolf fans into hysterics?

Watching the Coupeville Middle School varsity boys basketball squad roar back to shock the visiting Spartans 45-44, literally winning on the final shot of the night — a pressure-packed and artfully-swished little jumper off of the magical finger tips of Xavier Murdy.

The win, coming in Coupeville’s first game since Dec. 14, lifts the varsity to 4-2 on the season and stretches its current winning streak to three games.

It also avenges a loss at Forks a month ago, while being the kind of win they’ll still be talking about long after these players have graduated high school.

The victory also forced an overly-yappy road fan or two to go stone silent at the end (my right ear greatly appreciates that) and made up for a loss in the JV contest.

In that one, the very-green Wolves played a billion times better than they did the first time around against Forks, but still fell 49-20.

Varsity roars:

Coupeville led exactly three times, once at 3-1 on an early Murdy three-ball, and twice in the game’s final 43 seconds.

But hey, the only lead that matters is the one where the clock says 0:00 in the fourth.

Trailing by seven at the half, CMS got as close as four in the third, then seemed to buckle. To which it responded, guess again.

Having surrendered eight straight points — two buckets to end the third and two to start the fourth — the Wolves were in their biggest hole of the night at 38-26.

Then, everything started to click, with the fuse being lit not by a shot, but by a pass.

Out on the run after scooping up a loose ball, Hawthorne Wolfe, the floppy-haired heir to Pistol Pete, who has never met a three-ball attempt he didn’t like trying, passed on a shot.

Instead, he zipped a note-perfect pass to sprinting teammate Caleb Meyer, who snatched the ball out of the air and muscled his way through a pair of defenders for a quick layup.

The pass, and bucket, were huge.

Not only did it break Coupeville’s dry spell, but, in one wham-bam play, it seemed to take most of Forks confidence and toss it in the direction of the very-hungry Wolves.

CMS repeated the same Wolfe-to-Meyer play 10 seconds later, before Meyer dished a gorgeous lob to Murdy for a layup the next time down the floor.

With their lead being scratched away, the Spartans got tight, their shots started to rim out after sweetly falling all night, and Logan Martin stepped up to deliver the KO.

He had been battling hard on the boards all night, but in the final minutes Martin morphed into a dead-eye shooter, knocking down a bank shot in the paint, then scrambling out to the top to drain a trey.

Toss in a Murdy three-ball and a free throw from Meyer, and, as all the blood drained out of the faces of the once-noisy Forks fans, Coupeville was back within 42-41.

Cue an insane final 43 ticks of the clock.

The Wolves struck first, with Martin taking an in-bounds pass from Meyer and turning it into a go-ahead layup, somehow getting the ball to drop while three Spartans beat the crud out of him (without a foul being called).

Forks had the answer, though, when their own big man powered inside for a bucket and foul with 22 seconds to play. Or, at least it seemed that way.

Back up 44-43, the Spartans couldn’t get the free throw to drop.

And then it got bonkers.

Forks snared the rebound, sent a pass out to the right, and a Spartan nailed what could have been a game-icing three-ball.

Except Jim Shulock, a ref with ice water in his veins and great moral integrity, screamed “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO SIR!!!!!!”

Staring down Forks players, coaches and fans as he knifed them, a guy who’s been wearing black and white stripes since before these kids were born, made the only call, in good conscience, he could make.

The only correct one, though one 98.3% of refs would probably not have had the guts to make at that moment.

A Forks player had clearly leveled a Wolf right in front of Shulock, and he punched the air, waving off the trey and calling the offensive foul on the visitors.

The Spartans wailed, while Coupeville simply went to work.

Given the ball back, down by one, with the clock ticking madly away, the Wolves found Murdy on the left side of the paint, and X-Man was flawless.

His short jumper over a sea of arms put CMS up 45-44, then, with the noise in the gym at levels that made Navy jet pilots all the way up in Oak Harbor wince, the Wolf defense sealed the deal.

Forks couldn’t hear, couldn’t think, and couldn’t hold it together, failing to get a shot off in the final eight seconds, sending Wolf fans cascading on to the floor, a sea of humanity losing its collective freakin’ mind.

“Every game should be like this!!!,” bellowed one Wolf coach, Bob Martin, as the other, Dante Mitchell, high-fived their players.

Murdy finished with a game-high 17, while Logan Martin banged home 12. Wolfe netted nine, Meyer knocked in five and Cody Roberts tickled the twines for two.

JV improves:

Coupeville’s younger players managed only six points in 32 minutes the first time these teams faced off, but they had that beat Thursday after just the first quarter.

Gabe Shaw banged down low for the game’s opening bucket, and while the Wolves couldn’t hold the lead against a more-polished Forks unit, they hung tough in the early going.

Alex Murdy was a particular standout, shutting down the Spartans on three consecutive plays down the floor. First he delivered a thunderous blocked shot, before making off with a pair of steals on back-to-back possessions.

Forks used a 9-0 surge to open the second quarter, fueled by a long three-ball, and, after that, the Wolves had few chances to get back in the game.

That didn’t stop CMS, though, as Ty Hamilton had a nice slash through the paint for a bucket and Dominic Coffman reinvented himself as a one-man wrecking crew.

He tossed in five of Coupeville’s seven third-quarter points, including getting three the hard way, but it was his electric intensity on defense which probably scarred the Spartans for life.

Near the end of the third quarter, Coffman stopped a Forks breakaway by delivering a well-timed karate chop to the head of the guy about to drop a layup. Instead the ball went one way, the rival went the other, and Wolf fans erupted.

Going one better, Coffman stopped a second fast break by leveling a Spartan like a semi-truck hitting a grocery cart full of melons left in the middle of the interstate.

On that one, the ref shook his head, tried to hide his smile and softly intoned, “foul, #1, foot to … the mouth.”

When he wasn’t blowing folks up, Coffman dropped in five points to pace the CMS offense. Isaiah Bittner (4), Aiden Burdge (4), Alex Murdy (3), Hamilton (2) and Shaw (2) also chipped in.

Tony Garcia, Kevin Partida, Alex Wasik, Brayden Coatney and Levi Pulliam rounded out the roster.

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Foiled in Forks!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Middle School, tagged , , , , on December 8, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Grady Rickner, seen here last season, dropped in a bucket Thursday in a close loss at Forks. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The Wolves got a reminder that long before he became a Coupeville coach/teacher/administrator, Ron Bagby was a state title-winning legend in Forks. (Bob Martin photo)

One was close, the other not so much.

Having traveled to the wilds of Forks Thursday, the Coupeville Middle School boys hoops squads had wildly different results.

The CMS varsity, a much more battle-hardened squad, fought down to the end before narrowly falling 34-31 to the host Spartans.

Meanwhile, the Wolf JV, which features a ton of first-year players, was rolled 76-21.

The losses dropped the two squads to 1-2 and 0-3, respectively.

Coupeville returns home next Monday, Dec. 11, when Port Townsend’s Blue Heron MS pops in for a visit.

Tip-off is 3:15, with JV followed by varsity.

Varsity:

Six of the seven Wolves to see action scored, with four of those players netting a three-ball.

Logan Martin was the most consistent player in red and white, rumbling for a team-high nine points. He was the only Wolf to score in every quarter, as well.

Raining down a pair of treys, Xavier Murdy backed up Martin with six points, while Caleb Meyer (6), Cody Roberts (5), Hawthorne Wolfe (3), Grady Rickner (2) and Aiden Burdge rounded out the roster.

JV:

Forks has a very strong youth hoops program, and that showed, as the Spartans young guns were very polished ball-hawks.

Isaiah Bittner paced Coupeville with eight points, while Kevin Partida chipped in with four. Levi Pulliam (3), Burdge (3) and Dominic Coffman (1) also scored.

And yes, that equals 19 and not 21.

A third quarter basket for the Wolves was recorded, but not awarded to a player, forever denying historians.

Such is life.

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