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Hardball squad locks down #1 playoff seed

Posted in Baseball, tagged baseball, CHS Wolves, Friday Harbor, Jonathan Valenzuela, Scott Hilborn on April 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Chase Anderson is playoff-bound. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

They control their own destiny.

Playing fast and furious Tuesday afternoon, the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad thwacked visiting Friday Harbor 4-0, claiming the #1 seed for the District 1/2 postseason tourney.

The victory, keyed by seven strong innings from starting pitcher Scott Hilborn and a big two-run single from fellow senior Jonathan Valenzuela, lifts the Wolves to 7-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 9-3 overall.

That record includes the recent addition of a forfeit win over Concrete from a game that was supposed to be played April 8.

Coupeville still has eight games left on the regular season schedule — six of them league contests.

The Wolves remain in a battle for the league title with 1B Mount Vernon Christian (9-0, 9-2) — which it hosts Thursday — but Tuesday’s win means CHS will be the top 2B squad.

Having beaten both Friday Harbor and La Conner twice already, the Wolves are 4-0 in that three-team round-robin and own all the tiebreakers.

So, when the playoffs arrive in mid-May, Friday Harbor, as the #2 team from District 1, faces off with the only school playing baseball in District 2 — Northwest Christian.

The winner advances to face Coupeville in a loser-out, winner-to-state game.

That’s still several weeks away however, so for now, the focus is on finishing strong.

The Wolves are scheduled to play four times in a five-day span, following up their shutout of Friday Harbor by traveling to South Whidbey Wednesday, hosting MVC Thursday, then bouncing to Orcas Island Saturday.

Game one in the hardball odyssey finished almost an hour before the Coupeville vs. Friday Harbor softball game across the street did, as Hilborn mowed down the Wolverines.

Scott Hilborn fires BBs.

Scattering four hits and two walks in seven innings of work, the senior righty set nine batters down on strikes, including two of three in the final frame.

He was never in trouble but did pick a runner off of first base and got some help from his defense when Valenzuela and Peyton Caveness combined to turn a double play.

Coupeville got the only runs it would need in the bottom of the first inning.

Hilborn reached on an error, freshman Chase Anderson plunked a single, then Valenzuela ripped a two-run single to centerfield to stake the Wolves to a quick 2-0 lead.

CHS added a run in the second, with Hilborn socking an RBI double that sent Cole White skittering home, before scraping out a final tally in the bottom of the sixth.

Valenzuela led off the frame with a single, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Camden Glover, stole third, and tapped home after a Friday Harbor error.

Tuesday stats:

Chase Anderson — One single
Peyton Caveness — One single, one walk
Coop Cooper — One single
Scott Hilborn — One double
Jonathan Valenzuela — Two singles

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Mother Nature is a fickle mistress

Posted in Girls Tennis, tagged CHS Wolves, Friday Harbor, girls tennis, Mother Nature, rain on March 31, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Djina Radenovic is ready to launch serves, but Mother Nature has other ideas. (Jackie Saia photo)

The dance continues.

Keeping a tennis schedule in place during “spring” is always a tricky game, and 2023 is no exception.

Friday’s scheduled home match between Coupeville and Friday Harbor has been postponed because of weather, as liquid sunshine returns to the weather scene.

The match, which is a rumble between Northwest 2B/1B League foes, will be rescheduled, said Coupeville Athletic Director Willie Smith.

As the schedule sits now, the Wolves will be off for a bit, with spring break bearing down.

Currently, CHS is set to return to action Tuesday, Apr. 11 with a road trip to South Whidbey.

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Crown dinged, but not gone

Posted in Softball, tagged Allie Lucero, CHS Wolves, Friday Harbor, Northwest League, Softball on March 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Maya Lucero, ready to fling heat. (Jackie Saia photo)

How bad do you want it?

That’s a question the Coupeville High School softball squad will have to ask, after taking an unexpected loss Tuesday on Friday Harbor.

Despite back-to-back out-of-the-park home runs from lethal leftie Allie Lucero, the Wolves fell just short, losing 13-12 in a game they led 6-0.

The conference loss, the first CHS softball has absorbed since rejoining the Northwest 2B/1B League in 2020, drops Kevin McGranahan’s team to 1-1 in NWL play, 3-3 overall.

The biggest sting, however, is who beat the Wolves.

With three 2B schools in the seven-team NWL, only one of that trio advances to the playoffs, and it’s based off head-to-head play.

So, while there’s a lot of season left to play, Coupeville’s pathway to the postseason just got a lot smaller.

As in, the Wolves have to beat Friday Harbor in their two remaining matchups — Apr. 18 in Coupeville and May 4 back on the road — or its regular season and done.

But what about La Conner, the third 2B school, you ask?

The Braves have been outscored 113-28 across their first five games, including a 20-2 loss to Coupeville in which the Wolves created 10 of their 12 outs by choosing to have runners step off base early.

So, moving along…

Tuesday’s showdown started in favor of Coupeville, with the Wolves looking like they would bust things wide open.

Yet they came up just short of delivering that knockout punch.

CHS put two runners aboard in the top of the first, but failed to bring either one around, while doubles from Sofia Peters and Gwen Gustafson staked the visitors to a 1-0 lead after two frames.

Wolf hurler Maya Lucero shut down Friday Harbor with ease coming out of the gate, and then she and her teammates surged in the third.

Sending 10 hitters to the plate, Coupeville tallied five runs to push its advantage out to 6-0.

Taylor Brotemarkle cracked a double, Madison McMillan mashed a two-run triple to deep center, and Allie Lucero, Gustafson, and Mia Farris all followed with precision hits.

Toss in walks to Teagan Calkins and Melanie Navarro, with the latter wearing a pitch, and thoughts of ten-running another foe were in the air.

And then things fell apart, first slowly and then quickly.

“We went all the way to Friday Harbor, but forgot to pack our defense,” Kevin McGranahan said. “A huge inning fueled by too many errors to count, and we dug a hole we couldn’t climb out of.

“Our inconsistent defense caught us in a big way today.”

The Wolverines only picked up a lone run in the bottom of the third, but went on a tear in the fourth, pushing eight more across as CHS struggled to field the ball.

Another four scores in the fifth inning shoved the lead out to 13-7, putting increased pressure on a suddenly scrambling Coupeville squad.

Allie Lucero launched the first of her two taters in the top of the fifth, then came back around to do it again leading off the seventh.

Both of her round-trippers vanished high over the right field fence, eliciting ooh’s and ah’s from a pack of Friday Harbor teens hanging out around the camera streaming the game back to Whidbey.

The second Lucero launch sparked a final-inning rally which almost caught the Wolverines.

Brotemarkle crushed a two-run double to left to pull Coupeville within 13-10, before a runner zipped home off of a passed ball and McMillan pasted an RBI triple.

With the tying run at third and the go-ahead score lingering at first, the Wolves needed just a pinch more magic, but came up a batter short.

Now the real work begins.

Tuesday stats:

Taylor Brotemarkle — One single, two doubles
Teagan Calkins — One single, two walks
Mia Farris — One single, one walk
Gwen Gustafson — One single, one double
Allie Lucero — Two home runs
Maya Lucero — Two singles
Madison McMillan — One single, two triples
Melanie Navarro — Two walks
Sofia Peters — One double, one walk

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Diamond men claim huge win

Posted in Baseball, tagged baseball, Chase Anderson, CHS Wolves, Friday Harbor, Scott Hilborn on March 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Fab frosh Chase Anderson, ready to make the magic happen. (Morgan White photo)

“The Magic Man” delivered.

Freshman Chase Anderson, already a grizzled vet in his second season of high school ball, smacked a game-busting RBI single in the top of the sixth inning Tuesday, lifting Coupeville to an important early-season win.

That base knock, and a stellar pitching performance from senior Scott Hilborn, sparked the Wolves to a 3-1 win on Friday Harbor.

With the victory, CHS gets to 2-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 4-2 overall.

Even more important, those first two conference W’s have come against La Conner and Friday Harbor — the other two 2B schools in the seven-team NWL.

While 1B schools Orcas Island and Mount Vernon Christian look ready to tangle with the 2B schools for the league title, Coupeville’s shot at making the state playoffs solely rests on how it does against schools in its own classification.

The Wolves play both La Conner and Friday Harbor twice more in the regular season, but a 2-0 start bodes well for the future.

Especially after CHS won a true gut-check on the road Tuesday afternoon.

Trailing 1-0 through three innings, the Wolves knotted things at 1-1 in the top of the fourth, thanks to timely hitting and some Friday Harbor miscues.

Anderson dropped a bunt, then flustered the host team badly enough to land on second base during the ensuing error-fest by the Wolverines.

The frosh phenom moved to third base on a Cole White single, only to be picked off the bag.

No worries, however, as Wolf senior Jonathan Valenzuela promptly lashed an RBI single to center, sending White scrambling home with the tying run.

Friday Harbor’s opening tally, which came thanks to an error and an RBI double off the bat of senior Geoffry Volk, was the only time the hosts dinged Coupeville ace Scott Hilborn.

Pitching the way dad (and coach) Steve taught him, the Wolf senior whiffed 10 batters across six innings of work, with most of his K’s coming at clutch moments.

With the game knotted at 1-1, and the younger Hilborn throwing heat, Coupeville surged ahead in the top of the sixth.

The Wolf hurler zipped a one-out single to center, then stole second and third to set the stage for his young teammate.

Anderson’s blow also landed in the middle of the outfield, then Coupeville notched an insurance run thanks to a walk to White and a sac fly from Valenzuela.

Desperate to get back into the game, Friday Harbor pushed hard, getting two runners aboard in the bottom of the sixth, and another in the seventh, and final, frame.

Both times Coupeville pitchers came up huge.

First, Scott Hilborn induced a grounder back to the mound to end the sixth, pivoting and plopping the ball into the waiting glove of Landon Roberts at first base.

Then, in the seventh, Valenzuela came out of the bullpen to slam the door shut, ripping off back-to-back strikeouts to open things.

Friday Harbor slipped a single into a gap, bringing the tying run to the plate, but the Wolverines were denied, their final out of the day a weak grounder to second.

All that left was the celebration, with the Wolves flexing the win all over Instagram.

Coupeville, which has a road game at MVC Thursday and a home clash against Orcas Saturday, got something from everyone in the lineup in the road win.

Jack Porter led the way, pasting a pair of hits, while White collected a base knock and a walk.

Scott Hilborn, Anderson, and Valenzuela had singles, with Coop Cooper, Roberts, Peyton Caveness, Johnny Porter, Aiden O’Neill, and Seth Woollet also seeing field time.

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Wolf netters draw first blood

Posted in Girls Tennis, tagged CHS Wolves, Friday Harbor, girls tennis, Helen Strelow, Northwest League on March 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Helen Strelow tracks the incoming tennis ball. (Jackie Saia photo)

Advantage, Coupeville.

The Wolf girls’ tennis team went island-hopping Tuesday and pulled out a 3-2 win against archrival Friday Harbor in the first of four meetings between the Northwest 2B/1B League rivals.

The match was knotted at 2-2 when Lucy Tenore and Skylar Parker teamed up to win a fierce fight at second doubles.

With the victory, Coupeville gets to 1-0 in league play, 1-1 overall, with a non-conference road match at South Whidbey set for Thursday.

Friday Harbor and CHS are the only schools in the seven-team NWL to field tennis programs, and the Wolverines and Wolves will clash three more times this season.

Coupeville is slated to host matches Mar. 31 and Apr. 21, then will hop back on the ferry May 2.