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Posts Tagged ‘Island rivalry’

Wolves claim Island baseball supremacy!!

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on March 17, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   Gavin Knoblich was part of a 13-hit, 10-run explosion Saturday, as Coupeville thumped Island rival South Whidbey. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

South Whidbey had no answers for Hunter Smith.

The Coupeville High School senior made his season pitching debut Saturday and came within one questionable call of throwing a no-hitter as the Wolves scorched host South Whidbey 10-0.

The non-conference victory, coming less than 24 hours after a 10-inning thriller with Sequim, lifts CHS to 2-1 on the season.

Everything was clicking in the sun for the Wolves, from booming bats and quick feet to superb calls from coach Chris Smith.

His best call? Handing the ball to his middle child.

Hunter Smith whiffed 13 Falcons, getting at least one in every inning, and faced just three batters over the minimum in seven pristine innings.

Two of those South Whidbey base-runners made it to the bag thanks to Wolf errors, while the only hit was a disputed one-out base-knock in the bottom of the sixth inning.

While Coupeville’s ace was dealing, the Wolf bats were booming, as they picked apart three Falcon hurlers for 13 hits.

“Solid performance all around,” said Chris Smith. “Hunter was outstanding on the mound.

“We stayed aggressive at the plate,” he added. “Barely missed the opportunity to break the game wide open with a few great plays from the South Whidbey  center-fielder with two outs.”

Coupeville jumped on the very first pitch of the day, with Matt Hilborn peppering a single on his first swing to kick-start things.

While Joey Lippo was robbed by a nice snag on a line drive, Dane Lucero’s RBI double and Kyle Rockwell’s RBI single, packaged around a walk from Jake Hoagland, put the Wolves up 2-0 after a half inning.

CHS added another run in the second thanks to two Falcon errors and another single from Hilborn, but what could have been a much-bigger inning came to a premature close when Hoagland’s long fly to center was run down.

Ultimately, it didn’t matter much, as the Wolves continued to hammer away at South Whidbey, piling on three runs in the fourth, one more in the sixth and three in the top of the seventh.

Both the sixth and seven innings started with Coupeville in a two-outs, no-one-on-base hole, and yet the Wolves responded each time by scraping together rallies with their backs to the wall.

Nine of Coupeville’s 10 runs were the direct result of a hit, sac fly or fielder’s choice, with only one run being plated on a Falcon error.

Lucero and Hilborn paced the Wolf offense with three hits apiece, with Lucero popping a double for the day’s only extra-base hit.

Hunter Smith and Lippo each rapped out two singles, while Rockwell, Gavin Knoblich and Nick Etzell collected one apiece.

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Another match, another lesson!!

Posted in Girls Tennis, tagged , , , , on March 16, 2018| Leave a Comment »

   Tia Wurzrainer is teaming with fellow Wolf sophomore Avalon Renninger to form a potent doubles duo. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Tennis is a tricky game.

They record the team score, yet individual development is the primary objective.

Coupeville High School girls tennis coach Ken Stange has been hanging around the courts for most of his life, and has developed a nice Zen attitude about the whole thing.

So, while his Wolf squad fell to 0-3 on the season after taking a 4-1 non-conference loss at South Whidbey Friday, he can be at peace, seeing each of his netters develop their own story arc at their own pace.

Coupeville will have a tough time putting together a string of team wins, with seven matches against 2A schools, several others against tough 1A rivals like South Whidbey, and a Wolf lineup still very much in flux.

Friday’s match, while it ended in a team loss, had its positives, though, especially in doubles.

Stange’s top duo, seniors Payton Aparicio and Sage Renninger, bounced back after a narrow loss to a Sequim tandem, pulling out an epic three-set win in Langley.

“Sage and Payton really figured it out today,” Stange said. “South Whidbey had a tough duo.

“It took a while for them to find the groove, but once they did, it was lights out for SW.”

Coupeville’s #2 duo, sophomores Avalon Renninger and Tia Wurzrainer, have only played three matches together, but their coach already sees a bright future for his young netters.

“Avalon and Tia continue to grow,” Stange said. “They may have lost, but I see them evolving into one entity.

“They remind me of my 1’s, in a way.”

The final varsity doubles match presented Coupeville’s coach with a bit of a quandry.

While he was fully in support of his own players — seniors Kameryn St Onge and Maggie Crimmins — one of the Falcon rivals happened to be Oliana Stange.

The SWHS sophomore was making her varsity debut, and she and her partner pulled out a win as Ken Stange carefully juggled two roles, that of an aggressive coach and a justifiably-beaming father.

“Between sets, I told Kam and Maggie to hit it to the less-experienced player. That was O,” chess-master Ken Stange admitted with a small smile. “I told my girls that she’d either wilt or rise up.

“O stepped up. I was quite proud.”

After another clash with a 2A school, this time Kingston, next Tuesday, Mar. 20, Coupeville begins its run at a fourth-straight Olympic League crown when it hosts Klahowya Thursday, Mar. 22

Complete Friday results:

Varsity:

1st Singles — Claire Mietus lost to Farriss Jokinen 6-2, 6-1

2nd Singles — Genna Wright lost to Ashley Ricketts 6-0, 6-0

1st Doubles — Payton Aparicio/Sage Renninger beat Mary Zisette/Ainsley Nelson 4-6, 6-1, 6-0

2nd Doubles — Avalon Renninger/Tia Wurzrainer lost to Robynn Maciel/Alison Papritz 6-4, 6-2

3rd Doubles — Kameryn St Onge/Maggie Crimmins lost to Ally Lynch/Oliana Stange 6-2, 6-2

JV:

4th Doubles — Jillian Mayne/Zara Bradley lost to Annika/Chloe 6-1

5th Doubles — Heather Nastali/Nanci Melendrez beat Capri/Amara 6-1

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Saved the best for last!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 10, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Having battled back from injury, Maddy Hilkey filled up the stat sheet Saturday as the Wolf JV stormed to another win. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

And then, at the very end, a ray of sunshine.

On a Saturday night when Coupeville High School basketball in general absorbed a beating, one team refused to go along with the story line.

The Wolf JV girls squad, Amy King’s band of scrappers and ball-hawks, is the lone CHS hoops unit to currently be posting a winning record.

So, it should come as little surprise that, even playing with virtually no bench, they still stormed past host South Whidbey 28-21 to run their record to 3-2.

“I guess we were the game of the night,” said King with a quietly satisfied smile.

Coupeville won despite playing with just over half its roster (six of 11 girls) in uniform.

“100% praise to our JV team – the warriors!,” said CHS varsity coach David King. “They communicated, moved as one on defense and ran their plays very well.

“My hope is varsity watched the effort and will learn from the JV team after tonight.”

With just one player sitting next to her on the bench at any given time, Amy King rubbed her hands together, knew she had the Falcons where she wanted them, and promptly unleashed defensive Hell.

The Wolves forced a shot-clock violation on South Whidbey’s first possession, and the tone was set.

“I was very impressed with our defense,” Amy King said. “The girls really were working as one unit – talking and making their own adjustments together during the game.

“They did this very effectively.”

While the Wolves surged out to a 16-10 lead heading into halftime, it was how her players reacted in the locker room which impressed their coach the most.

“I talked about what I was seeing and what we needed to do, but I also had the players telling me what they were seeing and talking about which plays were working and which were not,” Amy King said. “They were asking if we could make a change here or do something differently there.

“Excitement was in the air and they were owning their game,” she added. “As a coach, I was impressed with their input and conversation as a team.”

Playing with fire on defense, the Wolves got big performances from all six players in uniform.

Maddy Hilkey “was very impressive with playing up top on our defense, getting steals,” while Mollie Bailey was an equal opportunity thief.

When South Whidbey did get to the basket, Kylie Chernikoff “played fantastic defense, ripping rebounds all night and putting shots back up when she could.”

Toss in Avalon Renninger terrorizing everyone foolish enough to get in her way, and a fired-up Julia García Oñoro hitting the boards, and there were few options for the Falcons.

Chelsea Prescott, even after hitting the floor hard enough to be checked for a concussion, continued to be a stellar two-way star. She singed the nets for a game-high 16 points, while yanking down eight rebounds.

With all of her players firing as one, King’s squad controlled the pace of the game, repeatedly broke South Whidbey’s press and was relentless in pursuit of victory.

Renninger collected five points, eight boards and three steals, while Bailey had three points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Chernikoff (nine rebounds, two assists) and Hilkey (four steals, two assists) rounded out the scoring with a bucket apiece.

As she basked in the win, Amy King praised her iron women for a job well done.

“This group played like a team,” she said. “They pushed through their tired legs. They ran their plays, moved and talked on defense and did it all together.

“I could not have asked for a better way to end the day.”

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“After that, the wheels fell off…”

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on December 9, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Sarah Wright knocked down four points and played strongly on defense Saturday in a Coupeville loss. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

For one minute, maybe a minute-and-a-half, things were as good as they get.

And then everything went haywire in a way not previously seen this season.

The Coupeville High School girls basketball squad has lost several times in the early weeks of the campaign, but those were close defeats which came down to the final few possessions.

What unfolded Saturday in Langley was the exact opposite – a team crumpling in on itself in a blowout loss.

South Whidbey strolled to a 42-22 victory, but the host Falcons did less to earn the win than the Wolves did to lose it.

Now 1-5, a still-jelling CHS squad heads into its Olympic League opener Tuesday against Port Townsend looking for answers.

For a program which has won 15 or more games in each of the past three seasons — all which ended with conference titles — it’s an unexpected place to be.

Saturday, for a brief slice of time, the Wolves, who are still adapting to replacing four starters, looked like a vintage version of themselves.

Coupeville scored three consecutive baskets off of forced turnovers to open the game, preventing the Falcons from even getting a shot off.

Mikayla Elfrank was the Wolf with the quick ‘n deadly hands, and things looked bright and promising.

“After that the wheels fell off,” said CHS coach David King in a bit of an understatement.

The Falcons finally connected on a jumper, and liked it well enough, they rolled off 10 straight points to take a lead they would never relinquish.

Scout Smith stopped the bleeding with a single free throw to close out the first quarter, but Coupeville would hit only five field goals over the final three quarters.

A couple of South Whidbey three-balls slipped through the net, stretching the lead out, and, from there, the Wolves disintegrated for a good chunk of the game.

“Once they took the lead, we started complaining about calls, even had a T called on us for making a remark,” King said. “For some reason we believe we do no wrong and complain.

“This has been a bad habit all year,” he added. “The wasted, negative energy hasn’t gotten us any points, an extra rebound or even a steal or assist.

“At some point we need to figure it out and just play basketball.”

Some positives did arise, as King praised Lindsey Roberts and Ema Smith for their work on defense.

“Ema did a great job on their tall post player,” he said. “Over-matched in height, she got a couple of blocks and held her own. Even caused an offensive foul.”

Elfrank finished with eight points to lead the Wolves, while Kalia Littlejohn (5), Sarah Wright (4), Scout Smith (3) and Kyla Briscoe (2) also scored.

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“They played hard until the end”

Posted in Boys Basketball, tagged , , , , , on December 9, 2017| Leave a Comment »

   Wolf sophomore Ulrik Wells made his varsity debut Saturday night in Langley. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

There are wins, there are losses and then there are nights you just flip the score-book to another page and say, “Next…”

For a Coupeville High School boys basketball team which has played stellar defense so far this season, Saturday night will not go in the highlight reel.

Unable to stop host South Whidbey in the paint, from behind the arc or from out in the parking lot if the Falcons had chosen to shoot from there, the Wolves fell 73-12.

The non-conference loss drops Coupeville to 1-3 on the season, and undoubtedly stings.

But reality is, Tuesday brings the first Olympic League game, with Port Townsend visiting Cow Town, and having a short memory about Saturday’s debacle will be super important.

What loomed as another exciting chapter in a long and storied rivalry quickly took a dark turn for Coupeville.

South Whidbey came out flying, with Kody Newman hitting a runner in the first tenth of a second of the game.

OK, it might have taken just a wee bit longer than that, but not much.

After that, the Falcons, who finished the night boasting a 5-0 record, put the game away faster than their fans could clap-clap-clap every time their team was on defense.

A 15-0 lead midway through the first quarter turned into a 39-4 edge at the half, and nothing got better for Coupeville from there.

The Falcons were exactly who they were supposed to be.

Lewis Pope was electric, Newman was a slick-passing, dagger-dropping assassin and a gaggle of young but lanky “bigs” dominated on the glass.

Other than a sweet pull-up jumper from Cameron Toomey-Stout, some nice work on the boards from Kyle Rockwell and the varsity debut of sophomore Ulrik Wells, there wasn’t much joy for Wolf fans.

“Not much you can say about that one,” said CHS coach Brad Sherman. “Just not our night, against a very good basketball team.

“Proud of our guys. They kept their heads up and played hard until the end.”

Pope finished with a game-high 31, while Wolf senior Hunter Smith scored every Coupeville point which didn’t come via Toomey-Stout’s jumper.

His 10 on the night lifts his career total to 534.

With that, Smith passes ’90s big man Brad Miller (526) to claim 37th place on the CHS boys career scoring list.

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