Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Northwest League’

Bash sisters claim league title

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , 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

Read Full Post »

Senior Night win for diamond men

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , 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

Read Full Post »

Welcome to first place!

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , , , on April 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Cole White reached base three times Tuesday, propelling Coupeville to a 10-0 win. (Jackie Saia photo)

What a difference a month makes.

Back on March 26, the Coupeville High School varsity baseball squad fell 14-1 on Orcas Island in a game marred by too many walks and too many errors.

Jump forward to April 23, and it was a completely different story.

Continuing a hot streak of late, the Wolves ran the Vikings off the prairie Tuesday, blanking them 10-0 in a game mercy-ruled after six innings.

The victory, Coupeville’s sixth-straight in league play, lifts it to 7-2 in Northwest 2B/1B League action, 8-8 overall.

It also moves the Wolves into a first-place tie with Orcas (7-2, 10-4) with three games left to play.

Both CHS and the Vikings close against the same three teams — Concrete, Darrington, and La Conner — with Cow Town’s hardball squad playing two of its final three at home.

The Wolves host Concrete Thursday, welcome Darrington to town Saturday for Senior Night, then trek to La Conner May 2 for the regular season finale.

After that comes the playoffs, with it looking increasingly likely Coupeville will be the #1 seed among 2B schools in the NWL.

If that holds, the Wolves will need to win just one district game to punch their ticket for a return trip to the state tourney.

But that’s still in the future.

Landon Roberts and Coupeville are peaking at the right time. (Ember Light photo)

Tuesday was all about the now, and Steve Hilborn’s diamond dogs played to perfection, outhitting Orcas 10-2, while Wolf hurler Seth Woollet tossed a gem.

The senior went all six innings, walking just two batters and whiffing a pair, while deftly sliding out of the few troublesome spots he found himself in.

Orcas punched a two-out triple in the third, but Woollet stranded the runner there, getting the next batter to meekly fly out to Aiden O’Neill.

Then, in the top of the fifth, the Vikings had two runners aboard, but the crafty CHS pitcher induced a weak pop out to Coop Cooper at first base to prematurely end the last gasp the Vikings could muster.

Meanwhile, the Wolves peppered the rival pitchers, scoring three runs in the first, two more in the second, and a lone tally in the third to run the score to 6-0.

The opening rally was set up by a single from Peyton Caveness and a walk to Cole White, with Chase Anderson mashing an RBI single to right to nab the only run that truly mattered.

Two more came home off of a Jack Porter bunt single, however, as Orcas melted down on the play and made wild throws.

Up 3-0, Coupeville pushed it to 5-0 on a pair of big-time RBI base hits in the second inning.

Caveness, who has been a holy terror abusing the baseball all season, smoked a triple to left, before White socked a run-scoring two-bagger to dead center.

Woollet aided his own cause with an RBI single in the third, before CHS closed out the game with four more runs in the bottom of the sixth.

The key hits came from Johnny Porter, Caveness, and Anderson, with Caveness coming around to score on an error to officially close the game by enforcing the 10-run mercy rule.

 

Tuesday stats:

Chase Anderson — Two singles
Peyton Caveness — Two singles, one triple
Coop Cooper — One walk
Steven Gonzalez — One walk
Jack Porter — One single, one walk
Johnny Porter — One single
Landon Roberts — One walk
Cole White — One single, one double, one walk
Seth Woollet — One single, one walk

Read Full Post »

Home cooking looms for (some) Wolves

Posted in standings, tagged , , , , , on April 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »

“Who’s in first place? We are!!” (Mia Farris photo)

The stretch run comes at home. Mostly.

After a week where 99% of games were on the road, Coupeville High School spring sports teams get six home clashes this coming week.

Both softball and baseball travel to Darrington Monday, then are camped on their own diamonds after that.

Orcas Island is slated to travel to Coupeville Tuesday, with Concrete arriving Thursday, and Darrington swinging by for a rematch Saturday.

The final one of those home games will be Senior Night for Wolf baseball.

The CHS softball sluggers? They have no 12th graders on their roster this season.

Meanwhile, girls’ tennis continues its season-long road trip while waiting for new courts to be finished, with treks to The Bush School in Seattle Wednesday and to Friday Harbor on Friday.

Wrapping things up, Coupeville track and field has its final two regular season meets, with both coming off-Island.

The Wolves travel to Lynden Thursday and Lakewood Saturday, then make the turn to the postseason after that.

As we head into what should be a busy week, a look at where things stand as of April 21 among sports which count wins and losses.

 

Northwest League baseball:

School League Overall
Orcas Island 7-1 10-4
Coupeville 5-2 6-8
MV Christian 5-3 8-6
Friday Harbor 4-4 4-8
La Conner 2-4 6-5
Concrete 1-5 2-5
Darrington 1-6 1-6

 

Northwest League girls’ tennis:

School League Overall
Friday Harbor 2-0 2-0
Coupeville 0-2 0-5

 

Northwest League softball:

School League Overall
Coupeville 5-0 8-4
Darrington 5-1 6-2
Friday Harbor 5-2 5-5
Orcas Island 2-4 3-8
Concrete 0-5 0-9
La Conner 0-5 0-10

“The bus? Yep, we’re getting on the bus again.” (Andrew Williams photo)

Read Full Post »

Road warriors rally, win key game

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on April 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Jack Farrell comes up firing on defense. (Jackie Saia photo)

Don’t look now, but Coupeville is making its patented second-half move.

Upholding a longstanding tradition, the 2024 edition of Wolf baseball stormed from behind to topple host Mount Vernon Christian 10-5 Friday.

That pushes Coupeville’s win streak in Northwest 2B/1B League games to four-straight, gets them to 5-2 in conference action, and lets them hurdle the Hurricanes to move into sole possession of second place.

The Wolves, who are 6-8 overall, are a game-and-a-half back of frontrunner Orcas Island (7-1), with MVC (5-3), Friday Harbor (4-4), La Conner (2-4), Concrete (1-5), and Darrington (1-6) rounding out the combatants.

CHS has five conference clashes left on the schedule, with three of those, including a second meeting with Orcas, slated to go down in Cow Town.

No baseball escapes Aiden O’Neill’s glove. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Friday, playing on the mainland, the Wolves came out strongly, slipped up for a bit, then reclaimed the lead and never let it go.

Coupeville took advantage of Hurricane errors all day, beginning in the second inning, when it used a wild pitch, a passed ball, and two bobbled balls to push three runs across the plate.

Wolf hurler Seth Woollet kept MVC largely at bay, getting some slick defensive play from 8th grader Carson Grove at second base, though eventually the hosts regained the lead for a hot second.

With CHS unable to score across the third, fourth, and fifth innings, the lead slipped to 3-1, then went to a 3-3 stalemate, before the Wolves fell behind at 4-3.

Never fear.

The final two frames thoroughly belonged to Coupeville, as the road warriors surged for seven runs to claim the win.

Three more ‘Cane errors in the top of the sixth helped a lot, then Steven Gonzalez tore the hide off the ball, lacing a two-run single to left field to push CHS ahead 7-4.

Landon Roberts prepares to inflict great harm on the baseball. Nothing personal, just business. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

MVC got one run back in the bottom half of the inning, but the Wolves iced things in the seventh as Coop Cooper walked, before Landon Roberts and Johnny Porter laced back-to-back base knocks.

The final blow came off the bat of Peyton Caveness, with Mount Vernon committing its sixth, and final error, on the play to compound matters.

Up 10-5, Woollet handed the ball off to Roberts, and the lanky lefty struck out the side in the seventh to close things down.

 

Friday stats:

Chase Anderson — Two singles, one walk
Coop Cooper — Two walks
Steven Gonzalez — One single
Carson Grove — One walk
Jack Porter — One walk
Johnny Porter — One single
Landon Roberts — One single
Cole White — One single, one walk
Seth Woollet — Two singles

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »