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Posts Tagged ‘Orcas Island’

Balanced Wolves sink Vikings

Posted in Volleyball, tagged , , , , , on October 3, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Tenley Stuurmans chases down a wayward volleyball. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

They beat the clock and beat the Vikings.

Playing second Thursday night, the Coupeville High School JV volleyball squad knew that visiting Orcas Island would have to sprint back to the ferry at a certain time, regardless of the score.

So, the Wolves made quick work of their foes, rolling to a 25-15, 25-18, 13-15 win which left their foes plenty of time to amble back to the boat.

The victory lifts Coupeville’s JV to 4-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 5-1 overall, with another home game — this one against Friday Harbor — next up on the schedule.

That one won’t be until Oct. 8, however, so the Wolves have time to bask in the afterglow of Thursday’s methodical dismembering of the Vikings.

Getting floor time for all 12 girls on her roster, JV coach Ashley Menges spread out the love, and her spikers responded.

Freshman Tenley Stuurmans sprayed kills in the first set, while Adeline Maynes provided a game-busting run of excellence at the service stripe.

The Wolves rebounded from an 11-9 deficit, finishing the frame on a 14-6 tear to claim supremacy.

Lexis Drake and Dakota Strong, who both nailed their first-ever varsity kill in the night’s opening match, closed out the first set with winners, and the rout was on.

Point, Coupeville.

Coupeville led from start to finish in frame #2, with Sydney Van Dyke punching a pair of service aces to put the Vikings back on their heels.

Isa Mc Fetridge and Maynes also came up big on their serve, while the play of the night came late in the set.

Waxing the floor with her uniform, Haylee Armstrong went face-first to the hardwood, somehow getting her fingers barely under a ball preparing to kick away for an Orcas point.

Instead, the sensational sophomore flicked the orb skyward at the very last moment, then two hits later, Maynes froze the defense with a tip for a winner to drive a stake through the heart of Viking Nation.

While Orcas did eke out a win in a shortened third set, it was just for practice, with the match already decided in favor of Cow Town.

Willow Leedy-Bonifas and Armstrong dominated at the service line in the late going for the Wolves.

 

Thursday stats:

Capri Anter — 2 digs
Haylee Armstrong — 3 digs, 1 assist, 3 aces
Lexis Drake — 6 kills, 1 ace
Willow Leedy-Bonifas — 1 assist, 1 ace
Adeline Maynes — 1 kill, 1 dig, 9 assists, 6 aces
Isa Mc Fetridge — 2 aces
Chelsi Stevens — 1 kill
Dakota Strong — 6 kills
Tenley Stuurmans — 6 kills, 3 assists, 1 ace
Sydney Van Dyke — 1 kill, 1 dig, 2 aces

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Rainy day run for Wolf harriers

Posted in Cross Country, tagged , , , , , on September 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Devon Wyman (left) and Ivy Rudat charge up a hill. (Elizabeth Bitting photos)

The rain fell on the plain, but mainly, it fell on their heads.

Returning to Orcas Island Wednesday, the Coupeville High School cross country team endured a damp day while taking part in a four-school race.

The Wolves lined up with Friday Harbor, Mount Vernon Christian, and their hosts for an event which featured one race — boys and girls combined, taking off from the same start line.

The 5,000-meter course offered a variety of experiences, said CHS coach Elizabeth Bitting.

“A true cross country course,” she said. “So much diverse terrain, literally across railroad tracks.

“It rained right up until race time, then started raining again as the race started, but they were happy to be back on Orcas, as it was cancelled last year.”

It’s a two-fer week for the Wolf runners, who hit the road again this Saturday, travelling to Seattle, where they will compete in the King’s Roller Coaster Run.

Thomas Strelow goes for the burn.

 

Wednesday results:

 

GIRLS:

Mikayla Wagner – 25:42.00
Noelle Western – 25:52.1
Kayla Crane – 26:24.1
Aleera Kent – 26:27.8
Devon Wyman – 26:45.3
Ivy Rudat – 26:47.8
Aleksia Jump – 27:09.0
Ari Armstrong – 27:42.8
Reagan Callahan – 28:49.8
Jeann Nitta – 31:00.9
Dahlia Miller – 31:26.7
Ava Lucero – 31:34.3
Mary Western – 38:14.9

 

BOYS:

Carson Field – 19:39.1
Landon Roberts – 19:46.8
Ezekiel Allen – 19:53.4
Kenneth Jacobsen – 19:57.2
George Spear – 20:31.4
Thomas Strelow – 20:56.8
Isaiah Allen – 22:03.6
Beckett Green – 22:22.8
Ethan Walling – 23:06.5
Will Tierney – 23:51.8
Johnathan Jacobsen – 25:40.2
Zach Blitch – 33:34.9

One race, one start line.

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Booming bats, web gems fuel softball win

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

Wolf pitcher Capri Anter teamed up with cousin Haylee Armstrong to shut down Orcas Tuesday afternoon. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

These Wolves carry big bats, and they’re not afraid to use them.

Thumping 14 hits Tuesday, spraying base knocks to every part of the field, the Coupeville High School varsity softball squad rallied to crunch visiting Orcas Island 16-5.

Playing for the fourth time in five days, CHS fell prey to a bit of fatigue early, then demonstrated why it’s the class of the Northwest 2B/1B League.

With the win, which was mercy-ruled after five innings, the Wolves get to 7-0 in league play, 10-4 overall.

Next up are home games Thursday against Concrete and Saturday against Darrington as Kevin McGranahan’s squad chases another conference crown.

In the moment, however, Coupeville can bask in the afterglow of reaching double-digit wins for the seventh consecutive season.

That continued run of excellence was built on the kind of grit the current Wolves showcased Tuesday.

A very-young team with no seniors but a lot of 8th graders and freshmen never flinched after falling behind 3-0 in the top of the first.

Wolf hurler Haylee Armstrong re-found her groove, ending things emphatically by tossing her third strikeout of the opening frame, and then the bats went to work.

Mia Farris stroked a one-out single to kick things off, followed by Taylor Brotemarkle massacring the ball, launching an RBI triple over the centerfielder’s head, and the prairie was hoppin’.

Coupeville pushed two more runs across in the first, with Madison McMillan spanking an RBI single, before scampering home to score when her steal of third base spooked the Orcas catcher into airmailing the ball into left field.

The Wolves might have gotten more, but the Viking shortstop flat-out robbed Ava Lucero, going airborne to spear her liner a foot off the ground.

That got a nice round of applause but would be one of the few times Orcas would have a positive moment the rest of the day.

While the bats were hot, so were the defensive plays.

Wolf catcher Teagan Calkins nailed a would-be base thief to end the top of the second, Farris made a superb diving catch in center to deny a hitter, and CHS pulled off a wham-bam double play to end the game.

Chelsi Stevens socked a pair of hits, while playing strong defense at first. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

On the final play, first-baseman Chelsi Stevens threw out a runner coming home, immediately followed by Calkins spinning away and laying a laser into McMillan’s glove at third.

Do you remember the first time you saw John Travolta, rockin’ the pink socks, dance the hand jive in Grease, forever changing the laws of physics?

Sometimes watching Calkins, AKA “The Red Dragon,” play catcher, you get a similar feeling.

It’s like freakin’ poetry in motion, only with a lot more in-game hollering and occasional side eye thrown at dad Shawn if he’s a step slow in delivering her beverage.

If her defense was the star of the show, Calkin’s bat was a close second, and she joined Brotemarkle and Sydney Van Dyke in lashing run-scoring hits as CHS turned a 3-3 game into a 7-3 lead.

From there, the Wolves iced the game with a vintage 13-batter, nine-run fourth inning.

A string of walks to the big boppers loaded the bases, with Bailey Thule, Stevens, and Shania Kenney coming off the bench to score their teammates.

Stevens obliterated the ball on a booming double to left — her second hit of the game — while Kenney, a first-year player making huge strides, lashed a single back up the middle to the great joy of her teammates.

Shania Kenney, stone-cold diamond assassin. (Jackie Saia photo)

Farris got nailed on the ankle by a wayward pitch, after earlier taking a throw off the top of her helmet.

As she rambled down to first base, someone from the bench hollered “Stop hitting her! She’s delicate!!”

There was nothing delicate after that, as Brotemarkle, her bat smoking from the torrid hitting show she was putting on, thumped another RBI single, before McMillan and Calkins pasted back-to-back two-baggers to complete the rout.

 

Tuesday stats:

Capri Anter — One walk
Taylor Brotemarkle — Two singles, one triple, one walk
Teagan Calkins — One single, two doubles, one walk
Mia Farris — One single, two walks
Shania Kenney — One single
Madison McMillan — Two singles, one double, one walk
Chelsi Stevens — One single, one double
Sydney Van Dyke — One single, one walk

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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

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Milestone win for mashers

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , , , on March 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Taylor Brotemarkle (left) and Mia Farris dig the longball. (Kim Brotemarkle photo)

Three digits for the ol’ ball coach.

A pandemic slowed his roll just a bit, but Coupeville High School varsity softball coach Kevin McGranahan hung around long enough to collect win #100 while reppin’ the red and black.

The milestone victory came Tuesday on Orcas Island, as the hit-happy Wolves mashed an overwhelmed Vikings squad 21-0 in a game called after three innings due to the mercy rule.

Along with bumping McGranahan to 100-44 at the helm of the CHS diamond program, the win lifts Coupeville to 2-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play this season, 3-0 overall.

Up next is a road trip to Concrete Friday, then a home doubleheader against Onalaska Saturday, when the Wolves will hold their annual “Strike Out Cancer” gift basket fundraiser.

Tuesday’s titanic rout featured back-to-back fence-clearing home runs from Wolf mad mashers Mia Farris and Taylor Brotemarkle and could have been much more lopsided if McGranahan hadn’t taken the pedal off the medal at times.

“More runs! More wins!! It pleases me!!!” (Ryan Blouin photo)

Coupeville’s diamond queens came off the bus swinging hot, dropping 11 runs on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning.

Well, OK, it wasn’t right off the bus, as the Wolves left Cow Town at a hair past 9 AM and arrived on Orcas a solid four hours before the first pitch.

Ferry life, bouncing island to island…

But anyways, once the Orcas players finished with their own classroom work and ambled out to the diamond, Coupeville was lying in wait, bats at the ready.

The first seven Wolves to step to the plate reached base successfully, then after Chelsi Stevens knocked in a run with a well-placed groundout, the next four also got on board.

Madison McMillan, who paced CHS with four hits, all of the extra-base variety, cracked the first of her team’s three home runs, and the rout was on.

Now, the Wolves actually didn’t score in the second inning, getting just a walk from Mary Western, before going off on another tear in the top of the third to effectively end things.

McMillan, bringing both the thunder and the lightning on a balmy day made for “suns out, guns out,” crunched a two-run triple, while recent birthday girl Jada Heaton stroked a two-run single.

But the big blows came from Farris and Brotemarkle, who launched lasers which ended up somewhere offshore by the time they came back down to Earth.

“Mia the Magnificent” let loose with a mammoth grand slam, then, before the Orcas pitcher could catch her breath, “Taylor the Terrific” smoked a shot which flew into the heavens, high-fived the sun, then kept on going.

The back-to-back moonballs kept the Wolves busy, as they stormed off the bench to congratulate their bicep-flexin’ bomber girls.

Junior sluggers (l to r) Madison McMillan, Farris, Jada Heaton, Brotemarkle, and Bailey Thule rule the prairie. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

From there, Coupeville did its best not to embarrass Orcas, ending things by taking an out by having a runner leave the bag early.

The Wolves made such quick work of the Vikings, they hung around and played two more practice innings while waiting for the CHS baseball team to finish up its own game.

That allowed all 14 eligible players to get at least two at-bats on the day, crucial field time for a young squad which has several 8th graders and absolutely no seniors on the roster.

McMillan led the hit parade, peppering the Orcas pitchers for a double, a pair of triples, and a homer.

Hot on her heels were Brotemarkle (1B, 1B, HR), Farris (1B, HR), Haylee Armstrong (1B, 2B), Teagan Calkins (1B), and Heaton (1B).

Armstrong and Western each walked twice, while Capri Anter, Ava Lucero, Bailey Thule, Calkins, and Farris also got aboard by keeping a hawk-like eye on balls and strikes.

Orcas, by contrast, scratched out just three hits and no walks while striking out six times while trying to catch up to fast balls flung their way by Wolf hurlers Adeline Maynes and Anter.

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