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Posts Tagged ‘Orcas Island’

Young booters learn under fire

Posted in Girls Soccer, tagged , , , , on September 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The eternal dance begins anew. (Julie Wheat photo)

Youth will have its day.

With only one senior playing soccer at Coupeville High School this fall, both the girls and boys pitch squads have plenty of field time to offer their 8th and 9th graders.

But that also means both Wolf teams are largely comprised of players learning on the job, which means there may be some struggles against veteran-heavy foes.

That was evident Friday and Saturday, respectively, as the CHS girls fell 8-0 in a road trip to La Conner, before their male counterparts were bounced 9-0 at home by defending state champ Orcas Island.

The losses drop the boys to 0-2 on the season, while the girls, who are returning after a two-year absence, slip to 0-3.

Frankie Tenore is the lone Wolf senior playing soccer this fall. (Coupeville High School Yearbook staff photo)

 

Boys play a man down:

A game after having only two subs, the Wolves had none Saturday in their home opener.

In fact, they were actually a man down, with just 10 players in uniform as the team deals with illness and injury.

Orcas pulled one of its players after securing a solid lead, and played even for the remainder of the match, while the Wolves on the pitch never backed down.

“Our goalie, Sam Richards, played strong, making some fantastic saves,” said CHS coach Jim Kunz. “Some shots were too well placed to stop.

“Defense also did very well with veteran player Shiloh Sandlin having a couple shot-stopping slide tackles.”

Facing an Orcas team aiming to make a run at a third state title, the Wolves found few cracks in the defense.

“Our offense struggled to drive the ball to the goal during the first half,” Kunz said.

“But they came out strong in the second half with multiple shot attempts by the Edmunds (Wilson and Kunz).”

The Wolves push the attack. (Julie Wheat photo)

 

Girls hit the road:

Coupeville’s female booters have a home-centric schedule in their return to action, with only one road trip in their first eight games.

That came Friday with the trek to La Conner to square off with a Northwest 2B/1B League rival.

The Wolves last win, which came in the finale of the 2022 season, was against the Braves.

CHS was unable to field a full girls team in either 2023 or 2024, but has revived the program this fall thanks to an influx of young players.

 

Back to the grind:

Both Wolf squads return to action Tuesday, Sept. 16, with the girls hosting Orcas Island at 4:00 PM, and the boys traveling to Marysville to play Grace Academy.

No soccer ball shall escape! (Coupeville High School Yearbook staff photo)

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Bashers boppin’ to the big dance

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , , on May 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

CHS sluggers (l to r) Taylor Brotemarkle, Jada Heaton, Teagan Calkins, Mia Farris, and Madison McMillan made it to state in volleyball and softball this year. (Grant Van Dyke photo)

Eastern Washington, the Wolves are headed your way, red-hot bats in hand.

Dodging raindrops Thursday at the Skagit Playfields in Mount Vernon, the Coupeville High School softball squad decisively claimed the District 1 title, while punching its ticket to the 2B state tourney.

The Wolves, who are 18-1 after crunching Friday Harbor 15-5 in the championship game, have won 17 straight after a one-run loss to 3A Oak Harbor way back in March.

Slotted #4 in the final Washington Interscholastic Activities Association RPI rankings, Aaron Lucero’s squad will find out its state path Sunday.

That’s when a seeding committee releases the 16-team bracket for the royal rumble, which is slated to play out May 23-24 at the Gateway Sports Complex in Yakima.

This is the fourth trip to state for CHS softball, and its first in the 2B classification.

The Wolves advanced in 2002 (winning four of five games to earn a 3rd place trophy), 2014, and 2019, all as a 1A school.

Aaron Lucero has the Wolves rollin’ at 18-1. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Now, Lucero, in his first season at the helm of the Wolf program, joins former Coupeville diamond gurus Randy Dickson, David King, and Kevin McGranahan in leading a softball team to state.

His band of sluggers has carved a brutal path through foes this season, outscoring their rivals 276-37.

No, that’s not a misprint, and yes, it could have been even more lopsided if Lucero hadn’t pumped the brakes at time.

Narrow victories over Lakewood, Forks, and Granite Falls have proven Coupeville’s iron will under pressure, while the Wolves have also captured 14 of those 18 wins by enforcing the mercy rule, which shuts down games after five innings if one team leads by 10 or more runs.

Friday Harbor, which eliminated Orcas Island 9-1 in a loser-out playoff opener Thursday, hung tough in the championship game, but the Wolves ultimately had too many weapons.

The Wolverines scratched out a run in the top of the first, but the lead would be short-lived.

Coupeville started to attack almost immediately, using relentless speed and guile on the basepaths to once again keep a foe tense and ready to break at all times.

Mia Farris cracked a one-out single, followed by Teagan Calkins eking out a walk, before the dance began.

A stolen base led to a wild pitch, then, after Madison McMillan tied the game on an RBI groundout, the Wolves took the lead for good on a frantic play.

With Calkins bouncing on third, a pitch got away from the Friday Harbor catcher, and “The Red Dragon” shot for the plate.

Unexpectedly, the ball shot back a little quicker to the backstop’s glove than probably expected, but Calkins went under the tag like a professional limbo dancer, her arm caressing the plate as the catcher juggled and dropped the ball.

The safe call went up, Calkins did the slow strut to the bench, and the momentum had changed.

Teagan Calkins can destroy you with her bat, feet, or arm. Pick your poison. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

While Friday Harbor escaped the inning trailing just 2-1, the Wolves were already starting to feel it.

Freshman pitcher Adeline Maynes held the Wolverines at bay in the top of the second, before her sluggers went off for five more runs in the bottom half of the frame.

It started with Jada Heaton, noted softball magnet, sacrificing her body one more time by getting plunked for the 11,478th time this season.

From there, Ava Lucero, Farris, Calkins, and McMillan cranked RBI base hits to push the lead to 7-1, with Calkins almost ripping off the pitcher’s arm with a gnarly shot right back up the middle.

“I’ll do it again! You know I will,” (allegedly) murmured the one-woman wrecking crew.

Friday Harbor, fighting to keep its season alive, did cut the lead back to 7-3 and held Coupeville scoreless(!) in the third inning, but it wasn’t enough.

Wolf shortstop Taylor Brotemarkle pulled off a highlight reel-worthy defensive play, veering to her left to snag a hard-hit chopper before firing a cannon shot to Lucero at first for the out.

And then the Wolf offense fired right back to life.

Haylee Armstrong celebrates with her fan club president. (Michelle Armstrong photo)

Calkins smacked an RBI single to light the fuse in the bottom of the fourth, while Haylee Armstrong capped a five-run frame with a run-scoring base knock of her own.

In between? Madison McMillan broke the universe.

The senior third baseman, master of the mammoth moonshot, unleashed a three-run home run to straightaway center field, the ball puncturing a hole in the grey clouds which hung over the field.

Rumors that the softball sailed so high up in the air it knocked a spy satellite out of orbit are just that … rumors. NASA will not confirm or deny.

Back on Earth, Friday Harbor, being pesky and persistent to the end, snipped the margin back to 12-5 and pulled off a pretty impressive double play in the fifth to (momentarily) hold off its fast-approaching doom.

Enter Calkins, who plated Brotemarkle with yet another RBI single, before dancing around the basepaths herself, disrupting the defense with a bold dash for home.

With the game at 14-5 and the possibility of enforcing the mercy rule, Wolf frosh Sydney Van Dyke, already a grizzled vet in her second season as a starter, ambled to the plate.

Slicing a single into the mist in left, the ball hitting the grass and skidding away, it sent McMillan streaking home and the Wolves off to the promised land.

“Every player contributed today!” Aaron Lucero said. “Really proud of their composure and intensity.

“On to state!!!!”

Fab frosh Sydney Van Dyke (left) and Ava Lucero are state bound. (Grant Van Dyke photo)

 

Thursday stats:

Capri Anter — One single, one double, one walk
Haylee Armstrong — One single
Taylor Brotemarkle — One walk
Teagan Calkins — Three singles, one walk
Mia Farris — Three singles
Jada Heaton — One single, one walk
Ava Lucero — One single
Madison McMillan — One single, one home run, one walk
Sydney Van Dyke — One single

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Diamond queens complete undefeated league run

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , , on May 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Your 2025 Northwest 2B/1B League softball champs. (Photo courtesy Aaron Lucero)

One box checked, more to go.

Crushing host Orcas Island 21-6 Thursday, the Coupeville High School softball squad completed an undefeated run through Northwest 2B/1B League play.

The win lifts the Wolves to 10-0 in conference action, 15-1 overall, with two non-league games left on the regular season schedule.

Up first is a short trip to Langley Friday to face South Whidbey, before Granite Falls comes to Coupeville May 6 as Aaron Lucero’s team celebrates Senior Night.

After that, the postseason beckons, with the Wolves dreaming of state tourney glory.

At every step of the way this season Coupeville’s diamond queens have taken care of business, and Thursday was no different.

The Wolves started a little slow offensively but poured it on with a blistering attack in a 12-run third inning to once again put their stamp on things.

Teagan Calkins cranked a triple to kick-start the explosion, with Haylee Armstrong and Jada Heaton delivering two-run base knocks to keep things hopping.

For Heaton, back in the lineup after a game off, it was a dangerous day, as the senior sparkplug got nailed by wayward pitches four times.

She got three walks out of her embrace of pain, as she was hit twice during one at-bat, with the ump waving off the first plunk, but awarding her the bag for the second potential bruise.

Mia Farris sends the ball on an epic journey. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Whether they got on base via hits (nine of them), walks (13), or errors (a handful of Orcas mistakes), the Wolves continued to push runners across the plate.

None stamped quite so hard as they scored as Mia Farris, who walloped “a monster home run” to end things.

While offense was the key, Coupeville also delivered once again from the pitcher’s circle, with Adeline Maynes (8) and Armstrong (1) combining to pile up strikeouts.

 

Thursday stats:

Capri Anter — One double
Haylee Armstrong — One double, two walks
Taylor Brotemarkle — Three walks
Teagan Calkins — One triple, one walk
Mia Farris — One home run, one walk
Jada Heaton — One single, three walks
Adeline Maynes — One single
Madison McMillan — Two singles, one double
Danica Strong — One walk
Sydney Van Dyke — Two walks

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Cooper flexes, Wolves stumble

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , on May 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Coop Cooper smacked a home run Thursday on Orcas Island. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

All or nothing.

The Coupeville High School baseball squad only collected two hits Thursday on Orcas Island, but they were both big time shots.

Coop Cooper cranked a two-run home run over the fence in centerfield — the first out-of-the-park tater for the Wolves this year — while Landon Roberts missed going yard by about five feet, settling for a ground-rule double.

Unfortunately for the Wolves, there wasn’t enough other offense, and too many errors on defense, as they fell 12-2 in a game mercy-ruled in the bottom of the fifth.

The loss drops Coupeville to 5-5 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 6-10 overall.

Next up is a palate cleanser Saturday, when Steve Hilborn’s team travels to Langley to clash with South Whidbey in a non-conference tilt.

After that, the Wolves close the regular season with two against current league leader Mount Vernon Christian as they chase a playoff berth.

Riley Lawless awaits a throw in an earlier game.

Thursday’s game, coming on the heels of a razor-close loss to Orcas in Cow Town Tuesday, was a tense one for three-and-a-half innings.

The Vikings pushed a run across in the bottom of the first, after Roberts kicked off the game with his double, only to be stranded at third.

But the Wolves held tough, with freshman pitcher Carson Grove holding Orcas down, and that gave Cooper a chance to be a hero.

Leo Rodriguez was aboard thanks to a walk, when Coupeville made its move in the top of the third.

Cooper’s blast pushed the visitors ahead 2-1, though the Vikings knotted things back up at 2-2 in the bottom half of the frame.

Unfortunately for the Wolves, they went seven up and seven down after the home run, while having one really rough inning in the field.

Orcas exploded for eight runs in its half of the fourth, using a mix of base knocks and CHS errors, and effectively took control of things.

Coupeville finished with eight errors on the day, while the Vikings played error-free ball themselves.

From there, two more runs in the bottom of the fifth pushed the lead to 10 runs, and the mercy rule brought things to an early end.

Grove and Roberts combined to whiff six Orcas hitters.

 

Thursday stats:

Coop Cooper — One home run
Riley Lawless — One walk
Landon Roberts — One double
Leo Rodriguez — One walk

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“Brotemarkle Bash” sinks Vikings

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , on April 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Taylor Brotemarkle loves the longball. “Bow! Bow before your homer-hittin’ ruler!!” (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

Hide the men and the children, cause Taylor is terrorizing her fellow women.

Launching an epic home run down the left field line — her very own “Brotemarkle Bash” if you will — Coupeville’s electrifying senior shortstop fired the first, but not last, shot Tuesday as the Wolf softball crew unloaded on visiting Orcas Island.

Sinking the Vikings 14-0 in a game mercy-ruled after five innings, the win lifts CHS to 9-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League action, 14-1 overall.

The weather Tuesday?

It was vintage prairie “spring,” with overcast skies and deviously icy wind gusts which sent infield dirt spraying into pitcher’s faces and terrorized anyone brave enough to wear shorts.

The way the Wolves played?

Also vintage, but a whole lot hotter.

Brotemarkle, boppin’ to her own rhythm, strode to the plate like Beyonce claiming the stage, emphatically ending the game with one swing leading off the bottom of the first.

Bat met ball, ball went a long way, and halfway around second base and haulin’, Coupeville’s exuberant star realized the orb wasn’t coming back and she could break out her homerun hustle, and not her ankling-for-a-triple sprint.

From there, the Wolves rained pain on Orcas, racking up 10 runs in the opening frame.

The Vikings only escaped things thanks to two pretty sweet catches by their very-active center fielder and Coupeville giving up an out by having a runner leave base early.

Before that, Teagan Calkins and Madison McMillan walloped back-to-back bombs, Capri Anter smacked a laser off the rival third-baseman’s body, and Adeline Maynes and Mia Farris artfully dropped base knocks that evaded the gusty winds (and any Orcas gloves).

And Brotemarkle? Once is not enough.

Coming back to the plate for a second go-round in the first, she launched a missile into left, settling for a two-run single this time.

To which Calkins responded, “I too like to collect the RBIs. It is my passion!” and promptly laced a two-run hit of her own, the ball scalding the bag at third as it sailed by.

From there, the Wolves backed off on the bats a bit, picking up another run in the second, and three more in the third, with McMillan ripping a two-run triple that was hit so powerfully it punched a hole in the wind to get through.

Or at least that’s how it looked.

Toss in a sensational throw to nail a would-be bunter, in which McMillan curled the ball right around the Viking player’s head and into the waiting glove of Ava Lucero at first, and Gordon and Nancy’s granddaughter had herself a day.

As did everyone in a Wolf uniform, from Danica Strong lofting a truly picture-perfect pinch-hit single to straightaway center to Sydney Van Dyke plating a pair of runners on nicely executed sacrifice plays.

Plus, you had Wolf hurlers Adeline Maynes and Haylee Armstrong buzzing the Viking hitters.

And then Haylee Armstrong flew away like Superman.

Maynes whiffed eight in four nearly flawless innings, with McMillan and Lucero erasing would-be bunters and Anter hauling in one potentially tricky fly ball with a casual flick of her glove.

Enter Armstrong in the fifth, stomping in from the bullpen (or left field) and striking out a pair of Vikings wrapped around Brotemarkle snagging a grounder and almost ripping Lucero’s glove off her hand with a cannon shot of a throw.

 

Tuesday stats:

Capri Anter — One single
Haylee Armstrong — Two walks
Taylor Brotemarkle — One single, one home run
Teagan Calkins — Two singles
Mia Farris — Three singles
Ava Lucero — One walk
Adeline Maynes — Two singles
Madison McMillan — One double, one triple
Danica Strong — One single

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