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Posts Tagged ‘Orcas Island’

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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Glover dazzles in narrow loss

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

Camden Glover struck out 12 while pitching Tuesday and drove in both of Coupeville’s runs at the plate. (David Somes photo)

You can win the stat battle and still lose the game.

That cruel twist of fate was reinforced for the Coupeville High School baseball squad Tuesday, as the Wolves racked up more hits and less errors than visiting Orcas Island but still fell 4-2.

Despite a stellar effort on both the mound and at the plate from Camden Glover, one bad inning stung CHS as it dropped the first of two games with the Vikings.

Now 5-4 in Northwest 2B/1B League action, 6-9 overall, the Wolves get a chance at revenge Thursday, when they island-hop for the rematch.

Tuesday’s tilt, played under grey skies on the cool, breezy prairie, started in favor of Coupeville.

Steve Hilborn’s squad put together two of their four hits in the bottom of the first, with Landon Roberts and Carson Grove collecting back-to-back base knocks to kick things off.

Glover followed by crunching a sac fly to center field to plate Roberts and give the hometown nine the early advantage.

It didn’t hold up long, however.

Orcas only scored in one inning, but the Vikings did damage in the top of the second, plating all four of its runs.

A series of walks loaded the bases, only to have the Wolves cut down the lead runner on a play at the plate, firing up the local fans.

Then Orcas catcher Calder Jones struck, lashing a two-run double to left — one of only two hits the Vikings eked out against Glover.

Two more runs came around thanks to a couple of errors, before Coupeville slammed the door shut once again.

Glover was virtually lights out across the final five innings, racking up 12 strikeouts in the game, but the Wolf offense struggled to get back in the game.

CHS stranded its next three runners, before finally getting a run back in the bottom of the fifth.

Grove poked a two-out single, then zipped home when Glover crushed an RBI double, but the Wolves ran themselves out of the inning when a would-be steal came up empty.

One last chance came in the bottom of the seventh, thanks to Orcas and its hands of stone.

The Vikings botched grounders by Leo Rodriguez and Glover to bring the potential winning run to the plate but escaped thanks to a pressure-packed final strikeout.

Jesus Madrigal (22) and Landon Roberts (6) will be honored on Senior Night May 8. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Coupeville now hits the road for three straight, traveling to Orcas (May 1), South Whidbey (May 3), and Mount Vernon Christian (May 6), before wrapping the regular season at home May 8 against MVC.

 

Tuesday stats:

Coop Cooper — Two walks
Camden Glover — One double
Carson Grove — Two singles
Landon Roberts — One single

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Wolf girls reach the end of the hardwood road

Posted in Girls Basketball, tagged , , , , on February 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Katie Marti knocked down 15 points in her high school finale. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)

The final day of the season was an unusual one for the Coupeville High School varsity girls’ basketball team.

The Wolves tipped off their District 1/2 playoff game with visiting Orcas Island at 1:45 PM Thursday — while most of their classmates were still in school.

Then, CHS senior Lyla Stuurmans, among the most-polite players to ever wear the red and black, was handed her first-ever technical foul by a 102-year-old ref who blurted out “That girl needs to be quiet!!”

Someone needed a nap and probably an early-bird special, and it wasn’t the teenager…

Meanwhile, another ref called for a timeout when the Orcas coach instructed her team to play a “five-out” offense, then ignored the same coach screaming “Timeout! Timeout!” from right behind him.

Oh, and yes, there was a game played, a back-and-forth affair in which Orcas pulled away late to capture a 51-38 victory.

The loss, coming in Coupeville’s fourth playoff clash, leaves the Wolves final record at 10-12, while the Vikings will play Saturday in a winner-to-state, loser-out game.

The two teams split their regular season meetings, and showdown #3 opened as a barnburner.

Playing as the visitor on their own court (as the lower-seeded team) the Wolves closed the first quarter with a 6-0 run to slice the deficit to 13-12.

Coupeville went to the bench riding an emotional high after mad bomber Teagan Calkins splashed home a three-ball right before the buzzer, and the rapidly-filling gym was abuzz.

The game stayed super-close, with Calkins and Haylee Armstrong netting additional treys from behind the arc, and Orcas clinging to a 22-20 lead late in the second quarter.

That was when the Vikings went on a brief, but very-effective 5-0 run sparked by the technical foul call after the ref got upset with how Stuurmans handed him the basketball.

It was a strange call, both because nothing shady seemed to be happening when the official got cranky, and for whom the tech was called on.

Look, there are a couple of Wolves who were born to get feisty with the refs — you know who they are, I know who they are — but the elder Stuurmans sister would have had at least 10,000-1 odds if we were playing “Guess Who Gets a Tech Tonight?”

The only girl in CHS hoops history to play five varsity seasons, Lyla will be remembered for being one of the most serene athletes I have ever covered, and this goes down as one of the most indefensible calls I have witnessed.

Coupeville kept its composure, however, pulling back to within 27-22 at the half, and staying within 34-29 with a few ticks left on the clock in the third.

But give Orcas credit.

The Vikings are a solid squad, and they made their move late, scoring the final bucket of the third, before opening the fourth with a 9-2 surge.

That stretched the deficit to 45-31, largest of the afternoon, and proved to be insurmountable for the always-scrappy Wolves.

CHS scored its final seven points of the season at the free throw line, crashing hard to the hoop, drawing fouls, and trying to stop the clock from running out.

It wasn’t to be, however, as the Vikings held on and brought an end to the high school hoops careers of Wolf seniors Jada Heaton, Madison McMillan, Lyla Stuurmans, Katie Marti, and Mia Farris.

Wolf seniors (l to r) Lyla Stuurmans, Madison McMillan, Mia Farris, Jada Heaton, and Marti.

Marti went out scrapping to the end, racking up a team-high 15 points.

She exits with 332 points, which puts her #32 on the program’s career scoring chart, which covers 1974-2025.

Calkins, who led the team in scoring as a junior, popped for 10, while Armstrong (7), Farris (3), Tenley Stuurmans (2), and Lyla Stuurmans (1) also scored.

Heaton, McMillan, and Danica Strong also saw floor time in the finale, with future stars Capri Anter, Adeline Maynes, and Sydney Van Dyke cheering from the bench.

 

Final season scoring stats:

Teagan Calkins – 183
Katie Marti – 124
Mia Farris – 112
Haylee Armstrong – 77
Danica Strong – 75
Madison McMillan – 66
Lyla Stuurmans – 65
Tenley Stuurmans – 63
Jada Heaton – 35
Capri Anter – 6

Fab frosh Tenley Stuurmans will be a key returning player next season.

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