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Posts Tagged ‘Softball’

Chilly prairie, sizzling sluggers

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , on April 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Capri Anter has a big bat and she’s not afraid to use it. (Jackie Saia photo)

They’re always hunting for runs.

The Coupeville High School softball squad is jam-packed with fleet-footed, quick-thinking athletes, always looking to disrupt their foes on the basepaths.

That was showcased again Thursday, as the Wolves hammered the ball, then ran visiting Darrington ragged during a 15-0 win on the chilly prairie.

With the victory, Aaron Lucero’s sluggers get to a pristine 4-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 7-0 overall, with a non-conference home game against East Jefferson (1-5) set for Saturday.

That tilt, slated to tip off at 2:30 PM, is also the annual Coupeville vs. Cancer fundraiser, with proceeds going to WhidbeyHealth.

Thursday’s matchup was a well-rounded beatdown, with the Wolves controlling every facet of the game.

Lucero went three deep with his pitching staff, as Adeline Maynes whiffed five across three innings of work before cousins Haylee Armstrong and Capri Anter each chucked a frame.

Armstrong picked up two K’s, before making a nice snag in center field in support of Anter, who also struck out a batter and got a defensive gem from backup third-baseman Emily Rains, as she snapped up a hot grounder and slapped on the game-ending tag on an incoming runner.

Coupeville pushed four runners across in the bottom of the first to get all the runs it would need but didn’t stop there.

The first rally was kicked off by back-to-back hits from Sydney Van Dyke and Teagan Calkins.

But it was Anter who made the heavens roar, delivering a thunderous RBI triple that bounced off the wall in left field, just a hair shy of earning her sweet, sweet cash from her dad for an out-of-the-park home run.

CHS did get a tater, but of the inside-the-park variety, when Maynes walloped a grand slam to highlight a nine-run second inning.

The sophomore sensation belted the ball deep to left, then trucked around the basepaths, almost running over her teammates in front of her as the Wolf bench urged the stragglers to get movin’.

Two batters after Maynes flexed her biceps, Emma Cushman laid down a beauty of a bunt.

With Olivia Martin motoring in front of her, the Wolf duo freaked out the Logger defense, which airmailed several throws on the play, allowing The Cushinator to turn an artful single into a round trip around the bags.

Up 13-0 at that point, Coupeville managed to get most of its bench into the game, with Zariyah Allen, Emma Leavitt, Rains, Zayne Roos, and Allie Powers all seeing field time.

The Wolves closed their scoring with hot-hitting 8th grader Cami Van Dyke lacing a two-run single to straightaway center in the third, before coasting in for the win, with their eyes already set on delivering their postgame sing-along.

While there’s been barely a hint of sun this spring, at least during home games, Coupeville remains red-hot, having outscored its foes 107-12, with five of the seven wins ending early thanks to the mercy rule.

 

Thursday stats:

Capri Anter — One triple, one walk
Teagan Calkins — One single, one double, one walk
Emma Cushman — One single
Olivia Martin — One walk
Adeline Maynes — One single, one home run, one walk
Chelsi Stevens — One single
Cami Van Dyke — Two singles
Sydney Van Dyke — Two singles, one walk

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Smash, bash, another foe down with a crash

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , on March 31, 2026| 1 Comment »

Coupeville sophomore first-baseman Ava Lucero was flawless in the field Tuesday and deadly at the plate. (Jackie Saia photo)

Aim for the mountains.

Look out to center field at Darrington, and that’s what you’ll see peeking down on the Loggers softball field — a range of craggy targets.

So, the smash sisters took advantage Tuesday, as the Coupeville High School sluggers lashed liners to all fields, including a Chelsi Stevens moonshot which cleared the fences, en route to demolishing their hosts 21-2.

The lopsided win, in which CHS coach Aaron Lucero was able to get action for all 17 girls on his active roster, lifts the Wolves to 3-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 6-0 overall.

Combined with an Orcas Island loss to Friday Harbor, it also moves Coupeville back into sole possession of first place in the conference, with a rematch against Darrington set for Thursday on Whidbey Island.

By that time, they may have found the ball Stevens launched into the stratosphere. Maybe.

It came just four batters into the game yet was already the fourth booming shot unleashed by a CHS squad which has outscored its foes 92-12 this season.

Lethal leadoff hitter Haylee Armstrong jumped on the first pitch of the afternoon, cracking a ball a Darrington outfielder couldn’t handle, while Teagan Calkins mashed a triple to left-center two batters later.

Up to the plate came Stevens, flexing her bat and eyeballing the Logger pitcher.

Boom! The sophomore cleanup hitter delivered with a clang, the ball arcing up, up, and still further up into the blue sky, while the Darrington outfielders watched helplessly as the two-run tater screamed its way halfway back to Whidbey before landing.

It was wash, rinse, and repeat from there for the Wolves, who tacked on another run in the first, thanks to an Ava Lucero RBI double, before pushing six across in the second frame.

Stevens again came up big her second time around, with a long RBI double, while Capri Anter, Lucero, and Emma Leavitt also connected on run-scoring hits.

Wolf hurler Adeline Maynes was unhittable in the early innings, throwing high, hard cheese and collecting strikeouts, with the game put on ice thanks to a 15-batter, nine-run third inning which lasted approximately 45 minutes and change.

Sydney Van Dyke, Calkins, and Stevens walloped back-to-back-to-back extra-base blows to start the frame, with Cami Van Dyke, Leavitt, and Allie Powers chipping in with key base knocks to keep the never-ending rally chugging along.

From midway through the third to the end of the fourth, Aaron Lucero kept his scorebook keeper hoppin’, mixing and matching players in the lineup to give his reserves crucial game action to build for the future while keeping the score from getting to 50-0.

Zariyah Allen, Olivia Martin, Allie Powers, Marina Jadwin, Arianna Vinson, Zayne Roos, and Emily Rains all earned plate appearances, while Emma Cushman (defense) and Emma Leavitt (offense) combined to form a dynamic duo in right field.

Darrington, a plucky team, did scrape out two runs in the fourth, but Calkins and Anter got them back with RBI singles in the fifth.

Flame-throwing Wolf hurlers Maynes and Armstrong combined to net eight strikeouts, while Ava Lucero, playing a spotless first base, pulled off three unassisted put-outs on grounders to highlight a top-flight defense.

 

Tuesday stats:

Capri Anter — Three singles
Haylee Armstrong — One triple
Teagan Calkins — One single, one triple, one walk
Emma Leavitt — One single, one double
Ava Lucero — One single, one double, one walk
Adeline Maynes — Two walks
Allie Powers — One single
Emily Rains — One walk
Chelsi Stevens — Two doubles, one home run
Cami Van Dyke — One single
Sydney Van Dyke — Two singles, one double, one triple

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Busy week awaits Wolf squads

Posted in Baseball, Girls Tennis, Softball, tagged , , , , on March 29, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Savannah Coxsey unleashes hot death. (Julie Wheat photo)

Busy, busy, busy.

With Coupeville High School heading into the last week before Spring Break, its athletic teams will be highly active over the next six days.

The first half of the week features road trips, while the second half is all about homestands.

CHS girls’ tennis is slated to travel to East Jefferson Monday, then host Granite Falls Friday, while Wolf track and field will be in Mount Vernon Wednesday for a mid-week meet.

Meanwhile, baseball motors off to East Jefferson Monday and Darrington Tuesday, before flipping things and hosting Darrington Thursday and East Jefferson Saturday afternoon.

Finally, the red-hot Wolf softball sluggers get two league clashes — Tuesday at Darrington and Thursday at home against the same rival — before also welcoming East Jefferson to Cow Town for a Saturday special.

Those weekend clashes will also feature the CHS diamond squads hosting their annual Strike Out Cancer fundraiser.

After that, barring any schedule shuffling, the actual week of Spring Break will have no events whatsoever for Coupeville athletes.

As we head into the thick of things, here’s where things sit through Mar. 29:

 

Northwest League baseball:

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

 

Northwest League girls’ tennis:

School League Overall
Coupeville 1-0 1-1
Friday Harbor 0-1 0-1

 

Northwest League softball:

School League Overall
Orcas Island 3-0 3-2
Coupeville 2-0 5-0
La Conner 0-0 1-0
Darrington 0-1 1-1
Concrete 0-2 0-2
Friday Harbor 0-2 1-5

On to a new week! (Jackie Saia photo)

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Huge hits, snappy strikeouts, valiant victory

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , on March 26, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Cami (left) and Sydney Van Dyke are part of a potent Coupeville lineup which has outscored foes 71-10 through the first five games. (Julie Wheat photo)

Haylee Armstrong can slam a door shut.

The Coupeville High School junior delivered two noteworthy catches in center field late in Thursday’s softball game on Friday Harbor, before coming in to retire six of the eight hitters she faced as a pitcher to seal a 7-1 victory for the Wolves.

Coming on the heels of a 17-3 home win over the same foe a day earlier, the season sweep of a key rival gets Aaron Lucero’s sluggers to 2-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 5-0 overall.

Thursday’s royal rumble went in a different direction than Wednesday’s prairie blowout.

For one thing, it was nothing but blue skies above Friday Harbor. Almost spring-like.

For another, the Wolverines managed to escape without getting severely dinged in any inning like they did Wednesday, even holding CHS scoreless in three frames.

Still, the Coupeville bats had their moments, with seven hitters combining to rap out 13 base-knocks, including five of the extra-base variety.

The Wolves got on the board in the top of the first when catcher Teagan Calkins crashed another inside-the-park homerun — “The Red Dragon” also hammered a four-bagger Wednesday — followed by an RBI double from starting pitcher Adeline Maynes.

The fireball-chuckin’ sophomore whiffed nine across five-plus innings of work, only getting into a bit of trouble in the sixth.

With Coupeville playing cleaner defense than it had a day before, Friday Harbor wasn’t able to push a runner across until the bottom of the sixth, and then, only one.

By that time, the Wolves were up 7-0, having added three runs in the second and a single tally in both the fourth and sixth.

The second-inning onslaught started with 8th grader Cami Van Dyke lashing a missile of a single off a glove.

From there, CHS piled up a double to left from Armstrong, a single from Sydney Van Dyke, and a two-run double to deep right field off the bat of Chelsi Stevens.

The run in the fourth came courtesy some smart base-running from the wise old vet, as Calkins crashed into third on a single by Stevens, then snuck home when she caught the Friday Harbor defense not paying attention.

In the sixth it was back to the big hit bonanza, with a Calkins double and a Capri Anter triple creating Coupeville’s final run.

Haylee Armstrong is on a tear this season. (Jackie Saia photo)

On a day when everyone in the Wolf lineup made a solid contribution, Armstrong delivered the exclamation point.

She made a catch on the run heading for the wall in center, then two batters later came charging towards the infield to snag a rapidly falling ball before it could touch grass.

When Friday Harbor opened the sixth with a pair of singles and a walk, Aaron Lucero decided to change things up, moving Maynes to second base and tapping his arm to bring his version of Mariano Rivera out of the bullpen.

If the bullpen was located in center field.

Armstrong came skipping in, slapped on her face mask, practiced a mean mug or two, then revved her arm up to turbo mode, striking out five of the eight hitters she stared down, before getting the game’s final out on a fly ball.

With Coupeville’s aces combining for 14 strikeouts, the gauntlet has been laid.

“Adeline did great and Haylee came in with the heat,” Aaron Lucero said. “Great duo. Great job all the way around.”

 

Thursday stats:

Capri Anter — One single, one triple
Haylee Armstrong — Two singles, one double
Teagan Calkins — One double, one home run
Ava Lucero — One walk
Adeline Maynes — One single
Chelsi Stevens — One single, one double, one walk
Cami Van Dyke — Two singles, one walk
Sydney Van Dyke — One single, one walk

Eyeballing another victory. (Jackie Saia photo)

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Wolves keep hit machine in overdrive

Posted in Softball, tagged , , , , on March 25, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Chelsi Stevens rocks the chain and glasses after destroying Friday Harbor pitching. (Photo courtesy Kristi Stevens)

Every day, a different level.

That’s been the tale for the Coupeville High School softball squad, which has faced teams from 3A, 2A, 1A, and 2B, and beaten them all.

Wednesday afternoon the Wolves ignored a chilly prairie breeze, bashing the ball and getting high, hard heat from pitcher Adeline Maynes as they strolled to a 17-3 victory over visiting Friday Harbor in a game mercy-ruled after five innings.

The victory, coming in the conference opener, lifts CHS to 1-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 4-0 overall, with a rematch set for Thursday on Friday Harbor.

Wednesday’s tilt started as a pitcher’s duel, at least for the first three frames.

Then the tsunami hit.

Both Friday Harbor and Coupeville opened their halves of the first inning by getting their leadoff hitter aboard thanks to a base-knock.

Then both pitchers retired the next three batters, keeping things scoreless and (briefly) sort of tense.

Add a 1-2-3 top of the second from Maynes, who whiffed the side as part of an 11-strikeout performance, and runs were at a premium.

Then the dam broke.

Capri Anter and Emma Cushman walked in the bottom of the second, before 8th grader Cami Van Dyke smacked a hard-hit ball into the hole with two outs.

Streaking down the line, the Wolf young gun not only beat the throw, but rattled Friday Harbor’s defender enough that she zinged the ball under her first-baseman’s glove, allowing a second runner to scoot across home plate on the play.

Adeline Maynes (left) and Haylee Armstrong combined for four hits Wednesday afternoon. (Michelle Armstrong photo)

Given new life, Coupeville pounced, with Haylee Armstrong lashing an RBI triple to deep left field, skidding into the bag with a huge smile on her face as she pointed at her dad.

From there, the Wolves turned it into an eight-run explosion, with Sydney Van Dyke and Teagan Calkins walking, Chelsi Stevens mashing a three-run triple to center, and Anter and Ava Lucero smoking RBI singles back up the middle.

Anter’s hit was an especially explosive one, almost inflicting grievous bodily harm on the Friday Harbor pitcher as it came within an inch or two of putting a dent in the hurler’s face mask.

With the lead in hand, the Wolves continued to pour it on, plating three in the third and another six in the fourth.

The first of those two rallies featured a three-run inside-the-park home run from Calkins, as “The Red Dragon” played bash-the-ball-and-run-like-a-gazelle, and the senior catcher wasn’t done.

She came back around an inning later to launch a three-run triple to center, Calkin’s second blow part of a highlight reel package including Sydney Van Dyke ripping an RBI liner off a defender’s glove and Stevens and Anter bopping RBI lasers to left.

The only thing stopping the hit parade was CHS coach Aaron Lucero taking the foot off the gas pedal in the fourth, twice having runners leave early to give Friday Harbor outs.

 

Wednesday stats:

Capri Anter — Two singles, two walks
Haylee Armstrong — One single, one triple, one walk
Teagan Calkins — One single, one triple, one home run, one walk
Emma Cushman — Two walks
Ava Lucero — One single, one walk
Adeline Maynes — Two singles
Chelsi Stevens — One double, one triple
Cami Van Dyke — Two singles
Sydney Van Dyke — Two singles, two walks

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