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Posts Tagged ‘Softball’

RedHawks, Cowboys bail on softball season!!

Posted in Softball, tagged 1A Olympic League, Chimacum, CHS Wolves, Port Townsend, Softball on March 1, 2018| Leave a Comment »

While school officials scramble to replace six cancelled softball games, Wolves like freshman Chelsea Prescott prep for the season. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Rip up the schedule.

Four days into spring sports, the world of high school softball has come undone, as two of Coupeville’s three 1A Olympic League foes have announced they won’t field teams this season.

Port Townsend, which is on a 51-game losing skid dating back to 2014, and Chimacum, which has won three straight conference crowns, seemed to be polar opposites.

But now the two schools are united in their inability to piece together workable rosters.

It’s not the first time Chimacum has had to skip a season, as the Cowboys did so right before joining the Olympic League.

Last year’s team, which gave Coupeville its only regular season losses and went to the state tourney, had a senior-heavy roster.

Chimacum Athletic Director Tony Haddenham told the Peninsula Daily News Thursday night there is a “lack of adequate numbers to field a team this year.”

Port Townsend and Chimacum chose not to join together to form one team for the season. Doing so would have required the schools to combine their enrollment, pushing them into competing at the 2A level in softball.

The late-breaking decision by the RedHawks and Cowboys to not play leaves Coupeville, in its final season in the Olympic League, with just one conference rival still standing — Klahowya.

The Wolves and Eagles play three times and that trio of games will decide the league crown.

Coupeville travels to Silverdale Mar. 28 and Apr. 30, while Klahowya visits Whidbey Apr. 20.

In previous seasons, three of the four league teams have made the playoffs, so it would seem likely both the Wolves and Eagles are postseason-bound no matter how their seasons play out.

The loss of six league games, especially at this late date, made it hard for Coupeville to pull together a complete 20-game schedule, but Wolf Athletic Director Willie Smith is a man of miracles.

The Wolves, who jump to the new six-team North Sound Conference next fall, have already filled five of the six cancellations and have one more possibility on deck.

Forks, which was coming to Whidbey on a Saturday, has agreed to play a doubleheader as opposed to the one game previously scheduled.

Coupeville has also added a second game against both South Whidbey and Sequim, both at home, and a home-and-away series with Port Angeles.

Smith is currently working on adding a game with Sultan, which would get Coupeville back to a full 20 games, albeit it with just three league contests.

The updated Coupeville HS softball schedule as of Mar. 2:

Sat-Mar. 17 @ South Whidbey — 1:00
Fri-Mar. 23 North Mason — 4:00
Sat-Mar. 24 @ Vashon Island — 1:00
Wed-Mar. 28 @ Klahowya — 4:15
Fri-Mar. 30 Port Angeles — 4:00
Mon-Apr. 2 @ Blaine (Doubleheader) – 1:00
Fri-Apr. 6 Meridian — 4:00
Sat-Apr. 7 Forks (Doubleheader) — 1:00
Sat-Apr. 14 @ Friday Harbor — 12:00
Thur-Apr. 19 @ La Conner — 4:00
Fri-Apr. 20 Klahowya — 4:00
Sat-Apr. 21 @ Lynden Christian — 4:30
Fri-Apr. 27 South Whidbey — 4:00
Mon-Apr. 30 @ Klahowya (*) — 4:15
Thur-May 3 @ Sequim — 4:00
Wed-May 9 Sequim — 4:00
Fri-May 11 @ Port Angeles — 3:30

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Softball sluggers? CWLL needs you!!

Posted in Softball, tagged beat the clock, Central Whidbey Little League, deadline, Softball on February 27, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Play little league softball and be like Maya Toomey-Stout, who helped lead the CWLL Juniors to a 13-3 record two years ago. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

The clock is ticking.

Central Whidbey Little League needs four more players to register by midnight Wednesday, or it may be unable to field a Juniors softball squad this spring.

Which would be a pity, since CWLL has been a dominant team in the division in recent years.

And come on, someone has to thump on Anacortes. It could, and should, be you.

Two years ago, the league faced a similar situation but rallied to pull together a complete roster at the very last second, then rolled to a crisp 13-3 mark.

Juniors softball is open to girls ages 13-15.

To register or for more info, pop over to:

http://www.centralwhidbeylittleleague.com/

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Sluggers swing for state glory!!

Posted in Softball, tagged 1A Olympic League, CHS Wolves, Katrina McGranahan, Softball, state tourney on February 23, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Junior first-baseman Veronica Crownover is a key bat in a Wolf softball lineup chock full of big-time sluggers. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

One strike.

That was how close the Coupeville High School softball squad came to advancing to the state tourney a season ago.

But, after a long road trip, then playing four postseason games in less than 24 heat-drenched hours, and winning two of them, the Wolves were denied at the very end.

It could have been a crusher, but instead, it has become the spark which has kept the fire burning deep in the heart of every CHS player this off-season.

Now, “spring” has arrived, and with it, the Wolves are ready to launch a new assault on the school record book and opposing pitchers.

“Our goals for this season are the same as always,” said CHS coach Kevin McGranahan. “Above all else, have fun and gel as a team; compete for the league championship every day; advance to state and make sure they knew Coupeville was there by upsetting some teams.”

Coupeville went 19-5 last year, the second-best record in 39 years of Wolf softball, losing to just two teams.

Three tough losses, two on the road, to Chimacum, denied them an Olympic League title by the slimmest of margins.

Then, two defeats to perennial power Bellevue Christian at districts, packaged around wins over Vashon Island and Seattle Christian, ended the Wolves season.

Both Chimacum and BC absorbed substantial losses to graduation, while Coupeville, for the most part, is returning the core of its squad.

Second baseman Jae LeVine and left fielder Tiffany Briscoe graduated, while slugging shortstop Mikayla Elfrank is sitting out her senior season as she recovers from a devastating leg injury suffered during basketball.

While the trio will be missed, the Wolves will still be a very deep, very talented squad, with most positions manned by veterans.

Seniors Katrina McGranahan (P), Lauren Rose (3B) and Hope Lodell (CF) have been All-Conference players year in and year out, with McGranahan the reigning Olympic League MVP.

Junior catcher Sarah Wright has been a star from day one, launching moon shots and gunning down would-be base stealers, while junior first baseman Veronica Crownover is a threat to clear the fences every time she swings a bat.

Toss in sophomore jack-of-all-trades Scout Smith, who blossomed as a star during last year’s playoffs, and the Wolves can stand with just about anyone.

There is plenty of depth as well, with a mix of returning bench players and a talented group of freshmen headed up by former little league standouts Mollie Bailey and Chelsea Prescott.

“I feel that we are strong again as a team and that together these girls can all be the top returning player any given day,” Kevin McGranahan said. “All of them will be pretty much interchangeable on the field.

“We have a big freshmen class coming in,” he added. “So we will be strong in the future and will have to see how they look as practice takes shape.”

In the race for a league title defending champ Chimacum “will be a wild card,” while Klahowya, led by D-1 recruit Amber Bumbalough, “will be strong again this year.”

Port Townsend is mired in a 51-game losing streak dating back to 2014, but the RedHawks made huge strides in the second half last season and looked like a squad about to break through.

Instead of focusing on their rivals, the Wolves will look inward.

“Mental toughness is and always will be something a team needs to constantly work on,” Kevin McGranahan said. “The little things on the field will take care of themselves through practice.

“Our team strengths will be our team speed and the girls playing for each other and not playing for themselves.”

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A slice of diamond history!!

Posted in Softball, tagged 40th anniversary, CHS Wolves, Hope Lodell, Softball, Teresa Terry on February 21, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Hope Lodell will be in center field when a new softball season begins. Her aunt, Teresa Terry, was a starter in 1978. (Mike Lodell photo)

One family, 40 years, a ton of history.

When Coupeville High School senior Hope Lodell charges out to center field this spring, she’ll be following in the footsteps of her aunt.

Lodell, a four-year starter who has multiple All-Conference honors to her name, is keeping alive a family tradition.

Her aunt, Teresa (Lodell) Terry, was a freshman who started in the very first softball game in CHS history.

That came back on Mar. 16, 1978, when the Wolves battled through extra innings before falling 20-17 against Island rival Langley.

Coupeville and South Whidbey actually open the 2018 season against each other, with the Wolves traveling down Whidbey Saturday, Mar. 17 for a non-conference game.

If school officials were as obsessed with anniversaries as I am, they’d bump the game up a day to fall on the 40-year anniversary.

Hint, hint.

Anyways, that first game for CHS softball was a doozy, at least from the (very) limited recap in the newspaper of the time.

Slow-pitch was the game back then, with the Wolves not becoming a fast-pitch team until 2002.

At which point Ashley Ellsworth-Bagby, Sarah Mouw, Lindsey Tucker and crew promptly won four of five games at the state tourney, claiming a third-place finish in their first try at the quicker version of the sport.

In 1978, Kris Severns was the coach, and players in the first lineup included Teresa Lodell, Laurie Estes, Cheri Cass, Micki Boettger, Yvonne Jameson and slugging freshman Pam Jampsa.

Jampsa bashed a home run and a pair of doubles in the first game, as Coupeville turned an early 3-0 deficit into a 16-8 lead after five innings.

Then, the offense which had racked up five runs in the second inning, and another eight in the third, cooled off, letting the dastardly South Enders rally.

Langley plated seven runs in the sixth, then scraped out one more in the seventh to forge a 16-16 tie and force extra innings.

Both teams came up empty in the eighth, before Langley put four across in the top of the ninth to make things dicey.

Coupeville got one run back in the bottom half of the inning, but fell short of an Opening Day miracle.

But, while a win wasn’t in the cards, that game set the table for what has turned into a successful four-decade run for the Wolves on the diamond.

Last year’s squad went 19-5, the best record since the immortal 2002 team, and came within a single strike of earning Coupeville softball’s third trip to state.

With virtually their entire lineup back, the 2018 Wolves are intent on joining the 2002 and 2014 teams in punching a ticket to the big dance.

Whether it happens or not, the past and present of CHS softball will come together frequently during this 40th season, whenever Teresa Terry pops by to cheer for her niece.

One family creating a ton of diamond memories.

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