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Posts Tagged ‘winning streak’

CWLL baseball off to sizzlin’ start

Posted in Baseball, Little League, tagged , , , , on May 7, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Coupeville baseball stars Jordan Bradford (left) and Camden Glover celebrate another win. (Photo by Carron Chernobieff)

Softball isn’t the only sport tearing up the Island this spring.

The Central Whidbey Little League Majors baseball team is off to a scorching start as well, rolling to a 6-1 mark.

Their latest victim was the Oak Harbor Angels, who went down hard Tuesday night, falling 17-4 to Coupeville’s diamond men.

Central Whidbey, whose only loss this season was a 1-0 thriller with South Whidbey, came out swinging the big bats against Oak Harbor.

The Wolves plated three runs in the first, thanks to a booming double from Chase Anderson and sharply-hit singles zinging off the bats of Landon Roberts and Jacob Schooley.

With Jordan Bradford dealing on the hill, peppering strikes, Central Whidbey was able to deal more easily with a number of players being out of position.

Jack and Johnny Porter are out-of-state for two weeks, so Roberts slapped on the catcher’s gear for the first time this season, while several of his teammates bounced to unfamiliar playing destinations.

Not that it mattered, as Bradford whiffed two hitters in the first, and the Wolves nailed a runner coming in to third.

Spurred on by its defensive stand, Central Whidbey opened up the offensive floodgates, sending nine runners across the plate in the second inning thanks to five hits and four walks.

Marcelo Gebhard, Anderson, Roberts, Bradford, and Schooley all had the magic touch, rifling base-knocks, and the tone was set for the rest of the game.

Bradford set two more Oak Harbor hitters down swinging, then turned the mound over to Aiden O’Neill, who made a successful season debut as a pitcher.

The Wolf reliever struck out two, before Roberts came on to play Mariano Rivera, whiffing the game’s final three would-be sluggers.

John Rachal, Camden Glover, and Roberts added base-hits down the stretch, while Anderson and Roberts teamed up for a sparkling defensive play, the Wolf shortstop pegging a nice throw that his first-baseman plucked out of the air while in a full stretch.

The Wolves get right back at it Thursday, when they travel to Windjammer Park in Oak Harbor to face off with the North Whidbey Mariners, a team they’ve already beaten once.

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They can’t be stopped (we think)

Posted in Little League, Softball, tagged , , , , , on April 27, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Allison Nastali was a force at the plate and in the pitcher’s circle Saturday as the Central Whidbey Little League Majors softball team won again. (Photo courtesy Beth Nastali)

They liked the score so much, they reused it.

Bashing a foe 21-5 for the second-straight game, the Central Whidbey Little League Majors softball squad ran La Conner right out of town Saturday afternoon.

With the win, the scorching-hot hitters who call themselves the Hammerheads improved to 5-0 on the season, having outscored their rivals 95-20.

They also reclaimed the title of highest-scoring softball team in Coupeville.

Sitting at an even 19 runs a game, the Hammerheads edge ahead of the CWLL Juniors, who are tossing “just” 18.7 runs a night on the scoreboard.

La Conner actually led the game through an inning and a half Saturday, as hard as that might be to believe.

The visitors pushed three runs across in the top of the first, then after Central Whidbey tied the game back up, notched two more scores in the second.

And then death and destruction came raining down, as the Hammerheads used their bats to inflict grave damage on the hapless softball.

By the time Central Whidbey was done peppering hits in the bottom of the second, it had plated 14 runners and turned a 5-3 deficit into a 17-5 lead.

Four more runs in the bottom of the third, after Allison Nastali threw a perfect inning in the top half of the frame, whiffing two La Conner hitters, ended things.

Nastali, who was making her debut in the pitcher’s circle, teamed up with Taylor Brotemarkle and Chloe Marzocca to baffle the La Conner hitters.

While the Hammerhead hurlers were zipping fastballs past their rivals, the Central Whidbey bats were booming.

Mia Farris filled up the stat sheet, collecting three hits, including a triple, while knocking in a pair of runs and scoring four times herself.

And that was just the start of the offensive bonanza, as Madison McMillan used two hits to pick up five RBI, including a walk-off three-run double which ended the game, thanks to the mercy rule.

Teagan Calkins, Brionna Blouin, Marzocca, and Jada Heaton chipped in with two hits apiece, while Nastali, Mayleen Weatherford, and Katie Marti also had base-knocks.

“Everyone contributed and Allison was awesome on the mound,” said Central coach Fred Farris.

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Winning is kind of their thing

Posted in Little League, Softball, tagged , , , , on April 27, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Powered by a high-octane offense, the Central Whidbey Little League Juniors softball team is 6-0 on the season. (Susan Farris photo)

In a season of blow-outs, they had to work for this one.

The Central Whidbey Little League Juniors softball team has been destroying foes this season, culminating with a 19-3 romp Thursday over South Skagit.

Saturday afternoon the Wolves had a rematch, but on their home turf, and jumped out to a big lead.

And then, to everyone’s surprise, gave back their entire six-run lead, fell behind by a run, and had to rally for a 15-9 win in a game that went the full seven innings.

Romp or somewhat of a nail-biter, a win is a win, and this one improves Central Whidbey to a crisp 6-0 on the season.

A Wolf team which has outscored foes 112-35 so far came out swinging hot, plating seven runs in the bottom of the first to stake themselves to an early 7-1 lead.

The first seven hitters to stride to the plate reached base safely, with the trio of Jill Prince, Savina Wells, and Sofia Peters coming up big with back-to-back-to-back base hits.

But, as quickly as the offense turned on, it (somewhat surprisingly) turned off, with the Wolves going down 1-2-3 in both the second and third innings.

That slow-down gave Skagit a chance to fight its way back into the game, and the visitors did just that, scraping together a run in the second, then tossing three on the board in each of the next two innings.

The onslaught left Central Whidbey in a rare position, trailing 8-7 headed to the bottom of the fourth.

But there was no panic in the Wolf dugout, just a lot of stone-cold killers flexing their biceps as they hefted their bats and prepared to unleash a second round of “let’s whup on the pitcher.”

Just like in the first inning, it was the same hot-swinging trio who did the most damage, only with a bigger base-knock in the middle.

Prince and Peters both ripped singles, but Wells went two bases better, bashing a two-run triple to safely put Central Whidbey back in front.

The Wolves tacked on a single run in both the fifth and sixth, just to pad the lead out a bit, then coasted home with their record still unblemished.

Peters paced the offensive attack, collecting three singles, with Prince and Wells backing her with two hits apiece.

Melanie Navarro rounded out the hit parade with the team’s eighth base-knock on the afternoon.

The Wolves also walked eight times, with Gwen Gustafson, Vivian Farris, and birthday girl Maddie Georges getting aboard twice each thanks to wayward pitching.

Adrian Burrows and Navarro both walked once, with Cypress Socha, Hayley Fiedler, and Karyme Castro also seeing playing time.

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Get the butter, cause they’re on a roll

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , , , on April 17, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Cody Roberts tossed 2+ innings of scoreless ball Wednesday in Sultan as Coupeville rolled to a third-straight win. (Photo by Karen Carlson)

What a difference a week makes.

Through the first 12 games of the season, the Coupeville High School baseball squad eked out just 13 runs, making life rough on its pitching staff.

And then the bats came alive. And how.

After drilling host Sultan 14-7 Wednesday, while pounding out 12 hits, the Wolves have rung up 31 runs on the scoreboard across their last three games.

Not surprisingly, that’s resulted in three straight wins.

It started with a major upset of high-flying South Whidbey, and now, after back-to-back wins over cellar dweller Sultan, Coupeville has risen to 3-8 in North Sound Conference play, 3-12 overall.

The Wolves, who wrap their series with the Turks Friday at home, have come off life support and now control the race for the fourth, and final, playoff berth from the NSC.

Wednesday, Coupeville jumped on Sultan early, running out to a 6-0 lead.

While the Turks eventually clawed back to within two runs twice, at 7-5 and 9-7, the Wolf hitters responded with a late surge, freshman reliever Cody Roberts tossed 2.1 innings of shutout ball, and the bus ride home was a happy one.

The Wolves opened the game by putting their first five hitters aboard, with four coming around to score.

Singles from Matt Hilborn, Hawthorne Wolfe and Gavin Knoblich, paired with a walk to Jake Pease and an error on a ball smashed to center by Dane Lucero proved to be a potent mix.

Lucero came back around in the second inning to pop a big double, pushing CHS out to its 6-0 lead, then, after a scoreless third, Coupeville tacked on a run in the fourth when Wolfe singled and scampered around the bases.

While the Wolves scored in six of seven innings, Sultan lumped its runs together, getting two in the third, three in the fourth, and a final two in the fifth.

But every time the pesky Turks surged, Coupeville beat them back.

With the lead trimmed to 7-5, the Wolves used singles from Knoblich, starting pitcher Daniel Olson, and Sage Sharp to increase the margin back to four runs.

Sultan scraped together two runs in the bottom of the fifth, once again cutting their deficit back to two runs, this time at 9-7, but Roberts, Coupeville’s third pitcher on the day, slammed the door shut.

Coming on in relief of Jonny Carlson, the Wolf frosh got his team out of a jam by inducing a ground-out to Hilborn at short.

Once in control of his own destiny, Roberts played dangerously, loading the bases in both the sixth and seventh innings, but never broke, twice escaping with big pitches.

He whiffed a Turk with the bags juiced to end the sixth, then punched out Sultan one final time in the seventh.

The Wolf hitters gave him a progressively bigger lead to work with, dropping in a single run in the top of the sixth, then using three singles and three walks to plate four more runs in their final at-bats.

Knoblich paced the torrid offense with three singles, while Pease walked three times.

Hilborn, Wolfe, and Olson had two base-knocks apiece, and Lucero, Sharp, and Ulrik Wells rounded out the attack with singles.

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Bats come alive for suddenly-surging diamond men

Posted in Baseball, tagged , , , , , on April 15, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Gavin Knoblich comes flying in to score Monday during a 13-2 Coupeville win. (Karen Carlson photo)

The playoff chase comes through Coupeville.

Putting together their best offensive game of the season Monday, the Wolf baseball squad pasted visiting Sultan 13-2, and now we’re talking about winning streaks and postseason possibilities.

Having won back-to-back games, Coupeville rises to 2-8 in North Sound Conference play, 2-12 overall.

That puts them a half-game up on Granite Falls (1-8, 3-11) and Sultan (1-8, 1-13) as the trio chase the fourth, and final, NSC playoff berth.

The Wolves play two more against the Turks this week, Wednesday in Sultan, and Friday at home, then closes the regular season with three against Granite.

While CHS can’t catch Cedar Park Christian (12-0, 15-1) or South Whidbey (10-2, 14-2), and has only an outside chance of pulling even with King’s (5-5, 6-9), the Wolves control their own destiny in the chase for the #4 seed.

Monday, that meant coming out and puttin’ a hurtin’ on Turk pitching.

In a season in which their single-game scoring high was four runs — in Friday’s epic upset of South Whidbey — the Wolves unlocked the full potential of their bats on this day.

The game was actually close through two-and-a-half innings, knotted up at 2-2 after the Turks scraped together a pair of runs in the first and Coupeville responded with one each in the first and second.

After a momentary jam in the first frame, Wolf hurler Dane Lucero was lights-out the rest of the way, giving up just a lone hit across the final four innings while whiffing eight Turks.

Both of Coupeville’s early runs came thanks to two-out, no-one-on-base rallies.

In the first, Jake Pease whacked a single, stole second, then came round to score after consecutive walks to Lucero, Gavin Knoblich, and Daniel Olson.

An inning later, it was Matt Hilborn who punched a two-out single. A stolen base put him into scoring position, and Hawthorne Wolfe obliged with another base-knock.

But, if the game was a tight affair until the bottom of the third, it became a blowout once Coupeville came to bat in that frame.

The Wolves sent 14 batters to the plate, with 11 of them coming around to tap home, and the bonanza was set up by a mix of walks, Sultan errors and good old fashioned CHS base hits.

Pease delivered the biggest blow, crunching a double, while Olson came around to hit twice in the inning and smacked singles both times.

Toss in base-knocks for Lucero, Knoblich, and Cody Roberts, and seven of Coupeville’s nine starters collected a hit in the game.

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