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Oak Harbor slugger Layla Suto celebrates a milestone. (Photos courtesy Matt Suto)

First she broke the record, then she hit triple digits.

Oak Harbor High School softball sensation Layla Suto is one of Whidbey Island’s best diamond players, whether starring for the Wildcats or playing travel ball alongside Coupeville students such as Teagan Calkins and Taylor Brotemarkle.

A dangerous hitter, Suto broke the OHHS career hit record of 95 earlier this week, which had stood for a decade.

Thursday, in a win over league rival Mount Vernon she continued to push her record pace, collecting her 100th and 101st hit in her 79th game as a ‘Cat.

Oak Harbor, which lost a one-run thriller in extra innings to Coupeville to open the season, has won six of its last seven games to get to 9-9 on the season.

While she still has more games to play in her senior campaign, Suto already knows she’ll continue the game at the next level.

That’s because she’s signed to play softball for the University of Sioux Falls, an NCAA D-II program in South Dakota.

All the success makes for one proud papa in Matt Suto, who has coached both Wildcats and Wolves alike to travel ball success.

“It’s been amazing to watch this kid work hard day after day to get better at the sport she loves,” he said.

Layla Suto and Coupeville catcher Teagan Calkins have played as both teammates and friendly rivals.

Olivia Martin and associates spent most of Thursday tearing around the basepaths. (Jackie Saia photos)

They were thunderstruck.

While prairie skies were largely clear and blue Thursday afternoon, the Coupeville High School softball squad rained down holy terror on visiting Concrete.

Whacking 27 hits, including inside the park home runs from Sydney Van Dyke and Emily Rains, the Wolves decimated the Lions 28-0 in a game which could have been 100-0 if CHS coach Aaron Lucero had been in a mood.

Instead, the diamond sage spent part of his day playing dodgeball as his catcher, Teagan Calkins, drilled hot shot after hot shot at him in the third base coaching box, every crack of her bat causing him to both grin and possibly suffer heart palpitations.

“Try and dodge this, Aaron!”

With the win, the Wolves get to 8-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 13-1 overall.

Up next is a non-conference rumble Friday at home against South Whidbey, before next week brings a two-game set with Orcas Island in which CHS can clinch a conference crown.

First up though was Concrete, a team building for a better tomorrow, but not remotely ready yet to slow down the freight train wearing red and black.

The Wolves, who won the first meeting between the teams 17-1, put this go-around on ice in the flick of a wrist.

CHS hurler Adeline Maynes struck out the first three hitters she faced, then she and her teammates busted out the bats and did their best to explode a few softballs.

Coupeville pushed 12 runs across in the bottom of the first, with 12 of their first 13 hitters reaching base.

The only one not to was still super-efficient, as Chelsi Stevens delivered an RBI groundout following a two-run double from Calkins.

Next at-bat, same inning, Stevens flexed her biceps and crushed a two-run triple to deep left field, proving she can kill you in a multitude of ways.

In between those at-bats, Coupeville picked up RBI-rich hits from Maynes, Zariyah Allen, and Haylee Armstrong, before Sydney Van Dyke launched a solo shot to left, tearing around the bags and sliding under the tag to complete her home run trot.

Everyone was hitting, with the Wolves tacking on seven more runs in the second, taking a breather in a scoreless third, then piling up nine more in the fourth.

In the second, five straight singles kept the runners moving base to base, before Maynes lofted a resounding triple to left to cap things.

Jump to the fourth and it was prime time for the Wolf reserves, as they picked up right where the starters had left off.

Emily Rains, swinging a hot stick and hollering as she tore around the basepaths, came off the bench to wallop an inside the park homer to lead off the inning, before coming back around later in the frame to mash a three-run double while almost overrunning the girl in front of her.

Also coming up big were Zayne Roos, zipping a two-run single into the gap, and Ari Vinson, swatting an RBI double to left.

While 13 of 16 Wolves collected a base hit, Maynes and Armstrong combined to virtually shut down Concrete’s offense. The former whiffed seven of the 10 batters she faced, while the latter came in to toss two scoreless innings of relief.

Even when the Lions did make contact, Coupeville had an answer, with Emma Leavitt collecting the web gem of the day by making a smooth snag on a liner to left while on the run.

 

Thursday stats:

Zariyah Allen — One single, one walk
Haylee Armstrong — Two singles, one double
Teagan Calkins — Three singles, one double, one walk
Emma Cushman — Two singles
Emma Leavitt — One single, one walk
Olivia Martin — Two walks
Adeline Maynes — One single, one triple, one walk
Allie Powers — One single
Emily Rains — One double, one home run
Zayne Roos — One single
Chelsi Stevens — Two singles, one triple
Cami Van Dyke — Three singles, one walk
Sydney Van Dyke — Two singles, one home run
Ari Vinson — One double

Coupeville freshman Trent Thule was a two-way terror Thursday, striking out 10 on the mound and getting on base three times as a hitter. (Jackie Saia photos)

Trent Thule had himself quite a day.

The Coupeville High School freshman was in the spotlight Thursday, pitching and hitting the Wolf baseball squad past visiting Concrete, even after leaving some of his blood on the prairie thanks to taking a wayward pitch to the face.

Thule finished the day with two base knocks and a walk, with the latter leaving him with a bloody nose and black eye, while also striking out 10 Lions across 6.2 innings of work in a 9-6 win which wasn’t as close as it might sound.

The victory gives Coupeville a season sweep of Concrete, while lifting the Wolves to 7-1 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 9-4 overall.

Steve Hilborn’s squad, which hosts South Whidbey in a non-conference Island rivalry rumble Friday, sits a game off of Mount Vernon Christian (8-0) in the race for a conference crown, with the matchup between those two teams set for the final two regular season games the first week of May.

Thursday’s bout with Concrete wasn’t as lopsided as the first meeting, when CHS won 25-0, but the Wolves were still in control from the first pitch to the last.

Thule didn’t give up a hit until the fourth inning and was just a dropped third strike away from being flawless through three frames.

With their young buzzsaw setting the Lions down in order, the Wolves broke out for three runs in the bottom of the first to get things rockin’.

Leo Rodriguez whacked a leadoff double, then three batters later he came around to score thanks to a two-bagger from cleanup hitter Camden Glover.

Glover also scored on the play when Concrete’s outfielder threw the ball away, and a little later Aiden O’Neill also took advantage of a Lion error to tap home.

Coupeville stretched the advantage to 4-0 in the third, with Thule crunching an RBI single, before tacking on two runs in the fourth thanks to a series of walks mixed with Concrete errors.

The Lions did get one run back in the fifth, but CHS responded with a three-run sixth to open a convincing 9-1 lead.

That frame featured a two-run single off the bat of Glover, but also a number of Wolves being drilled by pitches, including Thule.

Despite being injured, the fab frosh convinced his coach he was ready to return to the mound, and he came within a pitch or two of throwing a complete game.

Concrete rallied late to make things interesting, but Glover came out of the bullpen to get the game’s final out, whiffing the only Lion he faced to slam the door shut on another Wolf win.

 

Thursday stats:

Chase Anderson — One walk
Coop Cooper — One walk
Camden Glover — One single, one double
Carson Grove — Three walks
Aiden O’Neill — One single, one walk
Leo Rodriguez — One double, one walk
Killian Shaw — One single
Malachi Somes — One single
Trent Thule — Two singles, one walk
Aiden Tingley — One walk

Killian Shaw (9) was one of six Wolves to get a hit in the win over Concrete.

“So, we’re just gonna let the computers take over then? That worked so well with Skynet…” (Julie Wheat photo)

The computers agree yet disagree.

On the one hand, two different ranking systems have looked at the Coupeville High School softball squad, which sits at 12-1, and offer their approval, lauding the Wolves as a top 10 program among 2B schools.

But on the other hand, the tech wizards don’t totally jibe with where they put the Smash Sisters.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association currently has Aaron Lucero’s squad sitting at #8, which is down from a high of #4, thanks to one narrow loss to traditional power Forks.

Meanwhile, Evans Rankings, a solo effort in which noted number cruncher Matt Evans feeds data into Newman — a power-mad computer possibly bent on world domination — has Coupeville at #6.

What does it mean for the Wolves?

Keep your collective heads down, move on to the goal of picking up two more victories at home Thursday and Friday against Concrete and South Whidbey, and let things land where they may.

Win on the field and the rest will handle itself.

“Concrete? I’m coming for you!!” (Bettie Sifuentes-Hart photos)

The Wolves didn’t skip a beat.

Bouncing back solidly after taking its first loss of the season in a tough brawl with Forks, the Coupeville High School softball squad returned to its winning ways Tuesday afternoon.

Getting hits from 11 different batters, Aaron Lucero’s sluggers cruised to a 17-1 win at Concrete while getting playing time for 16 girls.

The lopsided victory, mercy-ruled after five innings, lifts CHS to 7-0 in Northwest 2B/1B League play, 12-1 overall.

The #8 team in 2B, at least according to the computer rankings, dominated in every facet Tuesday, even while missing slugging second baseman Capri Anter as she nurses a hurt knee.

Anter’s cousin, fellow junior Haylee Armstrong, was front and center for the Wolves, whiffing eight hitters while flinging mad heat from the pitcher’s circle, then turning around and blasting an inside the park home run to fuel the offense.

Coupeville actually started a wee bit slowly, perhaps from having limited warmup time after pulling into the wilds of Concrete just in time for the game.

The Wolves pushed a run across in the top of the first, with Sydney Van Dyke smashing a single off the pitcher’s glove, before coming around to score on an RBI groundout off the bat of Chelsi Stevens.

But that was it, with the lone tally representing one of the lower-scoring first frames for the Wolves this season.

Not to worry, as the Smash Sisters quickly got back in the groove, scoring four in the second, before whipping up a seven-run rally in the third to put the game comfortably out of reach.

“They can’t be stopped! Hits for everyone! Everyone, I said!!”

Both of the Van Dyke siblings smacked timely run-scoring hits in the second, with Cami and Sydney each finding holes in the defense between shortstop and third. Packaged around a long sac fly from Armstrong, that set the tone, but the biggest base knocks were still on their way.

The third frame was all about extra-base hits, with Adeline Maynes and Zariyah Allen crunching doubles, Ava Lucero mashing a triple, and Armstrong lacing a two-run tater which stayed in the park but skipped almost to the fence as she churned around the basepaths.

Coupeville wasn’t done, tacking on three more runs in the fourth and two in the fifth, with most of the damage done by the youngsters.

Allie Powers and Allen socked back-to-back doubles, while Emma Cushman zinged an RBI single deep into the hole at short, before speed demon Olivia Martin punched her own two-bagger, took third on the throw, then scooted home on a hot shot from Marina Jadwin.

Concrete managed to avoid the shutout with a single run in the bottom of the fifth, but Armstrong quickly derailed any thoughts of a Lion comeback, ending the game with some more heat while stalking the circle.

A win is always welcome, but having the chance to empty his bench and get action for the newbies was really welcome, Aaron Lucero said.

“Lot of our newer players saw field time and a number got hits, so I’m pretty happy about that.”

 

Tuesday stats:

Zariyah Allen — Two doubles, one walk
Haylee Armstrong — One home run
Teagan Calkins — One single, one walk
Emma Cushman — One single
Emma Leavitt — One walk
Ava Lucero — One triple, two walks
Adeline Maynes — One double, one walk
Olivia Martin — One double
Allie Powers — One double, one walk
Cami Van Dyke — Two singles
Sydney Van Dyke — Three singles