Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Swing away for a good cause.

The Community Foundation for Coupeville Public Schools is welcoming serve and volleyers back to the CHS gym Saturday, May 16, with proceeds benefitting local students.

Door open at 10:30 AM for check in and warm up, with play in the 2026 Spring Smash Pickleball FUNdraiser kicking off at 11:15.

Cost is $50 per player with the tourney limited to 48 players (24 teams), and you can register as a duo or a single player looking for a partner.

This is a social, with all playing abilities welcomed.

The tourney will be played in a round robin format, with five games guaranteed. Matches will go to 11 points, win by two, with a playoff for the winners of each bracket.

Players are asked to bring their own pickleball rackets, though organizers will have a few extra to borrow, just in case.

Non-marring shoes need to be worn to protect the gym floors, and pickle balls will be provided.

Lunch, snacks, and drinks, including smashburgers, will be sold, and the event is offering t-shirts for sale this time around — cost is $25 for a garment, with shirts needing to be purchased in advance by May 3.

Raffle tickets will be available for purchase during the tourney, with prizes including a pickleball themed basket including an Onix Malice 14 paddle valued at $250.

A “very large bouquet of flowers” valued at $200 and a “pickleball quilted door/wall hanging with extra gifts” valued at $150 are also in play.

Door prizes will be offered for best matching outfits and punniest team name, with bracket winners and the overall winner and runner up walking away with prizes of their own.

The fundraiser benefits the schools foundation, which raises $40,000 a year through fundraisers and donations, with the money being turned into enrichment grants for teachers, scholarships for students, and the Promise Fund.

 

To sign up for the pickleball tourney, pop over to:

https://givebutter.com/springsmash

 

For more info on the Foundation, try:

https://www.4coupevilleschools.org/

Madison McMillan

When she sees the field, she has a big impact.

Playing for a very-deep Edmonds College softball squad, Coupeville grad Madison McMillan has had to be patient during her freshman campaign, sharing duties at third base.

But when the former Wolf is in the lineup, she rakes.

Wednesday night was another example, as McMillan started in the first game of a doubleheader sweep against host Skagit Valley College, collecting two walks, a hit, a run, and an RBI in a 19-4 win mercy-ruled after five innings.

The nightcap went even faster, with the Tritons bouncing SVC 15-3 in just three innings as Coupeville’s progeny cheered on her teammates from the bench.

The sweep pushes Edmonds winning streak to 20 games, with the squad sitting at 20-1.

On the season, McMillan has played in 15 of 21 games, starting nine.

She’s hitting at a .429 clip — fifth-best on the team — with 11 runs, 12 hits, three doubles, two home runs, 15 RBI, and six walks.

McMillan’s stellar play at Edmonds follows on the heels of a superb four-year run at CHS, where she was a key player for Wolf volleyball, basketball, and softball teams, helping both the spikers and diamond women advance to the state tourney.

 

UPDATE:

McMillan actually smashed her third home run of the season, only to be officially denied by an extra-picky ump.

Flexing her muscles, she sent a shot which one fan noted was “to deep, deep center field … one of the longer home runs I’ve seen her hit.”

But…

After a 10-15 minute discussion between the umps, it was ruled McMillan “touched the orange safety bag, NOT the white first base bag when rounding to second,” which is an automatic out under Northwest Athletic Conference rules.

In the postgame shuffle, the home plate ump remarked it was “the farthest jack he has seen this year,” and Instagram gave her some props, even if the home run will never exist in the “official” stats.

Adeline Maynes is the point of the spear for an 8-0 Wolf softball squad. (Jackie Saia photo)

The WIAA has entered the chat.

Wednesday marked the first time the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has released Rating Percentage Index (RPI) numbers for spring sports.

And as soon as they did, Coupeville High School made a nice splash, with its undefeated softball squad landing #7 in the 2B rankings.

Meanwhile, the Wolf baseball squad shows up at #19 (out of 47 schools), with the WIAA crediting Steve Hilborn’s team with being 5-2, even though they’re really 6-2.

That’s not an error, but a quirk, as Coupeville’s season-opening victory against 3A Oak Harbor technically came against the Wildcats JV and the RPI rankings don’t count varsity teams beating JV teams, regardless of classification.

Aaron Lucero’s softball sluggers have no quirks on their own schedule, as they beat Oak Harbor’s varsity and sit at 8-0 as Spring Break unfolds.

The Smash Sisters have won six of those eight by 10+ runs and are one of just two 2B softball teams to still have a spotless record, joining #3 Liberty (Spangle), which is 11-0.

And actually, now there is a second quirk, as when the RPI rankings were first revealed Wednesday, Colfax was also undefeated and ranked #4 as shown in this photo.

Then the Bulldogs fell 8-4 to 2A Pullman in an early afternoon game, and slid from #4 to #8, while Adna, River View, Toutle Lake, and Coupeville all jumped a spot.

In the end, how important is RPI? Depends on who you ask.

The rankings are “one tool utilized by the seeding committees to determine first round bracket pairings into the state tournaments.”

So, there’s that, though first you have to punch your ticket to the dance for it to really matter.

Until then, it’s all about bragging rights.

So, yeah, it’s kinda a big deal for the easily hyped-up such as myself.

CHS softball sluggers (l to r) Haylee Armstrong, Sydney Van Dyke, and Cami Van Dyke played for others Saturday. (Photos courtesy Grant Van Dyke and WhidbeyHealth Foundation)

It was a solid day’s work.

Both the Coupeville High School softball and baseball teams won their home games Saturday, but there was more to the afternoon than just on-field action.

The Wolf sluggers spearheaded a Coupeville vs. Cancer event which raised $2,390.20 for WhidbeyHealth’s MAC Clinic through the sale of t-shirts and food.

Both teams dressed up for the occasion, with softball players sporting different colored socks to reflect different forms of cancer, while the diamond men wore special shirts.

Several players offered impassioned speeches about family members who have been impacted by cancer, and, for the first time this spring, home games were played on the prairie under clear blue skies.

The event required the coordinated efforts of many, led by Wolf Moms Michele Thule and Michelle Armstrong.

Also playing a large role was Rainy Simpson from the WhidbeyHealth Foundation and MAC nurses Sherry Phay, Lisa Toomey-Stout, and Courtney Gray.

The WhidbeyHealth Foundation sponsored the baseball team t-shirts, while the Coupeville Booster Club provided softball’s socks.

Ashley’s Design printed the shirts, and CHS coaches covered the cost of 100 hamburgers and 100 hotdogs.

 

Playing key roles:

Shaloma Allen
Joe and Michelle Armstrong
“Granny” Chris Baker
Mandi Black
Shawn Calkins
Mindy Grove
Lark Gustafson
Steve Hilborn
Rachel King
Leann and Nate Leavitt
Aaron and Jess Lucero
Dane Lucero
Tony Martin
Scott and Lara Maynes
Tamra Patterson
Morgan Payne
Mike Pearson
Jennifer Rains
Jon Roberts
Alix Roos
Dina Shaw
“Auntie” Bettie Sifuentes
Kristi and Brent Stevens
Mariah Stoker
Michele and Doug Thule
Colleen and Grant Van Dyke
Emily Zenz

Wyatt Fitch-Marron heads off to do some work. (Marquette Cunningham photo)

The competition is cutthroat.

Another week of track and field results are in the books, and the race to be the best in 2B continues to heat up.

Numbers that put someone in the top 10 a week ago are no longer enough to make the cut, and the roll call of names shifts once again.

With Spring Break upon them, and no meets on the schedule until April 15, Coupeville High School athletes are still among the best in their classification.

Just not as many as last week.

Here’s where the Wolves land among the best in 2B through April 6:

 

GIRLS:

Shot Put — Tamsin Ward (6th) 30-10

 

BOYS:

1600 — Cyrus Sparacio (8th) 4:46.29

3200 — Sparacio (10th) 10:47.10

High Jump — Wyatt Fitch-Marron (3rd-tie) 5-10; Davin Houston (9th-tie) 5-08