Coupeville majors end season

The Central Whidbey Little League baseball and softball majors wrapped up their seasons on Saturday playing in the Ted Reep Tournament in South Skagit.

The baseball majors team, known as the Wolves, completed a perfect 17-0 season and won the tournament, while the softball majors took nearly a perfect season record to the tournament and finished in fourth place.

The 2008 season for Central Whidbey Little League majors baseball team will be remembered for a long time. The season started out with anticipation and high expectations and the boys performed better than they hoped.

At the beginning of the season some games had more errors than others, but the boys always dug deep and found a way to win. The regular season was filled with excitement and some timely home runs. Ty Deckwa hit five, Jake Tumblin hit three and Ben Etzell hit two. Both Deckwa and Etzell hit grand slams and when the big hitters had an off day, the rest of the team stepped up and kept swinging the bats.

Defensively, they were able to fine-tune their game and by the end of the season, the errors were rare. Thanks to coaches Scott Deckwa and Chris Tumblin for their countless hours spent with the boys.

The final season record was 14-0. At the end of the season, the team was invited to the tournament of champions in Mount Vernon to play against eight other first place teams from Island and Skagit counties.

Competition was tough but after winning the first two games, the Wolves played for the championship against South Skagit Nationals. It was a pitcher’s duel after the single run scored in the top of the first by Morgan Payne when he hit a single, stole second and third and then came home on a passed ball.

Korban Korzan started the game and pitched until the third inning only allowing two hits and no runs. Ty Deckwa took over and dominated the mound from that point.

In the bottom of the sixth, South Skagit had runners on second and third with two outs when the runner tried to steal home. Etzell had a perfect tag for the out to end the game.

The 12-year-olds had hoped that their last year in majors would be a memorable one and it was it! The next step is All-Stars that begin in July.

The Central Whidbey Little League softball majors had a great year in 2008. The team got off to a fast start winning the first eight games. Their success was due to team efforts by a number of players.

Led by pitchers Maria Rockwell and Mckayla Bailey, with offensive firepower by Chevy Reyes and Hailey Hammer, they finished the regular season with 13 wins and 2 losses. The worst loss the team suffered was at the hands of the other Central Whidbey Little League softball majors team.

Following the season, they were invited to the Ted Reep Memorial Tournament of Champions in Mount Vernon.

They lost the opening game 9-8 in a thriller against the eventual second place team from South Skagit.

Rebounding after a first-game loss, the girls beat Burlington Edison and Oak Harbor to get to the consolation finals where they lost to Anacortes. They finished the year with 15 and 4 record.

Worley rows for Olympic berth

Brodie Buckland of Olympia and Sebastian Bea of San Francisco defeated former University of Washington rowers Kyle Larson of Seattle and David Worley of Oak Harbor during the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for qualified small boats on Lake Mercer in West Windsor, N.J.

Both crews advanced directly to the semifinals along with former Oregon State University rower Josh Inman of Hillsboro, Ore., and partner Matt Schnobrick of St. Paul, Minn., and former Husky Sam Burns and Ted Farwell of Madison, Wis.

Buckland and Bea won with a time of 6 minutes, 43.046 seconds to win the second of three heats, beating Larson and Worley by more than four seconds.

All winners of the small boat trails will be named to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team, pending United States Olympic committee approval.

Trisler competes at Safeco Field

Competing in the 7- to-8-year-old division, Christopher Trisler won the sectional competition and advanced to Team Championship round of the Aquafina Pitch, Hit and Run championships.

He and another Oak Harbor student, Austin Quimby who competes in the 11- to-12-year-old division, both won the all-around titles at the sectionals. However, all the sectional scores are compared to find the winners and Trisler was the only one to advance.

He competed June 15 at the Mariner’s baseball game at Safeco Field and once again won the all-around championship.

Christopher now has the play the waiting game while his score is tabulated against the other Team Championship winners nation-wide.

The players with the top three scores from around the nation will compete in Yankee Stadium at the 2008 Major League All-star game.