SPORTS

by Neil MacDonald

Blaine edged in wild game
With pitchers on both sides being Wild Things at crucial moments, Blaine baseballers lost a 5-4 extra-inning thriller to Lakewood on April 6 in Cougar City.
The Borderites also dropped a pair to Granite Falls, losing 6-2 at the Pipe on April 2 and 18-1 at G-Falls on April 4.
Lakewood scored the deciding run on a wild pitch after their leadoff hitter in the eighth inning reached on a double and moved to third on a sacrifice.
Blaine had scored three times on Cougar wild pitches. Craig Anderson sent the game into extra innings when he walked, stole second and third, and, yes, scored on a wild pitch in the seventh.
The only Blaine run not involving an errant pitch came in the first inning when Mellum singled, moved to second on a sacrifice and scored on Anderson’s double.
G-Falls took an early lead in their 6-2 win at the Pipe, combining three singles and two stolen bases in the third for a comfortable 2-0 lead. When the Borderites closed it to 2-1 in the fourth, the Tigers, feeling a bit less comfortable, promptly transferred their discomfort to Blaine, scoring four runs in the top of the fifth on three singles and a double. Unfortunately for Blaine, it was enough.
The Borderites felt granite fall on them on April 4 in Tiger town. G-Falls poured 18 runs, 15 earned, across the plate in four innings on 15 hits and three Blaine errors. The lone Borderite run came via two walks, a single and a hit batsman.
Blaine play South Whidbey at Langley on April 12, return to the Pipe for an April 16 game with Sultan at 4:30 p.m. and journey to Turk town on April 18 to complete their back-to-back series.

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Boys grab easy win at home
Blaine split their North Cascades Conference dual track meet with Meridian on April 5 at Blaine, the Border boys winning easily 107-38, the Lady B’s losing less easily 71-65.
The boys had a winner in 14 of 17 events, a second-placer in nine and a third-spot finisher in 10. They swept all three places in the 100m, 800m, javelin and discus.
Two Borderites – Andrew Martin and Steve Burden – won four events. Martin took the javelin (132-6), high (5-10) and triple (35-7) jumps, and was part of Blaine’s 4x400m winning relay team. Burden won the 200m (24.54), 400m (53.41), and helped the 4x100m and 4x400 relay teams to victory.
Dan Marchio (800m, 2:15.42; 3200m, 11:46.48), Matt Timothy (100m, 12.09), Tyler Glahn (1600m, 5:30.68), Nate Haslip (300m hurdles, 45.27), Nick McGee (shot, 44-7) and Zeb Waters (discus, 115-4) also won for Blaine.
The Lady B’s, who had five firsts, 12 seconds and two thirds, came within a first and a third of tying and a first and a second of beating Meridian. The six-point difference between the Lady B’s and Lady T’s emphasized the effect of Blaine’s dominant distance runner Grace Coulter ill and out of the running.
Becky Riddle won the shot (35-6.5) and discus (98-10) and Shela Robertson took the high (4-6) and long (14-5) jump, which the Lady B’s swept as Candace Chambers came second (13-.5) and Jessica Summers, third, her 13-.5 jump coming on a later try.
Heidi Harmening paced a Blaine sweep in the pole vault with a winning elevation of 8-0. Kimberly Harmening vaulted 6-6 to take second and Mindy Hatton was third at 5-6.
Haslip (110m hurdles, 18.07), Crews (100m, 12.16), Timothy (200m, 24.94), Glahn (800m, 2:31.57), Daniel Balmer (1600m, 5:34.85), Randy Newton (long jump, 15-11), Ryan Lopez (javelin, 123-11), Josh Brandenburger (pole vault, 8-0) and Nick Leininger (discus, 105-10) finished second for Blaine boys.
Chambers (200m, 29.9), Maria Jackson (400m, 1:05.95; high jump, 4-6; triple jump, 26-2.5), Kim Harmening (javelin, 75-7), Krista Jones (800m, 2:49.82), Mollie Menard (110m hurdles, 20.20; 300m hurdles, time unavailable), Liz Marshall (100m, 14.64) and the 4x200m relay team (1:58.94) added seconds for the girls. Summers was third in the long jump at 13-6 for the Lady B’s.
Third-placing Borderite boys included Newton (110m hurdles, 19.48; triple jump, 32-9), McGee (discus, 98-9.5), Lopez (100m, 12.29), Crews (300m hurdles, 46.93), Balmer (800m, 2:31.71), Kit Schumann (pole, 7-0), Zac Waters (javelin, 117-3), Zeb Waters (shot, 38-5) and Micah Vitaliz (long jump, 14-5),
Blaine competes next in the Pasco Invitational on April 14. .

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