Community Newspaper for Blaine, Birch Bay and Semiahmoo, Washington

Neil's Notes

Soccer blanked by Lakewood

SPORTS
By Neil Macdonald

Blaine makes baseball regionals
Blaine defeated Meridian 12-6 and Lynden Christian 5-1 on May 6 at Mt. Vernon in District I playoffs. The two wins put Blaine in the best-of-3 finals District title finals (starting May 8) and guaranteed the B’s a spot in 2A baseball regionals, starting May 18.
LC downed Blaine 6-3 on May 1 at Meridian High in Laurel to win a NCC tiebreaker for second place and get a bye in the first round of playoffs. Craig Anderson singled to left, stole second and scored on an error to open the scoring for the B’s. Back-to-back doubles by Anderson and Grant Sanders made it 2-0 for Blaine in the third.
LC came back to lead 6-2 going into the seventh, Blaine could only get one across in the final frame..

Borderites split in fastpitch
It was an up and down week for Blaine as the Lady B’s lost 2-1 to the Lady Tigers at Meridian on May 1 and beat Sultan 10-0 on May 3 at the Pipe in fastpitch action.
The Trojan turndown was the Lady B’s sixth loss in seven one-run decisions. Their triumph over the Turks brought the B’s totals to 118 runs for as opposed to 66 runs against, almost a 2-to-1 ratio.
Blaine combined six hits and three stolen bases to the Lady Turks’ contribution of 12 walks, five wild pitches, three passed balls, two hit batters and two errors in winning the mercy rule shortened tilt with the Turks.
The game featured three at-the-plate putouts. The most spectacular was a third-inning collision at the plate that saw Blaine backstop Kristina Francis effectively block off the plate, turning a would-be Turk run into an out. Francis was thrown out trying for home in the first inning herself and teammate Sirita Lawson was nailed at the plate in the second.
Krista Walter let up two hits to get the win, her ninth against seven losses. Walter struck out seven and walked no one, bringing her season totals to 85 strikeouts and 30 walks, a ratio of almost 3-to-1. Jynessa Trennepohl, a .487 hitter, went 2-for-3 for Blaine, getting two RBIs and a double.
Trennepohl went 3-for-3 with a double in the loss to Meridian. Down 2-1, Blaine loaded the bases in the seventh with no one out. Trojan pitcher Karla Johnson struck out the next two Blaine batters before Alicia Burk singled home the tying run, but Meridian nailed the potential go-ahead run at the plate to stifle any further Borderite offensive business. Meridian got the winning run in their side of the seventh.

Soccer blanked by Lakewood
Blaine boys soccer season ended on May 4 as the Cougars defeated the Borderites 2-0 on May 4 at Lakewood in the opening round of the NCC District 1 playoffs.
The Double B’s finished the 2002 season with a 9-8 record, an improvement over their 2001 season of 5-11.
The Borderites split their final two regular season matches, edging South Whidbey 2-1 on April 29 at the Pipe and being edged 2-1 by Lynden Christian at LC on May 1.
Borderite Alden Walcon opened the scoring in the SW game with a goal off a pass from Chris Crane at 28 minutes of the first half, but SW quickly retaliated and the half ended, 1-1. Yasuto Morinaka’s unassisted goal at 49 minutes won it for Blaine.
The Lyncs jumped into the lead at 37 minutes in the LC game. Crane tied the tilt at 52 minutes, converting a cross from Dustin Johnson into a goal. Chad DeHaan’s header off a free kick by Nick Ammons two minutes later won it for LC.

Neil's Notes
Coston 2nd in Guisti Memorial
Semiahmoo pro Jeff Coston finished second in the pro-am Century Guisti Memorial Championship at Riverside G&C Club in Portland, OR on April 28, 29, 30.
Coston shot 69-70 in the early rounds. Coston birdied three of the last four holes in round three to shoot 69, make up a four-shot deficit and tie Steve Bowen of Royal Oaks with a 54-hole total of 208. Coston lost the three-hole total cumulative playoff by a stroke when he bogeyed the third hole. Bowen earned $10,000; Coston, $6,000.

Double wins for Lopez, Riddle
Blaine split a dual NCC track meet with Lynden Christian on May 2 at LC, the boys winning 79-64 and the girls losing 73-54.
The Borderite boys won 11 of 17 events: Rhyan Lopez (100m, 11.3; javelin, 127’0), Cory Crews (200m, 23.99), Danny Le (300 LH, 44.86), Dan Marchio (800m, 2:10.4), Dan Balmer (1600m, 5:27.6), Nik McGee (shot, 52’3), Geoffrey Faulkner (long jump, 18’5.5) and Kit Schumann (pole, 10’0). The combo of Crews, Faulkner, Lopez and Zeth Simpson won the 4x100 relay in 45.49 and 4x400 relay in 3:43.7.
The Lady B’s won five running and four field events. Akilah Price took the 100m in 13.47; Grace Coulter, the 800m in 2:33.1 and Ainsley Nix , the 1600m in 5:48.2. The 4x100m relay team of Shelbie Cain, Candace Chambers, Amanda Johansen and Price captured the 400 in 54.32; and the 4x200m relay squad of Shela Robertson, Johansen, Price and Chambers, the 800 in 1:56.5.
Becky Riddle won the shot with a 38’3 toss and discus with a throw of 118’10; Shela Robertson, the high jump with a 4’6 leap; and Kimberly Harmening, the javelin with a distance of 85’8.

Armstrong Qualifies
Blaine’s Jeni Armstrong shot 127 at the NCC girls golf championships on April 29 at Homestead Golf and Country Club. She will represent Blaine in the District I finals at Homestead on May 9.

Goldsby third at NCC
Borderite Doug Goldsby shot an 80 to finish third, two strokes back of Mt. Baker’s low medalist Chris Aamot’s 78 at the NCC boys golf championships at Homestead on May 2. South Whidbey won the NCC team title with 116.5 Stableford points, Blaine finishing a close second with 115.
Kevin Farmer shot 87; Adam Dolan, 88; Matt Weins, 92 and C. J. Stauffer, 96 for the Borderites.

Jorgensen-Ward Win
Blaine’s Chris Jorgensen teamed with Matt Ward to shoot a combined gross score of 63 to win the Shuksan Best Ball tournament on April 28 at Shuksan Golf Club.