The spring sports season continues on, with boys soccer defeating a Northwest Conference rival on Senior Night, softball battling its way up the conference standings, and baseball riding a six game winning streak.
Blaine boys soccer celebrated Senior Night on April 17 in the best possible fashion, with a resounding 3-0 win over Mt. Baker, with all three goals scored by seniors.
Isaiah Zuch opened up the scoring with a goal in the first half, giving the Borderites a lead heading into halftime against a struggling Mt. Baker (0-11) team that sits at the bottom of the Northwest Conference standings.
Logan Villarreal and Christian Sanchez joined the senior scoring party in the second half to cement the lead and give Blaine (2-10, 2-9 NWC) its second win of the season.
The Borderites then travelled south to face Burlington-Edison (5-3-3) on April 19 for a lopsided, 7-0 loss that the team will likely want to quickly forget.
Blaine had a chance to get back in the win column with a home game against a good Mt. Vernon (7-2-2) team on April 22, but weren’t able to generate much offense and fell 1-0.
Blaine’s defense stayed stout for all but about one minute of regulation, when a Mt. Vernon forward weaved through the back line for a point-blank goal halfway through the first half. The Borderites couldn’t find a chance to counter, and dropped its tenth loss on the season.
As of April 20, Dima Yuryev leads the Borderites with four goals scored this season, ranking the junior midfielder among the top-15 goal scorers in the conference. Zuch is behind Yuryev for the team lead with three goals, while Sanchez and junior defender Wade Lottimer each have two. Lottimer nearly brought his goal total to three against Mt. Vernon with a header attempt that just cleared the crossbar.
With four games left on the season, the Borderites will host just one more regular season home game on Saturday, April 26 at 1 p.m. Blaine will travel to face Anacortes on Thursday, April 24 at 7 p.m.
Stats provided by WhatcomPreps.com
Blaine softball had a tough homestand last week, losing 5-2 to Nooksack Valley on April 17, then losing 18-3 against Sedro-Woolley on April 19, but corrected course on April 22 with an 11-5 blowout win on the road over Meridian.
The Borderites have been working hard to keep their record above .500, and currently sit in the middle of the NWC pack with a 3-5 NWC record, just below fellow 1A school Mt. Baker and 3A Ferndale.
The Borderites couldn’t seem to get a handle of their pitching and defense in the two home losses, allowing 14 hits against Nooksack Valley, then committing six errors in the field against the NWC-leading Sedro-Woolley team.
While the bats were contained – despite Mesa Puls’ second home run of the season against Sedro-Woolley – over the weekend, the Borderites finally broke through on offense against Meridian.
Blaine tallied 14 hits on offense, led by Shaylie Daniels who went 4-5 with two doubles and three RBI. Maddi Musto and Courtney Roff each had three hits, with Roff scoring three times.
While last year Blaine softball seemed to rely on dominant pitching performances to get wins, this year’s team seems more offensively-inclined, winning games with final lines that can look more like football scores.
As of April 20, Puls and Daniels lead the conference in batting average (.615 for Puls, .609 for Daniels), are top-three in on-base percentage, and Puls is in the top-10 in triples and home runs.
The Borderites will look to use the win against Meridian as momentum for the final two weeks of the regular season.
Blaine is looking ahead to a tough schedule, with games against NWC third-place Lynden on the road Thursday, April 24 at 4 p.m., then against a high-scoring Mt. Baker team at Pipeline Field on Saturday, April 26 at noon.
The Borderites will then travel to play Burlington-Edison, one of the top 2A teams in the conference, on April 29 at 4 p.m.
Stats provided by WhatcomPreps.com
Blaine baseball is the hottest team in the Northwest Conference with a six game winning streak after resounding wins over Squalicum, Bellingham and Lakewood in the past week.
Since the April 9 win over Nooksack Valley, the Borderites (9-5, 5-5 NWC) have rocketed up the conference standings, taking its conference record from 0-5 to 5-5 in just six games. The Borderites are now the second-highest seeded 1A team, just behind Lynden Christian with a 7-3 league record.
The Borderites scored six or more runs in each of its three wins the past week, outscoring opponents by a combined score of 26-2.
Blaine will host Oak Harbor at home on Wednesday, April 23 at 4:30 p.m. (after press time), then travel to face Sehome on Friday, April 25 at 4:45 p.m.
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