The spring sports season is here, and there are plenty of new faces coming to Blaine varsity sports, coaches and players included.
Baseball is headed into its second season helmed by skipper Hunter Anderson, and will look to replace the talents of nine departed seniors. The team has some serious bats this year, especially senior catcher Evan Yates who finished last season tied for the Northwest Conference (NWC) lead in doubles and triples.
Softball is now coached by Riley Miller, longtime assistant to – and daughter of – departed head coach Sean Miller. Blaine football head coach Andy Olson will take over assistant duties as the team reloads for another shot at a state championship berth.
This is part one of a two-part spring sports preview. Come back next week for previews of boys soccer, track and field, and golf.
Baseball
The Borderites had a solid campaign under first-year head coach Hunter Anderson, going 12-10, eventually losing in the district playoffs to Cedar Park Christian. This year, Blaine baseball is younger, hungrier and looking to build up the team’s culture after an encouraging year one.
The team lost nine seniors to graduation last season, including offensive leaders like first baseman Alejandro Moser-Hernandez and starting pitchers Kieran Markusen and Diego Gutierrez.
That means young players getting called up from the JV squad ready to make an impact, and upperclassmen with added responsibility to build a winning team, Anderson said.
“We are extremely young, which is truly exciting,” Anderson said. “It’s exciting because you get the unique opportunity to coach the same team twice, essentially. We’ll be losing two seniors [at the end of this year], but everybody else comes back. So building those practice habits and the culture is going to be a lot of fun.”
Likely returning upperclassmen include Yates, pitcher/third baseman Brady Dohner, pitcher/catcher Jace Neal, and pitcher/second baseman Kai Kerwin.
Anderson said catcher would be a position of strength for this year’s team, adding that Yates committed to play collegiate baseball at Wenatchee Valley Community College. Yates was a leader on offense last year, finishing the 2024 season ranked third in the NWC in slugging percentage (.556) and tied for the conference-lead with eight doubles and three triples.
“For any baseball team to be competitive, you have to have a good catcher, and we do, fortunately,” Anderson said of Yates. “He’s a really good leader, a good person, and he’s a stud behind the plate for us. So our catcher position will be a strength.”
But the Borderites will still need to replace one of its biggest strengths from last season, its pitching staff. Pitching was led by Markusen, who had the most conference innings pitched and finished second in earned run average (ERA), strikeouts and wins, along with Gutierrez, who finished tied for third in wins.
Some young pitchers stood out in limited relief roles last season, including sophomore Josh Cochran, who pitched some of his best innings as a freshman last year against tough opponents like Cedar Park Christian and Lynden Christian, Anderson said.
“Another strength we’ll have – he came on late last year – is Josh Cochran,” Anderson said. “As a freshman he pitched some high-quality games against some high-quality opponents … and did extremely well. So we’re looking forward to seeing what he does his sophomore year.”
Opening Day for the 2025 baseball season is set for 1 p.m. Saturday, March 15 at Pipeline Fields in Blaine, where the Borderites take on Coupeville. The Borderites then travel to Sultan High School for a double-header on Monday, March 17 with games at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Softball
Blaine softball is undergoing a coaching change this season, with former head coach Sean Miller stepping aside for his daughter and longtime assistant coach Riley Miller to take the reins. Blaine football head coach Andy Olson will take on assistant duties.
Miller coached last year’s graduating class of seniors since their days on the Blaine Middle School teams, and said this year will be a fresh start with some new and returning faces.
“It’s a big year for me because I lost my group that I’ve grown up with as a coach,” Miller said. “It’ll be different, but I’m excited to gain those same types of relationships with kids that I maybe didn’t connect with that same way over the past years.”
Blaine softball finished last year with a stellar 15-8 record, and though the team looked poised for a state playoff berth, the season was cut short in the span of one double-header with losses to Lynden Christian and Nooksack Valley in the district playoffs.
The 2024 team was led by senior ace pitcher Emersyn Bakker, who led the NWC in ERA and strikeouts before committing to play collegiate softball at Edmonds Community College.
This year’s team will have a core group of senior talent ready to show out, Miller said, shouting out juniors who had stellar 2024 seasons and are looking to lead the team.
“We’re going to be pretty young,” Miller said. “We won’t have a ton of varsity experience on the field. I’ll have four returning varsity starters, a freshman that’ll start on varsity and then some girls that have been on the bench for a few years. It won’t look like your stereotypical championship team, but they’ll run through a wall for you.”
Senior Shaylie Daniels moved positions this season from corner infielder/catcher to full-time catcher, shoring up one of the team’s most valuable positions. Daniels, a reigning All-NWC second-team selection, will look to lead the team on offense and at the backstop. She finished last season with 25 RBI, five doubles, a triple and three home runs, ending the season with an astounding .516/.610/.774 slash line.
Senior Brie Smith was another name mentioned by Miller as someone looking to make an impact.
“[Smith] has the most insane work ethic I’ve ever seen in a child, and I think she’ll be a good leader for us too,” Miller said.
All told, this team will surely look like a different on-field product than last year’s, but Miller said this team has a solid core that can create a winning culture that lasts.
“It’s definitely a big puzzle. I’ve never had so many utility players, so I probably have three girls that I know where they’re going to play and then the rest figure it out as we go,” Miller said. “But they have a lot of strengths, and their willingness to help each other and their want to get better is another strength that I don’t see in a lot of high school kids. That makes me excited.”
Blaine softball’s first pitch of the 2025 season will be a double-header against Sultan High School at noon on Saturday, March 15. The Borderites’ first home game of the season won’t be until 4:30 p.m. Thursday, March 27 against Oak Harbor at Pipeline Fields.
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