The Borderites closed out its regular season schedule on April 29 with a decisive, 6-0 win on the road against Mt. Baker. The win came just days after Blaine celebrated Senior Night with a 5-0 win over Nooksack Valley on April 24. Heading into the 1A Northwest Conference playoffs, the Borderites look to be firing on all cylinders both defensively and offensively.
In the Borderites’ 6-0 win over Mt. Baker, senior midfielder Leonardo Blanco scored a pair of goals, and Blaine recorded its fifth clean sheet victory on the season. It was the second time this season Blaine defeated Mt. Baker by a score of 6-0.
Junior forward Blake Koreski scored twice in the 5-0 win over Nooksack Valley, with the Borderites – again – shutting out Nooksack Valley.
That win gave the Borderites 10 points in the 1A Northwest Conference (NWC) table, solidifying its third-place finish in the regular season, with Nooksack Valley and Mt. Baker at 4 points each, and Meridian and Lynden Christian atop the conference with 18 and 19 points, respectively. All told, the Borderites enter the postseason with a solid 8-5-2 overall record, with a 3-4-1 NWC record.
To finish the regular season, Blaine had a perfect 4-0-0 record against the bottom two teams in the conference (Mt. Baker and Nooksack Valley), and a subpar 0-3-1 record against the top two teams in the conference (Lynden Christian and Meridian).
The Borderites now head into the 1A NWC district tournament, a five-team playoff to crown the conference champion, sending the winner off to the 1A state championships in Renton.
Blaine is set to face Meridian in a No. 3 versus No. 2 seed matchup, with the winner likely facing Lynden Christian in the district championship game on May 11. It will be a tough path for a Borderite team that has struggled against those two teams all season.
But Blaine looks to be getting hot at the perfect time, coming off a pair of dominant wins after losing three in a row last week.
All four district tournament games will be held at Borderite Stadium, starting May 2 with bottom seeds Mt. Baker and Nooksack Valley playing for a chance to face Lynden Christian.
Blaine will face Meridian on Saturday, May 4 at 4:30 p.m., with the winner headed to the conference finals on Saturday, May 11 at 7 p.m.
Blaine girls tennis earned another team win on the season, defeating Sedro-Woolley at home on Monday, April 29 by a score of 4-3.
Sara Olinger-Stirrat defeated her opponent in three sets, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3; Ana Tuski won in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6.
In doubles, Blaine won two out of three matchups, with Sabrina Boczek and Tori Taengdaen winning in three sets, 6-7, 6-2, 6-3; and Carly Saunders and Bea Dickson also winning in three sets, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
It was the Borderites’ second team win on the season, and their second win in the past three events. On April 25, the Borderites fell to Ferndale at home, losing the team event 5-2, but with wins from Tori Taengdaen in her individual game – winning in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2 – and in doubles with Elle Reynolds and Ryleigh Clark winning in straight sets, 6-1, 7-5.
The Borderites now have just three more matchups before the end of the regular season, with two games on the road against Squalicum on Wednesday, May 1 at 4 p.m. (after press time), and Friday, May 3 at 4:30 p.m. against Sehome.
Blaine’s final home game will be against Anacortes on Monday, May 6 at 4 p.m.
Blaine track and field had a busy weekend, hosting a three-team event at Borderite Stadium on April 25, then traveling to Lakewood for the Sunny and 70 Invitational just days later on April 27.
Hosting Squalicum and Lakewood in a rainy, cold Borderite Stadium, Blaine’s sprinters had a solid performance across the board. Dylan Johnson and Jaiden Paez both ran personal-best, sub-12 second 100-meter races, finishing second and third, respectively. Johnson ran a 11.67 race, finishing just over .05 seconds behind the first-place Squalicum sprinter, and Paez ran 11.85.
In the girls’ 100-meter spring, three Blaine sprinters finished in the top-four, with freshman Cheyenne Parker earning first place with a PR of 13.06, and Kaitlyn Ritter Von-Trautmann (13.69) and Juliana Zuzarte (13.86) finishing third and fourth.
Parker also won the 400-meter race with a time of 1:04.58, with freshman Teia Dube finishing fourth with a PR of 1:09.27.
The boys 4x100-meter relay team finished third, with Justin Minjarez, Colby Shipp, Beckum Bleazard and Dylan Johnson combining for a 46.17-second finish, just under a second behind the first-place Squalicum team.
Blaine’s field team also had a great day, despite the downpour, with senior Tyler Bouma setting a PR in shot put with a 40’ 8 throw, placing him third on the day, and senior Deja Dube leading all girls in discus with a staggering 96’ 7 attempt, beating the second-place Squalicum finisher by over 12 feet.
Dube’s little sister, freshman Teia, also had a great day in the field, setting a PR in high jump at 4’ 10, earning her a first-place finish.
AJ Anthony-Bennett won the long jump category with a 19’ 6.75 jump, and Makenna Lausier won the girls pole vault category with a 7’ vault.
All told, the Borderites had a great day on their home turf, and will hope to bottle some of that confidence when the two-day District 1 1A Championships begin at Lynden Christian on Wednesday, May 8 and continue on Friday, May 10. The Borderites will face off against conference foes Lynden Christian, Meridian, Mt. Baker and Nooksack Valley for a chance at state qualification.
The Borderites started the week with a dominant 6-0 win over Burlington-Edison on the road on April 26. Sophomore Mesa Puls broke the scoreless tie in the third inning with a solo home run, and junior Shaylie Daniels added on with two hits on the night, including a grand slam to put the Borderites up for good. All told, Blaine tallied 10 hits, with junior Brie Smith leading the pack with three.
Blaine then came into its April 30 home game against Mt. Baker riding a six-game winning streak, but weren’t able to silence the Mountaineers’ offense, which got up to a 7-0 lead by the fourth inning.
An attempt at a comeback was made a few times, with the Borderites scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to just four, but senior Mt. Baker pitcher Ava Jeretzky was able to keep runners off the basepath and earn her league-leading 13th win.
The Borderites had moments of stringing hits together, with Teya Zaddack recording an RBI double and two runs scored and senior Millie Berkeley going 2-3 with a run scored.
But the offense never got that big inning, and Blaine lost just its fourth game on the season.
It was a battle between two of the best pitchers in the NWC, and one of them had to take the loss. Blaine ace Emersyn Bakker struck out 10 batters, but hit a few along the way and couldn’t keep the bases clean throughout the game.
Bakker still leads the league in strikeouts, but will look to get back in the win column when the Borderites travel to Meridian on Thursday, May 2 at 4 p.m.
The Borderites still hold the best record in 1A NWC, at 11-4 overall and 9-2 in the conference, and will host three of its last four regular season games at Pipeline Field before district playoffs begin.
The Borderites’ next home game is Saturday, May 4 at 12 p.m. against Mt. Vernon.
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