Local prep fastpitch softball standings grow more contentious by the day. Some baseball teams refused to lose while others suffered their first defeats. Track and field athletes continued posting new top times.
Western Washington University men’s golf claimed its second team title of the season, while the Vikings’ women’s rowers completed a dual meet against Seattle Pacific.
Don’t miss these highlights from Whatcom County’s prep and college sports teams over the past week.
Prep
Fastpitch softball
With more league games in the books, the top of the Northwest Conference fastpitch standings are becoming crowded.
Blaine is the only undefeated team (5-0, 4-0 NWC), though Lynden (6-2, 4-0 NWC) has not lost a conference contest. Both teams handily won each of their two games last week.
The Borderites surrendered just one run all week, beating Sehome, Bellingham and Granite Falls by a combined score of 50-1. Blaine has now trampled its opponents this season by an eye-popping 56-2 margin through five games.
Junior pitcher Emersyn Bakker has struck out 43 of 89 batters through 22 innings pitched this season for Blaine, allowing just 12 hits and one earned run. Senior second baseman Piper Nissen is 9-for-15 at the plate with seven RBIs and four runs scored.
Lynden outscored its opponents 50-11 last week, picking up wins over Bellingham, Oak Harbor and Ferndale. The Lions are also romping opponent after opponent with a 110-30 run advantage through eight games so far this season.
Squalicum has won four-straight games — all league contests — after beginning its season 0-3. The Storm beat Anacortes 4-0 on March 27 before routing Sehome 23-12 on March 28. Squalicum capped off the week with a 5-3 win over Lynden Christian on March 30.
Senior catcher Olivia Paoli led Squalicum at the plate in the March 30 win, finishing 2-for-4 with a double, a home run, two runs scored and two RBIs. Fellow senior Regan Andersen pitched a complete game, striking out 12 batters while allowing five hits and three earned runs.
Mount Baker and Meridian remain in the mix, each 3-1 in NWC games.
The Mountaineers shut out Sedro-Woolley 10-0 on March 27, beat Mount Vernon 4-2 on March 28 and capped off the week with a 6-4 loss to Oak Harbor on March 30.
Meridian lost 19-8 to Mount Vernon on March 27 before earning a bounce-back win over Anacortes, 11-0, on March 28. The Trojans went on to top Lakewood 5-2 on March 30.
Baseball
Ferndale is still red-hot, the clear favorite to win the NWC at this juncture in the season.
The Golden Eagles (8-0, 4-0 NWC) have cycled through six different pitchers this year, led by stalwart seniors Jake Mason and Dylan Strom, as well as junior Camden Raymond.
Strom has been perhaps the most impressive, striking out 21 of 55 batters faced in 15 innings pitched while allowing just two hits and no runs.
Ferndale earned wins over Lynden Christian and Sehome last week by a combined score of 24-3.
Lynden (6-2, 3-1 NWC) has won three in a row, besting Sehome 11-3 on March 28 and Anacortes 3-0 on March 30. Junior pitcher Lane Simonsen pitched a complete game shutout in the March 30 win, logging 13 strikeouts while allowing just three hits.
Meridian (6-1, 3-1 NWC) suffered its first loss of the season on the road at Bellingham, 8-3, on March 30.
Both teams notched seven hits, but the Bayhawks (5-3, 2-2 NWC) had eight batters walk and were able to get their runners home.
Bellingham was led offensively by junior first baseman/pitcher Jesse Harward, who finished 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs and two runs scored. Meridian sophomore Jaeger Fyfe was 2-for-3 with a run scored.
Track and field
Whatcom County track and field teams were spread across five different meets on March 29, but four local 1A schools met at Meridian High School on March 31.
Nooksack Valley, Blaine and Mount Baker competed at the Meridian-hosted Trojan Twilight Meet, in addition to Coupeville, Friday Harbor, Lummi Nation, Mount Vernon Christian and Oak Harbor.
Meridian captured both team titles, with the Trojans’ boys group posting a score of 140.5 and the girls a score of 185. Mount Baker’s boys (97) and girls (73) each finished tied for third.
Trojans junior sprinter Jase Klinkhammer swept the boys 100- and 200-meter dashes and currently holds the top 100-meter time in the state (11.00 seconds) for Class 1A, which he set on March 29. Fellow junior Dane Beishline finished first in the boys 110- and 300-meter hurdles, as expected given his No. 1 and No. 2 rankings in the state, respectively, in each event.
Meridian junior Braxton Ashmore also posted a top placement in the boys 3,200-meter run with his time of 10:46.23.
The Trojans’ girls team was led by first-place finishes from freshman Logan Ignacio in girls 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs. Junior Erica Stotts finished first in the girls 100-meter hurdles (18.39 seconds) while junior Morgan Adams posted a season-record mark of 29-05.50 in the girls triple jump, finishing first.
NV junior Cian Coppinger took the top spots in the boys shot put (44-09.50) and discus (137-07). His discus mark set a new personal record and slotted him fourth in the state at the 1A level. Junior Joey Brown also nabbed a first-place finish in the long jump with his mark of 19-10.50.
Pioneers senior Kate Desilets posted a time of 27.26 seconds in the girls 200-meter dash to finish first. Sophomore Kate Shintaffer finished first in the girls javelin, logging a mark of 101-11, while also capturing the top spot in the long jump with her mark of 15-05.50.
Mount Baker was led by first-place finishes from junior Natalie Horsmon in the girls pole vault (7-6.00) and the 300-meter hurdles (53.71 seconds).
Horsmon tied with Blaine sophomore Makenna Lausier in the pole vault. The Borderites picked up another first-place finish via junior Deja Dube’s 88-11 mark in the girls discus.
WWU
Men’s golf
Western men’s golf successfully defended its team title at the 16-team Hanny Stanislaus Invitational March 27–28 at the Turlock Golf and Country Club in Turlock, California.
The Vikings, who also won the tournament in 2022, were led by senior Jordan Lee’s 4-under-par 212 (70-72-70) and first-place finish — his second-career tournament victory.
Sophomore Conrad Brown posted an even-par 216, finishing tied for third in the 96-player field. The Vikings finished the three-round tournament with a 7-over-par 871 as a team.
The team title marked the second of the season for Western after also winning the WWU Invitational Sept. 26–27, 2022, at Bellingham Golf and Country Club.
Western will be back on the road to Rohnert Park, California, April 10–11 for the NCAA West Regional Spring Preview at the Foxtail Golf Club.
Women’s rowing
Western women’s rowing placed second in all six races of the head-to-head Falcon Regatta against Seattle Pacific University on April 1 on the Lake Washington Ship Canal, the Vikings’ second meet of the season.
Next up for Western is a trip to Lowell, Oregon, for the Covered Bridge Regatta at Dexter Lake. That will be one of just two meets remaining in the regular season for the Vikings before the GNAC Championships begin May 13.
Prep baseball, fastpitch softball standings — April 4
Baseball, Northwest Conference
| Baseball | League | Overall |
| Team | W-L | W-L |
| Mount Vernon | 5-0 | 5-2 |
| Ferndale | 4-1 | 8-1 |
| Meridian | 4-1 | 7-1 |
| Anacortes | 4-1 | 7-3 |
| Lynden | 3-2 | 6-3 |
| Oak Harbor | 3-2 | 6-3 |
| Squalicum | 3-2 | 5-3 |
| Burlington-Edison | 3-2 | 5-3 |
| Blaine | 2-3 | 5-3 |
| Bellingham | 2-3 | 5-4 |
| Lynden Christian | 2-3 | 3-5 |
| Sedro-Woolley | 1-4 | 3-6 |
| Lakewood | 1-4 | 3-6 |
| Nooksack Valley | 1-4 | 2-7 |
| Mount Baker | 1-4 | 1-7 |
| Sehome | 1-6 | 1-7 |
Fastpitch softball, Northwest Conference
| Fastpitch softball | League | Overall |
| Team | W-L | W-L |
| Lynden | 4-0 | 6-2 |
| Blaine | 4-0 | 5-0 |
| Squalicum | 4-0 | 4-3 |
| Meridian | 3-1 | 6-1 |
| Mount Baker | 3-1 | 3-3 |
| Sedro-Woolley | 3-2 | 6-2 |
| Nooksack Valley | 3-2 | 4-2 |
| Burlington-Edison | 2-0 | 4-3 |
| Oak Harbor | 2-2 | 4-5 |
| Lakewood | 2-2 | 2-5 |
| Lynden Christian | 1-3 | 2-5 |
| Mount Vernon | 1-3 | 1-6 |
| Bellingham | 0-3 | 0-7 |
| Anacortes | 0-4 | 2-5 |
| Ferndale | 0-4 | 1-7 |
| Sehome | 0-5 | 1-7 |
*Standings were updated on April 4 at 10:41 a.m. to reflect the outcome of the April 3 games.
