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Weather hiccups fail to slow down hot teams

Top teams emerge amid week of rainouts, start of league schedules

Nooksack Valley’s Lainey Kimball slides into home plate ahead of the throw March 23 as the Pioneers held a 5-0 lead in the third inning against Lynden Christian before the game rained out.
Nooksack Valley’s Lainey Kimball slides into home plate ahead of the throw March 23 as the Pioneers held a 5-0 lead in the third inning against Lynden Christian before the game rained out. (Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)
By Connor J. Benintendi Sports Editor

Rainouts forced some schedule reshuffling. Prep baseball and softball teams began their league schedules. Boys soccer teams continued to separate the good from the elite.

Western Washington University women’s rowing competed in its second regatta of the season while the women’s golfers played in Colorado.

Don’t miss these highlights from Whatcom County’s prep and college sports teams over the past week.

Prep

Baseball

Local baseball teams saw fewer weather-related cancellations than softball teams this past weekend, and the week as a whole included some riveting matchups.

Ferndale (6-0, 2-0 NWC) and Meridian (5-0, 2-0 NWC) are off to blistering fast starts, refusing to lose in the early portion of the season.

Blaine is a close third at 3-1 overall and 1-1 in league games, and the Borderites played a game for the ages against Ferndale on March 21. The two teams combined for 22 hits in a 23-15 Golden Eagles win.

Senior second baseman Jake Mason led Ferndale at the plate, finishing 4-for-5 with a home run, two doubles, a single, five runs scored and seven RBI. Blaine was led offensively by junior infielder/pitcher Mason Akre who finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored, a double, three singles and four RBI.

The Borderites led 15-8 after four innings before the Golden Eagles rattled off 15 runs over the next two frames, shutting out Blaine for the remainder of the game. 

Ferndale earned wins over Lynden and Lynnwood last week as well while Blaine went on to beat Sehome 4-0 on March 25.


Meridian defeated Squalicum 10-6 on March 21 before routing Lakewood 22-9 on March 23. The Trojans are outscoring their opponents by an average of 7.8 runs per game so far this season.

Lynden won its in-city rivalry game with Lynden Christian 10-2 on March 21, led by a strong performance from catcher Kobe Baar. The senior finished 3-for-4 at the plate, adding a double, three RBI and two stolen bases. 

Mount Baker is the lone Whatcom County team without a win at 0-5, while Nooksack Valley (1-5) and LC (1-4) have also struggled.

Fastpitch softball

photo  Nooksack Valley pitcher Kestyn Wagter winds up for a pitch against Lynden Christian. (Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)  

Meridian and Nooksack Valley continued to stake their claim as two of the top teams in the Northwest Conference this week, each remaining undefeated into the early league schedule.

Blaine finally kicked off its season this week, going 2-0 in the Borderites’ delayed start.

It was a slower week as four games were postponed or canceled due to unplayable weather and field conditions.

NV earned a 20-4 win over Bellingham on March 21 before having a 5-0 third-inning lead over Lynden Christian erased by the ensuing torrential downpour on March 23. That game has been rescheduled for 4:30 p.m. Monday, March 27.

Meridian doused Sehome in runs on March 21, routing the Mariners 16-1 to move to 4-0 overall on the season and 1-0 in league games. 

Trojans sophomore pitcher Katie Prengaman continued her stout start to the season in the circle, pitching a complete game while striking out three and allowing just one hit and one unearned run. Prengaman also led the team offensively, finishing 3-for-3 at the plate with a home run, three runs scored and five RBI.

Blaine began its season on March 21 with a 3-0 win over Oak Harbor. The Borderites followed that up with a 3-1 victory over Sedro-Woolley on March 23, led by junior pitcher Emersyn Bakker’s complete game in the circle. 

Bakker allowed eight hits but gave up just one earned run while striking out 13. Senior outfielder Alyssa Bacon belted a two-run home run, making up one of Blaine’s two hits on the day.

Lynden fell 3-1 to Fife on March 24 before steamrolling Highline 16-3 on March 25. The Lions racked up 12 hits and four home runs in the game, including a grand slam from freshman second baseman Campbell DeJong in the fourth inning.

Mount Baker nabbed its first win of the season with an 18-1 victory over Anacortes while Sehome beat Bellingham 16-3 on March 25. LC (0-2) and Bellingham (0-5) are the final two Whatcom County teams without a win so far this season.

Boys soccer

Squalicum and Sehome continue to lead the way both in Whatcom County and across the NWC as a whole.

The Storm (3-0-3, 0-0-1 NWC) remain without a loss after defeating Bellingham 2-0 on March 26, while the Mariners (4-0-1, 1-0-0 NWC) have outscored their opponents 15-2 so far this season.

In Class 1A, Blaine and Meridian are off to solid starts. The Borderites defeated Sedro-Woolley 2-0 on March 24 to move to 2-1-1 overall on the campaign, while the Trojans have continued to punch up. Meridian tied with Lynden 2-2 on March 21 before beating Granite Falls 5-0 on March 23. 

WWU

Women’s golf

photo  Western Washington University junior Claire Moon looks on after a shot during the WWU Invitational on Oct. 10, 2022. (Photo courtesy of WWU Athletics)  

Western women’s golf attended the two-day, 36-hole Pack Classic tournament on March 19–20 at Walking Stick Golf Course in Pueblo, Colorado, finishing 10th out of 15 teams.

The Vikings were led by junior Claire Moon who tied for 22nd with four other players out of 78 total golfers. Moon finished with a 9-over-par 153 (74-79) while fellow junior Dani Bailey tied for 40th with a 13-over-par 157 (78-79). 

Western has one more tournament remaining on its regular season schedule, as the Vikings will be in Santa Rosa, California, for the Sonoma State Intercollegiate from April 3–4.

Women’s rowing

The Vikings’ women’s rowing team competed in its second regatta of the season on March 25 at the Husky Open on Montlake Cut in Seattle.

Western’s Varsity 8+ entry placed fourth out of five teams with a time of 7:16.834 on the 2,000-meter course. The Vikings’ Varsity 4+ entry finished fourth out of four teams with their time of 8:30.892. 

Next up for Western is a trip to the Falcon Regatta, hosted by Seattle Pacific University, at the Lake Washington Ship Canal in Seattle on April 1 for the third of the team’s five-regatta regular season schedule.

Prep baseball, fastpitch softball standings — March 28

Baseball, Northwest Conference

Baseball League Overall
Team W-L W-L
Ferndale 2-0 6-0
Meridian 2-0 5-0
Anacortes 2-0 5-2
Burlington-Edison 2-0 4-1
Mount Vernon 2-0 3-2
Squalicum 2-1 4-2
Lynden 1-1 4-2
Oak Harbor 1-1 4-2
Blaine 1-1 3-1
Sehome 1-1 1-2
Lakewood 1-2 3-4
Bellingham 0-2 3-3
Sedro-Woolley 0-2 2-4
Lynden Christian 0-2 1-4
Nooksack Valley 0-2 1-5
Mount Baker 0-2 0-5

Fastpitch softball, Northwest Conference

Fastpitch softball League Overall
Team W-L W-L
Blaine 3-0 3-0
Lynden 2-0 4-2
Mount Baker 2-0 2-2
Squalicum 2-0 2-3
Nooksack Valley 2-1 2-1
Burlington-Edison 1-0 2-3
Meridian 1-1 4-1
Oak Harbor 1-1 3-2
Lynden Christian 1-1 1-2
Mount Vernon 1-1 1-3
Lakewood 1-1 1-4
Sedro-Woolley 1-2 4-2
Anacortes 0-2 2-3
Ferndale 0-2 1-4
Bellingham 0-2 0-6
Sehome 0-4 1-6

*Standings were updated on March 28 at 11:50 a.m. to reflect the outcome of the March 27 games.

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