All but one prep baseball team has concluded its regular season, with district tournament seedings nearly final. Fastpitch softball and boys soccer teams enter the final push for postseason positioning.
Prep boys golf and girls tennis teams continued their routine matches with more than a week left in each regular season schedule.
Don’t miss these highlights from Whatcom County’s prep sports teams over the past week.
Prep
Baseball
Blaine pitcher Diego Gutierrez watches his pitch April 1 during a 14-4 win over Granite Falls. (Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)
The regular season has essentially concluded, with only Blaine set to play one more non-league game on Monday, May 1.
District tournament brackets have been largely set, and Lynden, Ferndale and Blaine lead Whatcom County into their respective placements.
Lynden (16-5, 13-2 NWC) beat Squalicum, Lakewood and Oak Harbor last week, positioning itself as the No. 2 seed in the upcoming 2A District 1 tournament that begins with play-ins Wednesday, May 3. Anacortes has clinched the top seed in the bracket.
Ferndale, playing in a larger 3A District 1 field, will be the No. 6 seed despite its 17-3 overall (12-3 NWC) record in the regular season. The Golden Eagles had quite a week, beating Meridian, Squalicum, Lakewood and Burlington-Edison all since April 24.
Mount Vernon (16-4, 13-2 NWC) pulled the No. 3 seed and will be Ferndale’s first district test on Saturday, May 6.
Blaine beat Lakewood, Oak Harbor and Bellingham last week, leading the Borderites to a regular season-ending duel with Overlake.
The Borderites (13-5, 10-5 NWC) will be the top seed from District 1 heading into the tournament and they will face King’s (8-8, 6-6 Emerald Sound Conference) on Saturday, May 6.
Meridian (12-8, 8-7 NWC) beat Sehome 4-1 on April 27 but lost to Anacortes and Ferndale in its other two games last week. The Trojans are still positioned as the No. 2 seed from District 1, pitting them against South Whidbey (9-9, 7-6 ESC) in the tournament’s opening round.
Fastpitch softball
Nothing is set for local fastpitch teams, as the regular season will not conclude until Friday, May 12.
Blaine (11-1, 10-1 NWC) and Mount Baker (11-4, 8-2 NWC) lead Whatcom County’s 1A schools, and the two will meet on Tuesday, May 2. The Borderites suffered their first loss of the season on April 28 in a 4-2 loss to Burlington-Edison.
Mount Baker beat Nooksack Valley 31-8 on the same day, capping off a two-win week for the Mountaineers.
Lynden (10-6, 7-4 NWC) and Squalicum (7-8, 6-5 NWC) will be the top two local 2A teams heading into districts, but Burlington-Edison and Sedro-Woolley — with each having 10 or more wins — will be difficult to get past.
Lynden Christian has won three in a row, moving the Lyncs (8-8, 6-5 NWC) into the third 1A District 1 spot behind Blaine and Mount Baker. Meridian (9-5, 5-5 NWC) has suffered the opposite, losing four of its last six games.
Boys golf
Lynden’s Jack Stapleton chips from a deep bunker April 28 as Lynden and Lynden Christian faced off in the Cat Fight Tournament at Homestead Farms Golf Course in Lynden. (Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)
Lynden and Lynden Christian met on April 28 for the annual Cat Fight boys golf tournament at Homestead Farms Golf Course, and the Lyncs won the match play event 4-2 for the second-straight year.
Logan Medcalf took the win for Lynden over Griffin Dykstra in a battle of each school’s top golfers.
It was all LC from there, as the Lyncs’ Thomas DenHartog beat Lynden’s Cody Price, and Cody Craig (LC) bested Brandon Chomick (Lynden). Two ties added a point for each team.
Lynden Christian’s Griffin Dykstra watches his shot after hitting out from under a tree against Lynden. (Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)
One day prior, on April 27, Lynden, LC, Meridian, Nooksack Valley, Sehome and Squalicum met at a Ferndale-hosted tournament at Loomis Trail Golf.
Sehome’s Wes Bothel won the event by two strokes with his score of 66, edging league leader Baylor Larrabee of Ferndale (68).
Meridian’s Daniel Blankenburg finished third with a 70, and LC’s Tommy Meyer finished fourth with a 76. Rounding out the top-5 was Lynden’s Logan Medcalf (77).
Boys soccer
There are just two days remaining in the soccer regular season, and the three Bellingham-area schools are once again atop the local ranks.
Squalicum (11-0-3, 7-0-1 NWC) beat Sehome and Sedro-Woolley last week, entering its final two games as one of just two undefeated teams in the league. The Storm will face off with Bellingham (9-4-0, 8-1-0 NWC) on Monday.
The Bayhawks have won five consecutive games entering that contest, and the result could significantly affect each team’s final RPI ranking.
Sehome (8-3-2, 5-3-1 NWC) has been up and down all season, and the Mariners will close out their season against undefeated Mount Vernon on Tuesday, May 2.
The 2A District 1 tournament should be a good one with Lynden (7-4-3, 5-3-1) also in the mix. The Lions lost to Bellingham 1-0 on April 25 but beat Anacortes 2-0 on April 27.
Blaine (8-2-2, 6-1-0 NWC) seems to have clinched the top 1A District 1 seed over Meridian (10-3-3, 6-2-0 NWC), though it has not been officially set. Lynden Christian (5-6-2, 3-3-1 NWC) would be the current No. 3 seed.
Girls tennis
Bellingham and Lynden continue to dominate the girls tennis ranks, with each sitting at 11 match wins entering the final eight days of the regular season.
Squalicum is a close third, with all three teams winning 70% of courts or more this season, according to Whatcompreps.com.
Bellingham swept Burlington-Edison, 7-0, on April 27, wrapping up a three-win week for the Bayhawks. Lynden downed Anacortes 6-1 the same day, while Squalicum edged Oak Harbor 4-3.
Girls tennis district tournaments will begin Thursday, May 11.
Prep baseball, fastpitch softball standings — May 2
Baseball, Northwest Conference
| Baseball | League | Overall |
| Team | W-L | W-L |
| Anacortes | 13-2 | 16-4 |
| Lynden | 13-2 | 16-5 |
| Mount Vernon | 13-2 | 16-4 |
| Ferndale | 12-3 | 17-3 |
| Blaine | 10-5 | 13-6 |
| Burlington-Edison | 9-6 | 11-8 |
| Meridian | 8-7 | 12-8 |
| Oak Harbor | 8-7 | 11-8 |
| Lynden Christian | 7-8 | 8-11 |
| Squalicum | 6-9 | 8-10 |
| Sedro-Woolley | 6-9 | 8-11 |
| Bellingham | 4-11 | 7-12 |
| Sehome | 4-11 | 4-14 |
| Nooksack Valley | 3-12 | 4-15 |
| Lakewood | 2-13 | 4-15 |
| Mount Baker | 2-13 | 2-16 |
Fastpitch softball, Northwest Conference
| Fastpitch softball | League | Overall |
| Team | W-L | W-L |
| Blaine | 10-1 | 11-1 |
| Sedro-Woolley | 9-2 | 13-3 |
| Burlington-Edison | 8-2 | 10-5 |
| Mount Baker | 8-2 | 11-4 |
| Lynden | 8-4 | 11-6 |
| Mount Vernon | 7-5 | 7-9 |
| Oak Harbor | 6-5 | 8-8 |
| Lynden Christian | 6-5 | 8-8 |
| Squalicum | 6-5 | 7-8 |
| Lakewood | 6-5 | 6-8 |
| Meridian | 5-5 | 9-5 |
| Ferndale | 4-8 | 6-11 |
| Nooksack Valley | 3-8 | 6-10 |
| Anacortes | 2-10 | 4-11 |
| Sehome | 1-11 | 2-13 |
| Bellingham | 0-11 | 0-16 |
*Standings were updated on May 2 at 10:38 a.m. to reflect the outcome of the May 1 games.
