BY MAKAYLA SPARKS – For Whatcom Preps
ANACORTES – Less than a week after the last game concluded in the baseball state tournament, 18 Whatcom County seniors suited up and took to the field again. The Northwest Regional Feeder All-Star Games were hosted at Daniels Field in Anacortes and consisted of two back-to-back eight-inning games. The American roster featured Blaine’s Kieran Markusen and Alejandro Moser-Hernadez, Ferndale’s Camden Raymond, Lynden’s Lane Simonsen, Kael Stapleton, River Langstraat, Cooper Moore, and Austin Tolsma, Meridian’s Jacob Amundson and Silas Berschauer, and Nooksack Valley’s Kasey Newton and Eduardo Cedra. On the National roster were Blaine’s Mason Akre, Meridian’s Ian Forbes and Tyson Timmer, Mount Baker’s Braven Nason, and Lynden Christian’s Brody Bouwman and Jonah Terpstra.
During the first game, the National team had Forbes catching for five innings, Terpstra playing third base for two innings, and Nason on the mound for two innings while Timmer was out in left field for all eight innings. The American team received three innings of pitching from Markusen, two innings of pitching from Stapleton, two innings at second base from Amundson, and three innings in the center from Stapleton while Simonsen, Moore, Newton, and Langstraat spent all eight innings at third, shortstop, left field, and designated hitter, respectively.
The American team was out early after putting the first run on the board in the third inning. In the top of the fourth, Simonsen doubled to put himself in position to score the second run of the game. Two non-Whatcom county National players doubled to score the first run for their team in the bottom of the fifth. Forbes followed the score with a single to advance his teammate and an error would score him a few seconds later. Forbes then scored on a single from another teammate to take a one-run lead for the National team. Another run scored on a triple and single in the seventh, gave the Nationals a 4-2 advantage.
Langstraat got things going for the American team in the eighth by drawing a walk. Markusen followed this with a double, which advanced Langstraat to third. Langstraat was brought home on a sacrifice fly by Newton. Moore then doubled, sending Markusen home and tying the game 4-4. Two passed balls later, Moore scored to take a 5-4 American lead. A combination of two singles and a passed ball in the bottom of the eighth allowed the National team to tie the game. The game would conclude an even 5-5 as the decision was made to not go into extra innings.
By the time the second game started at nearly 8 pm, the players weren’t as focused on the competition and more on enjoying their last high school baseball game. The initial offensive and defensive lineups weren’t being followed as outfielders started playing infield positions and infielders took to the outfield. Some small roster changes were also made between games with Terpstra leaving the National team in the third base dugout to join the American team in the first base dugout. Multiple Whatcom county players put up hits in the second game but a seven-run inning by the National team sealed a 15-2 victory in their favor. But when the game concluded, no one was paying attention to the score and instead the emphasis was on celebrating the players.
