Powered by Mikayla Johnson’s three-run home run in a six-run fifth inning, Blaine girls’ softball came from behind to win 6–4 at Meridian on March 23.
It was the Borderites’ first win of the season and head coach Sean Miller’s first opportunity to use a confetti gun he’d been saving for a special occasion. Miller told Johnson years ago that someday he would shoot confetti at her after she hit a home run. He kept his word and blasted Johnson as she rounded third base.
“I left the house without the cap gun on Saturday. I texted my wife and I said you’ve got to bring me that gun, something is going to happen today,” Miller said. “She’s a tremendous hitter. I just felt like she was due for a home run.”
Johnson’s batting average as of March 24 was .643, the third best in the league. Johnson has also been pitching for the Borderites, but on Saturday Maeva Thompson threw all seven innings and struck out five.
Despite giving up three runs in the second and third innings, Thompson “never really wavered,” Miller said. The Borderites tried a lot of pitchers through the first four games of the season, but it seems they’ve settled on Johnson and Thompson as the top two.
Blaine’s big six-run fifth inning started off with Alexa Gutierrez hitting a double into right field. From there, aggressive base running aided by singles from Thompson, Belen Guzman and Ryleigh Pitcher brought in three runs.
With the score tied at three, Johnson smashed the ball over the left field fence to drive in three runs and bring out the confetti.
Guzman went 3 for 4 at bat with an RBI and Johnson went 2 for 3, with a single in addition to her homerun.
On March 26 at Lynden, the Borderites lost the lead in the first inning and couldn’t recover, losing 17–0. Taelyr Dickinson got Blaine’s lone hit, a single in the fourth inning.
Miller is measuring success this season by improvement and player development rather than wins. In that regard, beating Meridian was a milestone. Meridian had a 4–2 overall record going into the game and beat Blaine 10–4 on March 19.
“We just kind of watched ourselves progress and get a little better and now I think they’re starting to buy in and believe,” Miller said after the win at Meridian. “I think that’s going to be the turning point for us. Whether we win or lose going forward, our season is definitely going to start moving in the right direction.”
The Borderites play next at 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 28 at Concrete High School. Blaine’s next home game starts at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, March 29 against Ferndale.
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