University, Lc Qualify For Playoffs At Indians’ Expense

Ryan Massey scored two goals and Jason Daniel made seven saves as University secured a spot in the Greater Spokane League’s District 8 boys soccer playoffs with a 5-3 victory over Shadle Park Wednesday night.

Lewis and Clark also squeaked into the playoffs when K.C. Johnson scored off a rebound for a 1-0 win over rival Ferris.

That left North Central out in the cold. The Indians dropped an overtime 5-4 heartbreaker to Mead, which won the title for the 13th time, the last 11 outright. Todd Dolan blasted a hard shot through the keeper with 30 seconds to play in OT.

The three-point wins gave U-Hi 15 points and LC 14, tied with Shadle Park, while NC finished with 13 for sixth place.

The top five teams make the playoffs. Gonzaga Prep, which beat Central Valley 4-0, finished second with 17 points. Mead, with 23 points, earned a bye into the district championship game, which determines the GSL seeds into the state playoffs.

The playoffs begin Wednesday with U-Hi and Shadle meeting in a rematch and LC taking on G-Prep. Both matches are at 4 p.m. at neutral sites.

At NC, the Indians took a 4-3 lead in the 72nd minute on Colin Turnbull’s third goal. Just 3 minutes later, Mark Lupton tied it with a header, sending the game to overtime.

Paul Johnson’s eighth goal in eight league matches and 17th goal of the season - a league high - in the 60th minute and Turnbull’s goal in the 63rd minute, rallied the Indians from two goals down.

The hat trick gave Turnbull nine goals in league play and 12 overall.

At U-Hi, the Titans’ Massey tied Turnbull for the league scoring title when he scored twice against Shadle. His penalty kick tied the match at 1. After Massey assisted on Nick Earling’s goal to put U-Hi up for good, he added a goal late in the half for a 3-1 lead.

Ryan Vane cut the deficit to one for the Highlanders early in the second half with his ninth goal, but Josh Melcher and Grant Falco gave the Titans a commanding lead.

At Ferris, Tom Servine made several spectacular saves for the Saxons, including two on breakaways. After he stopped a shot from his right, however, the ball bounced right to Johnson, who kicked the game-winner into a wide open net in the 31st minute.

At CV, four different players scored for G-Prep, which won its fifth straight match after starting league by playing three matches without a goal.

GSL baseball

U-Hi’s Nick Spunich outdueled Ferris’ Eric Sandberg at Seafirst Stadium to help the Titans to an 8-2 win over Ferris, allowing them to grab first place by a game over the Saxons.

Spunich struck out four and allowed one walk. Sandberg struck out four but walked five which led to scoring opportunities for the Titans (8-2).

U-Hi led Ferris (7-3) from start to finish.

In other contests, NC rallied to beat Mead 6-5, G-Prep edged Shadle Park 11-10 and CV beat Rogers 2-9.

At NC (3-8), the Indians scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to beat the Panthers (6-4). NC’s Andy Grigsby scored on a passed ball for the winning run.

The Indians’ Tony Johnson struck out eight for the win.

At G-Prep (7-4), Brendan McNallen drove in Paul Grief in the bottom of the seventh for the game-winning run against Shadle (7-4).

Shadle missed a golden opportunity in the top of the seventh when it left the bases loaded.

For G-Prep, Kevin O’Connell had two hits, drove in four runs and scored another in the win.

At CV (7-4), the Bears exploded for 10 runs in the fifth to sail past the Pirates (2-9).

The Bears, who have 33 hits in their last two games, had four players register at least two hits.

CV’s Brady Nelson was 2 for 3 and drove in five runs. His hits were two- and three-run homers.

Softball

In a Frontier League matchup for first place, West Valley (8-1) showed Colville (8-3) that it is still the team to beat.

WV’s Darcy Sohns rapped three hits, drove in one run and struck out nine to help the Eagles past the host Indians 6-1.

Colville’s Tarrah Brown struck out seven, but the Indians committed five errors which led to WV scores.

In the lone GSL game, Mead’s Katrina Morton stroked a bases-loaded triple that helped send the Panthers past NC 10-4.

Mead’s (9-1) Holly Vanwert struck out 12 and drove in three runs, and Kristin Fuller hit a triple to drive in two more.

The Panthers slapped 14 hits off pitchers Janessa Karstens and Shanelle Test of NC (7-4).

, DataTimes