Whitworth splits at La Verne
Jessie LaPlante yielded 10 hits and a walk over nine innings, but Whitworth’s junior pitcher got out of trouble almost as often as she got into it to give the Pirates a chance to pull out a 6-4, nine-inning softball win at La Verne, Calif.
It enabled the Pirates (12-3) to split a non-league doubleheader Monday. La Verne (13-13) won the second game 4-1.
Heather Case, the second-game losing pitcher, drove in a first-game run and scored a run in each game. Halley Cey also drove in a first-game run for Whitworth.
College baseball
Whitworth couldn’t take advantage of Chad Flett’s strong seven-plus innings of pitching and dropped a 2-1 Northwest Conference decision to Willamette in Salem, Ore.
Flett scattered eight hits and one walk, striking out four, in 71/3 innings. He yielded both Willamette (10-11, 4-7 NWC) runs on infield hits in the fourth inning.
Van Lierman doubled in Scott Ward, who had singled, with Whitworth’s (7-14, 5-7) run in the eighth inning.
•Gonzaga’s Jeremy Stumetz and Darin Holcomb are the West Coast Conference players of the week.
Stumetz earned pitching honors for a four-hit, 12-0 complete-game win over Washington in his first career start. It snapped a nine-game UW winning streak. Holcomb was named player of the week after going 9 for 21 (.429) with four home runs, nine runs scored and 10 RBIs during the week.
It’s Stumetz’ first career honor, Holcomb’s second
High school baseball
Andy Vennum struck out three of the six batters he faced to secure a 4-1 win for West Valley over visting Clarkston in the opener of a Great Northern League doubleheader.
Brian Peterson had a run-scoring triple in the third inning for the Eagles. Trent Line pitched a three-hitter and struck out 11 in absorbing the loss for Clarkston.
The Bantams struck for five runs in the sixth inning to close out a 9-1 win in the second game and earn a split of the league-opening twin bill.
In another GNL opener, Medical Lake swept Riverside, winning 8-6 and 6-5.
Taylor McMahon had a lead-off home run in the bottom of the first for Riverside in the opener and was 2 for 3 with a double in the second game.
Tyler Owens was 3 for 4 with two doubles, one that drove in the winning in the sixth inning of the second game for Medical Lake.