Skaife, O’Neal among softball hall inductees

Two women from the heyday of modified fastpitch in Spokane are included in the Class of 2013 that will be inducted into the Inland Empire Softball Hall of Fame on July 13 at the Sons of Norway Hall, 6710 N. Country Homes Blvd., at 6 p.m.

Janet Skaife, an outfielder in her playing days and current softball coach at Community Colleges of Spokane, and Becki O’Neal, a pitcher, will be inducted along with three former men’s slowpitch players, outfielders George Quiggles of Spokane and John Pixler of Post Falls and Jim Parry, a first baseman. Quiggles also was an umpire, earning the Spokane association’s Rookie Umpire of the Year in 1976.

Margaret Abercrombie of Newport High School will become the 11th recipient of the Doug “Pops” Bender Scholarship Award. She plans to attend Washington State and play for the Cougars’ club softball team.

In addition, the IESHOF will inaugurate two awards – Team of the Decade and a special Spotlite award, honoring individuals for longtime support of the organization.

Inducted in the Team of the Decade category will be Rainier Beer men’s fastpitch, 1950s; and Eagle Electric men’s fastpitch and Spokane Diesel-Betrelson’s Carpet-Vaughn Realty men’s slowpitch, 1960s. Former men’s fastpitch players Bob Poffenroth and Hod Sanborn will be the first in the Spotlite circle.

Reservations will be taken through July 8. Cost of dinner is $20 for adults, $15 for those 12 and under. A no-host social will open the evening at 4.

Info: Doug Bender, 276-9833 or Dan Fry, 624-5842.

Administration

Bob Castle, the long-time radio voice of Whitworth sports, has joined the Pirates athletics department on a full-time basis as the assistant athletics director for development and sales.

 Castle, who has called Whitworth football and men’s and women’s basketball for 14 years, has spent more than 20 years working professionally in the radio industry in Spokane, both on the air and in programming. 

“Bob will continue to serve as the voice of our sports programs, but he will also be charged with leading our revenue generation through sponsorships, special events, and fundraising,” said Whitworth director of athletics Aaron Leetch.  “This is a new position and new frontier for our department and I cannot think of anyone better for this role.”

 

Basketball

Six North Idaho College women’s players, all sophomores, have signed national letters of intent to play at four-year colleges.

The Cardinals and schools they’ll attend: Mollie Kramer (Colton) and Angela Woods, both Central Washington; Danika Johnson, Hawaii Pacific; Hannah Love (West Valley), Carroll; Aimee Durbidge, St. Edwards; and Katie Buskey, Fairleigh Dickinson.  

College scene

Community Colleges of Spokane was awarded the inaugural Dr. Maury Ray Athletic Director’s Cup, named in honor of the school’s former longtime coach and athletic director, at the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges Hall of Fame banquet last week in Bellevue.

Current CCS athletic director Ken Burrus and women’s commissioner Irene Matlock, the school’s Hall of Fame former volleyball coach, accepted the award that recognizes the school with the most successful athletic program in the NWAACC.

Additionally, CCS collected four coach of the year awards – Scott Kramer, men’s golf; Jim Martinson, women’s soccer; Wally Heidenson, men’s tennis; and Sean McLachlan, men’s cross country.

And Wes Bailey, a freshman from Mead, was named the NWAACC Men’s Track and Field Athlete of the Year after earning the outstanding track athlete award at the conference meet, and freshman Jessica Mildes from Riverside was named the NWAACC Athlete of the Year in women’s cross country.

• Community Colleges of Spokane capped one of its most successful seasons in NWAACC golf, in which it won nine consecutive tournaments and 15 total dating to last season, by placing freshmen Evan Omelia and Cooper Wright (Moscow, Idaho) on the All-NWAACC first team and freshman Cole Lorenzo and sophomores Ben Vandenberg and Kurt Simmons on the second team.

• Collin Slaybaugh, Washington State’s junior catcher, was named to the 2013 Capital One Academic All-America Division I baseball team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America, with a 4.00 GPA. He graduated last month with a bachelor’s degree in movement studies.

• Katie Dick, Elise Jones, Erin Schuster (St. John) and Sarah Wu, members of the Washington State women’s crew, were named 2013 scholar-athletes by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association.

Dick, in her fifth season with the Cougars rowing program, graduated with a degree in philosophy with a 3.98 GPA; Jones a junior majoring in civil engineering, has a 3.92 GPA; Schuster, a sophomore, has a 3.94 GPA with an undeclared major; and Wu, a sophomore majoring in movement studies, has a 3.55 GPA.

• Hank Frame of University, a senior at Washington State, earned honorable mention on the Pac-12 All-Academic team in men’s golf. He was a second-team selection as a sophomore in 2011.

High school scene

Colton collected the school’s first Scholastic Cup, awarded by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association and Washington Army National Guard, for the 1B classification.

The Wildcats capped an impressive year with state championships in girls basketball and softball, and also earned two academic state championships.

The Scholastic Cup recognizes the top interscholastic programs in each of the six classifications for excellence in academics, sportsmanship and athletic performances throughout the school year.

Letters of intent

Community Colleges of Spokane women’s golf: Keara Rypien, North Central, second-team All-Greater Spokane League, State 3A qualifier; Victoria McCormick, Deer Park; and Isabella Seda, Glacier Peak (Snohomish, Wash.), State 3A qualifier.

Washington State track and field: Alissa Brooks-Johnson, Pe Ell, Wash., heptathlete, 2013 State 2B champion in 100m hurdles, 300m hurdles and triple jump and second in 200m; Jake Callaghan, Naches Valley, thrower, State 1A shot put champion; and Mianni Brown, Hayward, Calif., sprinter, state 400m champion.

Officials

Seven from area associtions worked Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association state-level tournaments.

Bruce Richartz of Colville Valley worked both the 1B baseball regionals and State 1B/2B softball tournament.

Others by sport:

Baseball – Kevin Wolfe, Colville Valley, State 1A/2A; Jeff Gates, Palouse, 3A regionals; Marc Taylor, Palouse, 1A regionals.

Softball – Joe Sperry, Palouse, State 1B/2B; Mike Czmowski, Palouse, State 2A.

Soccer – Saeed Askar, Inland Empire, State 3A/4A.