Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Area roundup: Former Chiefs player Mitch Holmberg finalist for big WHL award

Mitch Holmberg, who just capped his Spokane Chiefs career with a franchise-record 147 career goals, is one of two finalists for Western Hockey League Player of the Year, the league announced Friday.

Holmberg is the Western Conference’s finalist for the award, which will be announced April 30 in Calgary, Alberta. Sam Reinhart of the Kootenay Ice is the Eastern Conference finalist.

Holmberg, who won the Bob Clarke Trophy as the league’s top scorer (118 points), is also a finalist for the Most Sportsmanlike Player.

Never drafted by an NHL team, Holmberg recently signed for an amateur tryout with the American Hockey League’s Oklahoma City Barons. Holmberg was signed earlier this week by the Bakersfield Condors of the East Coast Hockey League, for the purposes of being added to their playoff roster. The Barons are the Condors’ AHL affiliate.

Baseball

Taylor Jones (4-2) struck out eight in 6 1/3 innings and Gonzaga (14-23, 10-7 West Coast Conference) struck for eight runs in the second inning to defeat visiting Portland 8-2 for a doubleheader sweep at Patterson Complex.

Payden Cawley Lamb and Jimmy Sinatro went a combined 6 for 9 with five runs batted in the 8-4 opener.

Joey Harris’ double, Caleb Wood’s single and Sam Brown’s triple drove in two runs apiece during GU’s big inning in the second game.

The Zags have 11 consecutive wins over the Pilots (8-32, 2-15).

• Jeff Gold (9-0) scattered six hits and allowed two earned runs over seven innings as 10th-ranked Oregon (30-10, 9-5 Pac-12) knocked off Washington State 6-3 in the second game of a three-game series at Eugene, Ore.

Austin Grebeck’s three-run double capped a five-run fourth as the Ducks took a 5-1 lead. The Cougars (17-18, 7-7) cut the edge to 5-3 on Yale Rosen’s two-run double in the fifth.

Oregon won Thursday’s opener 11-1. WSU has lost five of its last seven games.

• Tyler Davis (8-1) allowed two runs in six innings and Erik Forgione singled in the go-ahead run in the seventh as Washington (27-7-1, 14-3 Pac-12) clinched its first series at Berkeley, Calif., in 10 years with a 6-2 win over California (15-19, 4-10).

The first-place Huskies hold a two-game lead over Oregon State. UW is ranked No. 6 by College Baseball News and No. 7 by Baseball America.

• Cory Mack and Taylor Isadore (1-2) combined on a 10-inning shutout as Whitworth (11-20, 8-12 Northwest Conference) ended Willamette’s 12-game NWC winning streak with a 2-0 victory in the first game of a doubleheader at Salem, Ore.

Matt Jepson pitched a complete game and struck out eight as the Bearcats (22-12, 14-5) won the second game 6-1.

Whitworth’s Joshua Davis and Tyler Pfeffer had RBI singles in the opener.

Softball

Peyton McMahon went 4 for 4 and Kayla Batastini had three RBIs, including a two-run double during a five-run first, as Whitworth (27-15) stayed alive at the Northwest Conference tournament in McMinnville, Ore., by eliminating Willamette 6-2.

The Pirates will play Pacific (25-11) today in another loser-out game. Top-seeded Linfield awaits that winner in the championship round.

Whitworth began the day with a 3-2 loss to Pacific.

The Pirates led 2-1 after Alyssa Hall’s RBI triple in the fifth. Rachel Roberts’ sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh gave the Boxers the win.

• Hooch Fagaly led off the bottom of the 10th with a homer as Washington (25-12, 5-8 Pac-12) defeated Arizona State 3-2 to earn a split at Husky Softball Stadium.

The Sun Devils (39-7, 13-4) won the opener 3-1 when Amber Freeman hit a two-run homer in the seventh and Haley Steele followed with a solo shot.

• Sarita Leon’s RBI triple highlighted a six-run fourth as Community Colleges of Spokane (19-11, 13-3 NWAACC) defeated Wenatchee Valley 8-3 to open a doubleheader at Spokane Falls CC.

The Knights (20-5, 13-3) remained tied with CCS for first place in the East Region by winning the second game 6-4.

Haylie Van Laethem earned the first-game win, striking out four and allowing two earned runs in a complete game.

• Hayley Fields had a two-run triple in the opener and a key two-run double during a four-run seventh in the second game as North Idaho (29-18, 24-14 Scenic West Athletic Conference) posted a 5-0, 8-6 sweep of Western Nevada (11-35, 8-29) at Carson City, Nev.

Miranda Powless, Brittany Hecker and Tori Almos combined for a two-hitter in the opener for the Cardinals, who have won eight of their last nine conference games.

Women’s basketball

Former Eastern Washington University assistant coach Cheryl Sorenson was named head coach at the University of Portland.

Sorenson replaces Jim Sollars, who retired after 28 years of coaching the Pilots.

Track and field

Washington State’s women’s 1,500 runners Ruby Roberts and Abby Regan posted impressive times at the 56th Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif.

Roberts, a senior, took third place in the Women’s Olympic Development Elite race with a lifetime-best time of 4 minutes, 18.57 seconds, the third-best time in school history.

Regan, a junior, ran the fourth-best time in school history (4:19.49) by winning the University/Open event in lifetime-best fashion.

Also at the meet, redshirt junior Willie Milam broke Gonzaga’s record in the 5,000 by finishing in 14:00.19.