Area roundup: Whitworth softball wins NWC championship over PLU

Madi Perez pitched seven strong innings and contributed an RBI and Whitworth secured its first Northwest Conference tournament title, edging Pacific Lutheran 3-2 on Sunday. The tournament was hosted by Whitworth.

Whitworth earned a trip to the 2017 NCAA Division III National Tournament. Pairings will be announced on May 8.

PLU entered the championship round with a loss and forced the title game by beating Whitworth in an early game 13-2.

Perez (23-4) bounced back from a rough start in the first game by limiting the Lutes to six hits over seven innings, tossing her 19th complete game of the season. She struck out two and didn’t walk a batter. Rheanne Lewis had an RBI single in the second inning and plated a run with a sacrifice fly in a two-run fourth. Michelle Silva went 2 for 3 and scored twice.

In the early game, PLU hitters busted out for 15 hits against three different pitchers in a 13-2 win to force the title game. Anna Overland went 2 for 4 with four RBIs and Jessica Wallace went 2 for 3 with two RBIs.

CC Spokane 11, Olympic 1: Hannah Anderson tossed a three-hitter and the Sasquatch (14-14) topped the Rangers (11-20) at Northwest Athletic Conference crossover in Richland.

In Spokane’s first game of the crossover, CCS knocked off Blue Mountain 7-5.

North Idaho 11, Wenatchee Valley 10: Kennedy Anderson went 2 for 4 with a homer to help the Cardinals (24-8) top the Knights (20-10) at NWAC crossover.

North Idaho trails Wenatchee Valley by three games in the East Region regular season standings.

Kayla Curtan and Nikki Miller added homers while Natalie Schwab drove in three.

In their early game at the crossover, the Cardinals fell to Treasure Valley 19-12.

Baseball

Washington 7, Washington State 1: Joe DeMers allowed one run on three hits with a career-high nine strikeouts over eight innings and the visiting Huskies (22-16, 9-7) salvaged the finale of a three-game Pac-12 series with the Cougars (18-19, 4-11).

Washington rallied for four runs in the sixth to break it open. Nick Kahle walked with the bases loaded to force in a run, another came in on a sacrifice fly and two runs came in on a single and throwing error.

Dillon Plew went 3 for 4 with his second home run of the season for WSU, raising his season average to .314.

Gonzaga 3 Portland 2: Jake Roberts scored on a throwing error on an attempted pickoff play and the Bulldogs (24-14, 14-4) beat the Pilots (8-30-1, 4-14) in the finals of a three-game West Coast Conference series in Portland.

Roberts singled to lead off the eighth, went to second on a sacrifice and scored on the bad throw.

Sam Hellinger earned the win (4-2) with three innings of scoreless relief.

Men’s golf

Sam Stiles shot 4-under 68 in the second and final round and finished at 3-over 147 for place second place and Whitworth edged Pacific Lutheran by one stroke to take the team title at the Northwest Conference tournament at Tacoma Country and Golf Club in Lakewood, Washington.

Pirates golfers trimmed 18 strokes off their first round score for a 296 on the second day to overtake PLU. Willamette finished third, three strokes back.

Whitworth’s Keegan Loo and Elijah Pittser shot identical 9-over pars (78-75-153) and tied for eighth.

PLU’s Mitchell Baldridge took the individual title.

Women’s golf

Big Sky tournament: Sophie Hausmann fired an 3-under 69 in the third and final round to jump from 11th into a second-place tie at 5-over 221 with teammate Clara Moyano at the Big Sky Championship at Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nevada.

Hausmann shot an 81 in the first round, but the 2016 champ took 10 strokes off in her middle round, then closed with the low round of the day to move up the leaderboard. Moyano finished with a 76 after rounds of 75 and 70.

Idaho tied Sacramento State for the team title at 36-over 900, and the Hornets won in a playoff.

Sofia Anokhina of Northern Arizona took the individual title at 2-over 218.

Eastern Washington’s highest finisher was Madalyn Ardueser in 10th at 13-over 229. Eastern placed seventh in the 12-team tournament.

NWC tournament: Maggie Peters tied for 11th place and Whitworth placed fourth at the Northwest Conference tournament at Tacoma Country and Golf Club in Lakewood, Washington.

Peters shot 78-81-159, 15-over par to pace the Pirates. Teammate Michal Schuster finished one stroke behind Peters in 13th.

George Fox won the tournament by 33 strokes and had the top five finishers on the board, led by title winner Rachel Drgaston, who shot 78-71-149.

Track and field

Washington State fell in a dual meet to Washington in Seattle, with the men losing 84-79 and the women downed by the No. 12 Huskies 96-66.

WSU’s Ja’Maun Charles won the 100- and 200-meter dash, while Sam Brixey, Abu Kamara and Nick Johnson swept the 110-meter hurdles.

The Cougar women swept the high jump, with Kiana Davis taking the top spot. Regyn Gaffney cruised to a win in the 100-meter dash, Devon Bortfeld won the steeplechase and Atina Kamasi won the javelin with the fourth-best throw in WSU history.