Steve Bergum

Computerized tee times are coming soon to a course near you. But before Spokane-area golfers get their keyboards in an uproar, city and county officials want to stress that the personal touch offered by local golf professionals and their staffs will not become a victim of the technological revolution. Spokane County golf manager Mike Kingsley said he hopes to have a computerized tee-time reservations program up and running at the three county-owned courses - Liberty Lake, MeadowWood and Hangman Valley - within four to six weeks. And city golf manager Mike Stone said the city has also checked into the possibility of initiating automated reservation systems at Indian Canyon, Downriver, The Creek at Qualchan and Esmeralda. Kingsley said the county looked at several such automated programs that have been developed and marketed worldwide.

The Spokane-Coeur d'Alene area has built a rich, well-publicized and well-deserved reputation as a mecca for golfers in search of challenging, fair and affordable public courses. Less publicized is the fact that local golfers seeking a more exclusive approach to the game can also find outstanding values in country club memberships. The area's three private country clubs - Manito, Spokane and Hayden Lake - offer members golf, swimming and social trappings at a fraction of what it costs on the west side of the state, where buy-ins at the most exclusive clubs can approach - eveb exceed - six figures.

Golf is now Ken Easley's favorite pastime. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

Although openings still exist for this year's event, tournament director Ellen McNair can't hide her excitement over the future of the Ken Easley Celebrity Classic tournament, which starts its three-day, three-course run Friday at Indian Canyon. "It's been difficult this year because of the changes we've made," McNair said, "but looking ahead to next year, it looks like we're going to be able to start attracting the best of the best celebrity golfers." McNair's optimism is based, in part, on a pair of phone calls she received from former major league baseball stars Vida Blue and Reggie Jackson. Both, according to McNair, expressed interest in playing in next year's tournament.

A softball Connell, playing like a team that has been there and done that before, defended its State AA-A slowpitch softball title Saturday afternoon at Franklin Park by drilling Lynden Christian 11-0 in a title-game mismatch. The Eagles, who finished 22-1, supported the three-hit pitching of junior Alesha Booker with a 17-hit attack that produced five third-inning runs and three more scores in each of the fifth and sixth innings.

B Softball Kalama, making only its second trip to the State B slowpitch softball tournament, scored all of its runs in the final two innings Saturday at Franklin Park and shocked previously unbeaten Cascade Christian 12-8 to win the 1996 title. The Chinooks (23-1) pounded out 19 hits and benefited from six Cougars errors, although they still couldn't score in the first five innings. They sent 13 batters to the plate in sixth, however, and scored eight runs to tie the game. The Central League champions then added four more in the top of the seventh to hand the Sea-Tac League champions their only loss in 21 games.

A/B girls golf Tricia Einspar had already tried the runner-up thing - twice, in fact. Neither time did it approach the thrill she experienced as a champion. So the Columbia (Burbank) senior answered a brief challenge to her final-round lead with a pair of late scrambling pars and went on to win her second individual State A-B girls golf title Tuesday afternoon at Liberty Lake Golf Course.

A/B boys golf Ryan Whitaker shook off the frustration of a double-bogey on the opening hole at MeadowWood Golf Course Tuesday morning and put together a couple of unlikely comebacks to win his second consecutive State A-B boys golf title. The junior from Cle Elum, who entered Tuesday's final round trailing Blaine's A.J. Moul by five strokes, battled strong winds early and a brief rain shower late to post a final-round 72.

1. Rex Prescott battles Woodward Stadium's slippery conditions, as well as aptly named defensive back Jimmy Lake (21), during Saturday's scrimmage. Aaron Wood, center, assists Lake. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review 2. EWU's Jeff Pilkington tries to bring down Joe Sewell. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

Three weeks of spring football practice has done little to ease Mike Kramer's most pressing concerns - the inconsistency of his kicking game and the lack of depth in his defensive secondary. The third-year Eastern Washington coach admitted as much Saturday morning after putting his Eagles through a 90-minute scrimmage at Woodward Stadium. "The areas we were concerned most about coming into the spring have not yet come to fruition," Kramer stated bluntly, after watching placekicker Scott Atwood struggle mightily, along with several back-up defensive backs, who were beaten for four long touchdown passes.

College baseball Term papers or baseball? For Washington State's Jim Horner, the answer was a no-brainer. "Any time you can play baseball instead of do school work, you opt for that," the senior third baseman said Tuesday, just moments after crashing a pair of home runs and driving in five runs to fuel the Cougars' 18-10 rout of Gonzaga. With Finals Week starting next Monday, Horner is staring at a Thursday deadline for a term paper. So are most of his teammates, and several - at the urging of coach Steve Farrington - decided to forgo Tuesday's road trip to GU to concentrate on their studies.

Call it "The Spring of Emotional Healing." And be sure to tune in next fall to see exactly how far Washington State's football team has carried the process since last year's disappointing 3-8 season that ended with six consecutive losses and the exodus of several key, and disgruntled, players. Saturday, the Cougars capped an immensely important four weeks of spring practice with a 2-hour, game-like scrimmage in Martin Stadium. And from all indications, the healing is close to complete.

Steve Aggers likes what he sees in latest recruiting class. File/The Spokesman-Review

With each sudden burst past a startled defensive lineman, each helmet-to-helmet collision with a linebacker and each unbridled shout of triumph after dancing away from a free safety's tackle, Eastern Washington's Joe Sewell made it clear Wednesday that he plans to make his final spring practice something special. It is, after all, 15 days of college football no one could have expected the senior running back to experience - not with the NCAA being as stingy as it is about granting a sixth year of eligibility. But last January, the governing body of college athletics ruled favorably on Eastern's request to restore one of the two seasons Sewell missed because of serious knee injuries.

The rebuilding of a once-proud defensive tradition will be the main theme of spring football drills at Eastern Washington University when the Eagles open practice this afternoon at 3. "We have to rediscover a defensive identity and establish our confidence," third-year coach Mike Kramer said prior to the start of spring practice, which will conclude May 11 at 2 p.m. with the annual Red-White Game. Defense was the cornerstone of EWU football in the glory days of the early 1990s. But in the past couple of seasons, the Eagles have had trouble stopping nearly everyone. Last year's team won its first two games but lost eight of its last nine and finished 3-8 overall and 1-7 in the Big Sky Conference. The Eagles gave up an average of 59.3 points in their final three games. "We need improvement in our defensive line," Kramer admitted. "In the year's we've been good in the '90s, our defensive line has been very, very dominant." It certainly wasn't last season, but there is reason for optimism this fall. All four starters on the defensive front - Chris Scott, Avont Grant, Steve Mattson and Damion Caldwell - return. That quartet will be among 35 returning letterwinners and 18 starters eligible to compete in spring drills. Several of those returnees, including junior quarterback Brian Sherrick, will be held out of contact drills to rehabilitate injuries, however. Among those expected to participate is senior running back Joe Sewell, who was granted an additional year of eligibility after having the better parts of two seasons wiped out by knee injuries. Sewell, a 5-foot-9, 195-pounder, led EWU in rushing last fall with 1,025 yard and 11 touchdowns on 206 carries. The Eagles are scheduled to practice at 3 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays the next four weeks, with Saturday scrimmages set April 20, April 27 and May 4 at 11 a.m.

College baseball/softball Two of the earliest words of advice any prospective pitcher receives are "Throw strikes!" Ryan Post has undoubtedly heard that brief message hundreds of times from coaches, teammates and critical fans.

Washington State's Jim Horner watches Chris Magruder's decisive home run sail over the right-field fence in the seventh inning of Washington's Pac-10 North baseball victory. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Rod Taylor isn't sure what to make of the timing of today's 4 p.m. non-conference baseball game against host Gonzaga University. On one hand, the Whitworth coach welcomes the instant - and much needed - motivation that usually accompanies the challenge of stepping up to play a Division I school.

College baseball An extended road swing into the Valley of the Sun late last month didn't brighten the fortunes of Community Colleges of Spokane. In fact, Sasquatch coach Hal DeBerry is convinced that many of his team's problems - which included an eight-game losing streak that ended Friday - can be traced back to the Arizona desert, where CCS played six games in as many days.

Washington State coach Steve Farrington leads Cougars into compacted Pacific-10 North schedule. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

The contrast of moods in the locker rooms Wednesday night was of a magnitude that only the seventh game of a playoff series can create. On one end of the hallway in the lower level of the Arena, the Spokane Chiefs - in various stages of undress - were jumping into each other's arms, hugging, laughing and shouting above the deafening blare of rock music from a nearby boom box.

Washington State University athletic director Rick Dickson said Thursday night he puts no credence in a report that men's basketball coach Kevin Eastman is a candidate to replace Jeff Mullins at North Carolina-Charlotte. The Charlotte Observer was planning to publish a story this morning listing Eastman's name among those who have surfaced as potential successors to Mullins, who announced his retirement last month after 11 seasons as 49ers head coach.

Washington State's Kevin Eastman said late Thursday night that he has neither contacted North Carolina-Charlotte officials nor heard from them about the possibility of taking over the 49ers' vacant men's basketball coaching position. Eastman, responding to reports that the Charlotte Observer was planning to publish a story this morning listing him as a potential candidate to replace Jeff Mullins, said he was surprised to hear he was being linked to the job search. Mullins announced his retirement last month after 11 seasons.

Mikki Moore (32) and Nebraska go up against the Cougars tonight in Lincoln, Neb. File/Associated Press