Spokane Team Wins National Softball Crown

It was the perfect ending to a perfect season.

Brymile of Spokane used a two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh inning to overcome CBS of New York 9-8 Monday in Miami to win the Amateur Softball Association Men’s Major Modified Pitch National Championship.

It’s the second national title in the classification for a Spokane team. Seven of the same players won it in 1987 as Western Truck Brokers.

“This one was so much sweeter,” said coach Fuzzy Buckenberger, also on that ‘87 team. “Everyone who was on that (‘87) team said the same thing.

“This was the toughest major modified tournament I’ve played in,” he added. “And we had to go over so many hurdles to get there.”

En route to a 7-0 record that included wins over the second-, third- and fourth-place teams, Brymile lost its cleanup hitter (Tim Rypien) to a broken elbow in the second game and three starters (Dave Rypien, Brad Harken and Don Santos) to pulled hamstring muscles in the title game.

Brymile (42-0), which had beaten perennial national power CBS 1-0 Monday morning in the winners’ bracket final, trailed 8-6.

Mark Simon, subbing for Harken, doubled to score Tim Peterson and Santos, aboard on singles, to tie the game. Santos was injured rounding second, but gamely lumbered home. Simon scored the winner on Jerry Buckenberger’s infield single when the CBS third baseman threw away the ball.

Brymile’s Mark Arland won the home-run title with six, was named the Most Valuable Player and made the second All-American team. Second baseman Dan Shafer, center fielder Mike Peterson and pitchers Dave Maxwell and Wade Liberty made the first team. Outfielder Tim Peterson made the third.

Soccer

Twentieth-ranked Washington State overcame a sluggish start to defeat Wisconsin-Milwaukee 2-0 in front of a record crowd of 4,532 in Madison, Wis., in the consolation final of the Wisconsin Invitational.

Nine-time defending NCAA champion North Carolina beat the host Badgers 3-1 to claim the title.

Freshman Amy Chippendale and junior Jody Payne scored second-half goals for the Cougars (1-0-1) in a span of 12 minutes, and freshman goalkeeper Jessica Glazer made eight saves en route to her first collegiate shutout.

Payne and junior defender Tari Beck were selected to the all-tournament team.

Millette DeSpain scored two goals within 6 minutes in the first 15 minutes to spark Portland State to a 3-0 victory over visiting Gonzaga University. PSU (2-0) outshot GU (0-2) 20-5.

Brian Mullen, a freshman from Spokane (Gonzaga Prep), made six saves to record his first collegiate shutout as his San Francisco Dons blanked Loyola-Maryland 3-0 to win the Umbro Classic in Baltimore.

Two freshmen from Spokane, Chad Zlateff (Gonzaga Prep) and Jim Morton (Mead), did the scoring as Seattle Pacific, ranked third in the NCAA Division II ranks, beat Westmont College 3-2 in Wheaton, Ill. Zlateff had two goals, Morton one.

Volleyball

Tzvetelina Yanchulova recorded 22 kills as Idaho held off New Mexico State 15-11, 15-13, 15-3 in Moscow for its 32nd straight home victory.

Jessica Moore and Beth Craig each added 10 kills for the 4-1 Vandals.

, DataTimes