WSU’s Lopatynski Advances To Jbt Rolloff

Perseverance paid dividends for Justin Lopatynski in the Junior Bowlers Tour stop at Silver Lanes last weekend.

Lopatynski, a student at Washington State, was the only one of the early leaders to survive the qualifying and move into the TV-style rolloff finals.

After qualifying second, he knocked off top qualifier Casey Fulks 205-162 for the title after dispatching Tarra Borden, who had won the first two playoff matches and finished third.

Brian Aylesworth was fourth and Hapi Yamato fifth. Borden had high game for the girls, a 235, with Cory Hultquist high for the boys with a 257.

Next JBT will be Feb. 23 at Sunset Lanes.

Registration is under way for the Alycia Stevens Memorial Swiss tournament, a three-person team event set for March 23 at Colonial Bowl.

The tournament, named for the former youth bowler who died in an auto accident, involves either three youth or two youth and one adult on a team. Team cost is $30.

Info: Patti Dudley, (509) 226-3776.

Baseball

Former Seattle Mariners pitcher Brian Holman will speak at Whitworth Community Presbyterian Church, 312 W. Hawthorne Road, on Sunday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m. Holman works for the missions organization Esperanza, which works mostly in the Dominican Republic. Info: 466-0305.

College scene

Two Whitworth College women and coach Jim Nendel are headed to Winter Park, Colo., for the Western Regional Collegiate Ski Championships, which run Tuesday through Thursday.

Alisun Knowles, a sophomore, and Olivia Mongellaz, a fifth-year exchange student from France, had 10th-place finishes in slalom competition at a series race on Mount Spokane in late January. They will race both the slalom and giant slalom in Winter Park.

Hydroplanes

The annual Tri-City Water Follies, featuring unlimited hydroplane racing, will be July 25-27 at Columbia Park in Kennewick.

An air show again will be part of the weekend.

Tickets will go on sale the first week of July. Info: (509) 547-2203.

Soccer

Spokane Valley Junior Soccer Association will conduct a referee’s clinic, Feb. 21-23 at East Valley High School.

Cost of the clinic is $20 and is open to those aged 13 and older, with a $10 discount for those over age 25.

All referees who took the Referee Test prior to 1996 must retake it.

Pre-registration by Feb. 20 is required. Call SVJSA at 922-7910 for info and to register.

Softball

Pacific Lutheran University, which includes catcher Sarah Johnston of Spokane (Gonzaga Prep), is ranked fourth in the preseason NAIA poll published in FastPitch World magazine.

The Lutes tied for fifth - their final ranking - in the national tournament last year.

Spokane Girls Fastpitch will conduct a pitching clinic for girls 14 and younger next Saturday from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at Centennial Middle School, 915 N. Ella Road.

Cost is $15. The clinic is limited to 30 pitchers, who must provide their own catcher. Info: Ron Bradstreet, (509) 926-4482; Chet Smith, (509) 276-6721.

The Spokane girls fastpitch teams that will tour Australia this summer will conduct another tryout session next Sunday at 5 p.m. in the Spokane Falls Community College gymnasium.

Teams of 13-14- and 15-16-year-olds will tour Australia from Aug. 6-18. Info: Ron Bradstreet, (509) 926-4482.

Track and field

Team Spokane will register youngsters ages 5-18 for the 1997 season and hold a parents information night Friday at 7 at Stevens Elementary School, 1717 E. Sinto.

Registration is $80 before May 19, $100 after that date. Info: Lauriea Blume, (509) 534-7339; (509) 483-6816; (509) 467-7834.

, DataTimes