Whitworth Will Add Softball

Whitworth College will add women’s softball as a varsity sport during the 1997-98 school year, according to Scott McQuilkin, the school’s director of athletics.

McQuilkin said Gary Blake, who coaches Whitworth’s club team, will coach the varsity team when it plays its first full schedule as an official member of the Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges.

Whitworth’s decision to elevate softball will bring the number of NCIC schools playing the sport at a varsity level to nine. It will increase the number of women’s sports sponsored by the school to eight.

“Certainly, this helps us come into line with gender equity issues,” Blake said. “But also, we will be the only four-year college within 150 miles to have a softball program. And we have an awful lot of local athletes with few local options beyond their sophomore year in college.”

Whitworth, which has sponsored softball as a club sport since 1995, will play its final season at that level this spring.

Lineman commits to EWU

Adam Chambers, a 6-foot-3, 245-pound lineman from Sumner, has made an oral commitment to accept a football scholarship from Eastern Washington University next fall, according to a statement released by Sumner High School.

Chambers, a three-year starter and senior captain, was an All-South Puget Sound League first-team selection as both an offensive and defensive lineman last season. He will play for the West squad in the annual East/West All-Star Football Game June 27th in Spokane.

, DataTimes