Longtime Ccs Coach, Johnson, Retiring

Bill Johnson, whose name became synonymous with baseball excellence at Community Colleges of Spokane, is retiring after 30 years at the school.

Johnson, hired to coach baseball at Spokane Falls in 1968, compiled a 217-173 record in 11 seasons as head coach.

In addition to coaching baseball, he has been an assistant coach in basketball and softball as well as teaching physical education classes for 30 years.

He was an assistant, along with Keith Snyder, under head coach Janet Skaife as CCS won the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges softball championship this spring.

Johnson, a football and baseball all-star at Richland High School in the mid-1950s, earned All-Pacific Coast Conference honors as a shortstop in baseball at the University of Idaho. He followed that with one year in professional baseball for the Tri-City Braves before becoming a coach (three league championships in baseball, two in football) at Connell High School.

He has also traveled extensively as a coach of all-star baseball teams and from 1980-86 was a scout for the Chicago Cubs.

Baseball

Sandpoint High four-time state wrestling champion Jared Lawrence will throw the ceremonial first pitch before the Seattle Mariners’ game with Oakland on Saturday in the Kingdome.

Lawrence is headed to the University of Minnesota on a scholarship.

The Major League Scouting Bureau will conduct an open tryout camp Friday beginning at 9 a.m. at LaPierre Field in Kennewick.

Players ages 16-23 are invited and should provide their own equipment and transportation. American Legion players must bring written permission from their coach or post commander.

Carl Moesche, from the MLSB, and Kamiakin High School coach Rex Easley will conduct the camp.

Info: Moesche, (503) 669-0280.

Basketball

Michael Baumgartner, a Pullman High School graduate, was the second leading scorer for Ecole Superior de Commerce during the just-completed season in Chambery, France.

Baumgartner, a Washington State student studying abroad this year, averaged 16.4 points for the team that finished third in the Rhone-Alpes Division of the Grandes Ecoles Cup de France. He is currently playing for Club Cognin Basketball, which picked him up after his previous season ended.

Registration is under way for Seafirst Jammin’ Hoop Camp, which will make its ninth annual Spokane appearance July 17-19 at Mead High School.

The camp is free and open to youngsters ages 7-17, but pre-registration is required. Registration forms are available at Seafirst Bank branches throughout the area. Last year, more than 1,400 participated in the Spokane camp.

Former NBA star Bill Walton is co-director. Pro players from the NBA, ABL and WNBA are slated to participate. Campers receive instruction in basketball skills and life skills.

Info: (503) 284-4581.

College scene

Junior Marci Meddock of Spokane (Mead and Spokane Falls CC) has received her first letter as a member of the Central Washington softball team. She hit .297 and was an all-conference outfielder for the Wildcats.

Freshman Stephanie Goeden of Spokane (University High School) helped Jacksonville State University of Alabama place fifth nationally at the NCAA Rifle Championships.

Hockey

Jill Leonetti and Candice Denigan of Spokane have been selected to play in the Vancouver Hockey Superseries, an all-star tournament beginning the first week in July.

Leonetti, a junior goalkeeper from Shadle Park, will play for the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia All-Star team. The American players, ages 16-19, will represent Washington and Oregan.

Denigan, a student at Lakeside High, will play for the B.C. Interior All-Stars.

Leonetti and Denigan both played in the Spokane midget boys division and were members of the Northwest Wildcats. Leonetti carried a 2.05 goals-against average. Denigan led the team in goals.

Soccer

The sixth annual Northwest Cup Soccer Tournament for boys and girls U-11 through U-19 teams will be Aug. 28-30 at Mountain View Junior High in the Spokane Valley.

Registration forms are available by contacting Mary Ann Sleeth at 448-2714 or the Spokane Soccer Club at 448-2345. Deadline is July 10.

Softball

University High’s Katy Oglesbee has signed a letter-of-intent with North Idaho College. Oglesbee is a power-hitting first baseman.

NIC previously signed Coeur d’Alene’s Katelynn Tatum, Minico’s Makenzie Fleming, Canadian Paula Paterson and Krista Clements, from Centennial High near Boise.

Track and field

Jaime Miller of University High School is one of nine high school seniors who have signed letters of intent to attend Washington State.

Miller, a state placer in cross country and track, will be joined on the women’s team by Whitney Evans, a heptathlete from Calgary, Alberta; Ellannee Richardson, a hurdler and long jumper from Gladstone, Ore.; Randi Smith, an intermediate hurdler and 400-meter runner from Beverly Hills, Calif.; and April Gagner, a distance runner from Yelm, Wash.

Men’s signees are Russ Milam, a javelin thrower from Bozeman, Mont.; Oscar Franco-Parra, a distance runner from Beaverton, Ore.; Jeff Keays, a decathlete and hurdles specialist from Smith Falls, Ontario; and Steven Dwyer, a hurdler and high jumper from Redmond, Wash.

Wrestling

Spokane native Brad Swartz, inspired by a near-miss 20 years ago, will represent the United States in the world championships next month in France after winning a 35-and-over national title on Friday at Waterloo, Iowa.

Swartz, who lives in Auburn, Wash., wrestled for Rogers High School when he lost the State AAA championship at 148 pounds by one point in the final minute, recalled is former coach, Ken Pello.

Swartz went on to win two Pacific-10 Conference championships at 152 pounds for Oregon State, but Pello said, “he never got over that loss.”

With that as inspiration, Pello said Swartz this year started working out three times a day and entered every tournament he could find that had a senior division. “He won every tournament; he never lost a match,” Pello said.

“He called me after he won (Saturday) and said what really excited him was he beat all the guys from Iowa (a wrestling hotbed) and California,” Pello said.

Josh Morton of Spokane (Mead), a regional champion and junior college All-American at North Idaho College, has signed a letter of intent to wrestle at Southern Oregon University. Morton, a former Washington prep AAA champion, will follow two other former NIC wrestlers - Matt Paulson and Matt Armstrong - to SOU. He’s expected to wrestle at 157 pounds.

North Idaho College has signed three wrestlers from Woorster High in Reno, Nev.

They are: Scott Rasmussen, a four-time state champion, who won at 130 pounds last season; Matt Nightengale, a two-time champ, who won at 157 last year; and Derek Koaveney, who won at 125 pounds last year.