Baseball Coaches Honoring Weitz, Coe

Two of the area’s longtime former coaches will be inducted into the Washington State High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Oct. 30 in Seattle.

Pete Weitz of Lewis and Clark and Gary Coe from Springdale are two-thirds of the Class of 1999.

The third inductee is Ron Martin from Meadowdale of Edmonds.

Weitz coached at LC from 1961-96, guiding the varsity the first 11 years before taking over the B squad.

The Tigers’ baseball facility at Hart Field is named Weitz Field in his honor.

Coe, who started at Mary Walker in 1977 and is the current principal at the Springdale school, coached the Chargers to 12 Panorama League titles in 16 years. He earned six consecutive state tournament appearances and two district titles and was a three-time Panorama League coach of the year. He’s also been a longtime organizer and coach in various youth baseball leagues.

The induction dinner, at the Sea-Tac Doubletree, is open to the public. Cost is $25. Speakers include Gonzaga University coach Steve Hertz and former Seattle Mariners pitcher Bill Krueger.

For information or reservations, contact association president Scott Knight at (360) 387-1146.

Bowling

Momentum carried Eric Morasch to victory in the Junior Bowlers Tour stop at Silver Lanes on Oct. 10.

Morasch came out of qualifying in 14th, and last place, but won all four of his matches to pull into second place going into the five-man, TV-style roll-offs.

After knocking off Jason Conrow, who had qualified third, Morasch took on top qualifier Cory Hultquist and breezed to a 225-150 victory.

Conrow finished third, Andy Applonie fourth and Adam Allen fifth.

High games were rolled by Adam Utt (265) and Becky Smith (226).

Next JBT is Nov. 7 at Colonal Bowl.

College scene

Ryan Wittstruck of Spokane (Gonzaga Prep), a sophomore keeper for the University of Puget Sound men’s soccer team, used Whitworth to put his name in the school record book again.

Wittstruck, who had a season-record 10 shutouts last year as a redshirt freshman, registered No. 6 this season in a 1-0, double-overtime win over the Pirates last weekend. The 16 shutouts are a school career record.

Wittstruck, who also had a shutout win over Whitman, was named co-player of the week by the Northwest Conference and was the school’s male athlete of the week. He has a 9-1 record and 0.64 goals-against average in 11 games this season.

Paul Mortlock of Spokane (Northwest Christian) is a junior forward on the Dordt College men’s soccer team in Sioux Center, Iowa.

For the second straight week, Monica Abrahamson of Spokane (Rogers), a sophomore at Seattle Pacfic, was named PacWest Conference player of the week in volleyball. She had 11 kills, 12 digs and three blocks in a loss to BYU-Hawaii.

Georgio Usai’s second straight 100-yard-plus game, for 133 yards and two touchdowns in a 45-0 football win over Simon Fraser, earned the junior from Central Valley the Western Washington University male athlete of the week award.

Usai has 454 yards in five games, averaging 5.3 per carry. He’s scored five touchdowns and caught 14 passes for 85 yards.

Six Spokane-area runners are among the 11 who travel with the University of Washington men’s cross country team.

They are senior Paul Harkins, junior Dave and sophomore Dan Schruth, all from Ferris; junior Jason Fayant and sophomore Morgan Thompson from Mead; and freshman John Russell from Freeman.

Harkins was the team’s No. 3 runner with a 25th-place finish when the Huskies placed third last weekend in the Stanford Invitational.

Zac Ham of Spokane, a three-year letterman, is back for his senior season with the Bowling Green State University hockey team.

“Ham is one of the strongest defensive forwards in the league,” said Falcons coach Buddy Powers.

Football

Visa U.S.A. is searching for 31 outstanding fans - one for each NFL team - to honor in the Visa Hall of Fans exhibit at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Each fan will receive a two-day trip to Canton, Ohio, for a special ceremony in January 2000.

Hopefuls are asked to enter by sending a photograph and one-page essay why they should be selected to Visa Hall of Fans Search, P.O. Box 8039, Grand Rapids, Minn., 55745-8039.

For complete rules, log on to www.visa.com/nfl.

Softball

Thom Sutton, a 28-year veteran, received the Spokane Softball Umpires Association’s coveted Bruce Campbell Award for longevity, dedication and service at the group’s awards banquet last weekend.

Outgoing president Randy Harnasch’s Presidential Pride Award went to wheelchair-bound Bill McGough.

Yearly honors went to: John Isles, umpire of the year at the adult level; Paul Clary, umpire of the yearyouth; Kevin Koslowski, most improved-adult; Rob Hough, most improved-youth; Rick Kline, rookie of the year-adult; and Robert Schloss, rookie of the year-youth.

Wrestling

The Washington State Wrestling Coaches Association will induct three into its Hall of Fame on Saturday, including longtime former Mead coach Cash Stone. Others are Ed Arima of Sumner and Rick Iversen of Marysville-Pilchuck as the WSWCA shrine grows to 71.

Stone was inducted into the Inland Northwest Sports Hall of Fame this past Wednesday.

The ceremony will be at Pacific Lutheran University. Tickets are available on a presale basis only. Deadline is today. For more information, contact White River athletic director Jim Meyerhoff at jmeyerho@whiteriver.wednet.edu.

Perennial national contender North Idaho College kicks off its season with its annual intrasquad match Oct. 27 at Gonzaga Prep at 6:30 p.m.

NIC finished second at the national tournament a year ago.

ColumnistJohn Blanchette. ReportersSteve Bergum, Chris Derrick, Hilary Kraus, Greg Lee, Janie McCauley, Jim Meehan, Carter Strickland, Dave Trimmer, Mike Vlahovich, Dan Weaver. Stats deskKory Boatman, Brandon Loucks. ContributorsFenton Roskelley, Chuck Stewart, Jeff Finke, Paul Delaney.