Bogey Wakes Up Witte

A winter on the practice tee is paying dividends for Bill Witte.

The Lewis and Clark senior won a chip-off against Ferris rival Corey Prugh on Monday to claim second place in the Inland Empire Classic golf tournament at Indian Canyon.

“During the winter, I made some big changes in my swing,” said Witte.

“It’s just starting to come together.

“I think I’m peaking at the right time.”

The prestigious IE Classic is a precursor to state-qualifying district and regional play. District is Wednesday at Wandermere, regionals Monday at Liberty Lake.

Brock Mackenzie, a senior at Eisenhower in Yakima, claimed medalist honors in the IE Classic with a 5-under-par 67.

Witte and Prugh both shot 70s. Four others were at par, including David Fern of Mead and Dan Potter of Gonzaga Prep. Ryan Camp of Ferris and Galen Satterlee of Shadle Park rounded out the top 10 with 73s.

After shooting even par on the front side, Witte bogeyed No. 10.

“That kind of upset me,” he said.

It also “kind of set me off.” He chipped in for birdie on No. 11, birdied No. 12, missed a birdie putt on 13 and sank a 20-foot putt for birdie on 15.

“My long iron play and driver came around for me today,” he said.

Ferris won the team title with a four-man score of 300 - an average of 75 per scoring player. Mead was second at 303, besting West Valley-Yakima for runner-up honors in the 22-school tournament by a stroke.

The Northwest Christian boys and St. John-Endicott girls claimed team honors in the Sub-District 9-7 Tournament at Deer Park… . NWC compiled a team score of 141.5 to 118 for runner-up Ritzville… . St. John-Endicott decisioned Sprague-Harrington 154-121.5 for girls honors… . Kyle Strohmaier of Odessa was boys medalist with a 2-over-par 74… . Jessica Cox of Ritzville led the girls with an 86… . The top 40 boys from a field of 77 and low 28 girls from a field of 42 advance to district play Monday - the girls at The Fairways, the boys at Hangman Valley.

Baseball

It’s going to take one more game to finalize the pairings for the Greater Spokane League playoffs.

East Valley and Rogers, both 7-9, meet at 3:45 p.m. today at University to decide the sixth and final seed.

The winner will meet No. 3 Ferris (11-5) at 1 p.m. Friday at Avista Stadium before No. 4 Central Valley (10-6) takes on No. 5 Mead (9-7) in loser-out games.

In final league games Monday, Rogers earned its shot at EV with a 6-5 win over visiting Central Valley (10-6) as Andrew Borders’ infield single snapped a 5-5 tie and produced the winning run in the sixth inning… . EV dropped a 9-7 decision to Shadle Park (12-4) as Jarin Harper’s three-run homer in the first inning got the Highlanders started. Shae Lanphere had a three-run homer in the seventh with two outs for EV… . Dan Stucky pitched four innings of four-hit ball, striking out eight, hit a solo home run and drove in an insurance run with a single as Mead (9-7) dealt champion North Central (13-3) a 7-5 loss… . Jared Vlahovich drove in three runs and Bret Neste two as University outscored Lewis and Clark 12-10… . Jim Hrynwiecz drove in two runs with a two-out double and scored the winning run on a following double by Kevin Joslyn as Mt. Spokane bested Ferris 3-2.

Ben Woodard’s two-run home run in the sixth inning broke a 5-5 tie and sent Cheney (11-10) on the way to a 10-5 upset of No. 2 seeded Clarkston (13-7) in the District 7 3A Tournament at Clarkston. The Blackhawks entertain the Mid Valley League’s No. 4 seed, Sunnyside, at 4 p.m. Wednesday in a loser-out Region IV game… . Sunnyside beat Hanford 10-5. Regular-season champion Northwest Christian (20-2) captured the Panorama League’s No. 1 seed into the District 7 B Tournament that begins Thursday with a 10-0, five-inning win over Northport (18-4) at Avista Stadium. John Proffitt pitched a two-hitter, Drew Davis drove in three runs and David Warren scored three for NWC… Curlew (15-7) defeated St. George’s (12-12) for third and fourth seeding. In first-round games, Northport beat St. George’s 7-3 and NWC defeated Curlew 7-4… . In the first round of district, Curlew plays Cusick (10-12) at Odessa and St. George’s meets Reardan (10-11) at Northport, both at 1 p.m. Northport has a bye into the second round, and NWC has a bye until Monday.

Cusick claimed the Bi-County League’s fourth and final spot to the District 7 B Tournament with a 7-4 win at Ritzville (8-9)… . Cusick, which managed just four hits, had to snuff out a Ritzville uprising in the seventh inning. The Broncos got a run on a bases-loaded walk with no one out, but Cody Donais made a diving catch for the first out, and Trevor Pease coaxed two popups to end the game… . Davenport (16-3) is No. 1, Odessa (9-6) No. 2 and Reardan (10-11) No. 3 from the Bi-County.

Softball

Garfield-Palouse (19-0) will carry No. 1 seeding into the Whitman County Tournament that begins Saturday at Garfield following a 14-11 win over Rosalia.

Reardan’s 3-0, 9-8 sweep of Lind in a makeup doubleheader decided third and fourth seeding into the Bi-County Tournament Wednesday at Medical Lake… . The Indians won with a four-run seventh inning in the second game.