Pullman Wins, Eyes State Berth

Dean Neppel tripled home Lucas Svaren with two out in the sixth inning, and Pullman (17-4) rallied for a 5-4 win over visiting Chewelah in Thursday’s District 7 2A baseball tournament play.

Pullman tied the game at 2 on Trent Bray’s RBI double in the fifth, but Kevin Olson had a two-run single in the sixth for the Cougars (12-10).

The tournament resumes Saturday at Pullman. Chewelah plays Medical Lake (15-6) at 10 a.m. in a loser-out and Pullman meets Lakeside (16-5) at 1 p.m. for a state berth.

Northport and Odessa qualified for the State B tournament during District 7 B tournament play… . Andy Wiley, Lyle Weilep and Kyle Wilson hit consecutive homers with two out in the fifth to lift host Northport (19-4) to an 8-6 win over St. George’s. The Dragons had tied the game at 5 in the fourth on Robert Witherspoon’s three-run homer… . At Odessa, Kyle Starkel, Paul Dart and Shawn Smith combined for seven RBIs to lead the Tigers (10-6-1) over Curlew, 11-5… . Curlew (16-8) began play at Odessa with an 11-0 win that eliminated upstart Cusick (10-13). Russell Strandberg pitched a one-hitter and Jeremy Groth hit a grand slam for the Cougars… . The tourney continues Monday at Avista Stadium and Whitworth. Odessa plays Northwest Christian (20-2) and Northport meets Davenport (16-3) in a round to determine state seeding. Curlew plays St. George’s for the district’s fifth and final state seed.

Tennis

Justin Blayne defeated Jimmy Cofer 7-6 (8), 6-2 in No. 1 singles and Medical Lake (8-0) edged visiting Pullman 4-3 to win the Great Northern League boys title, marking the ninth consecutive league title for the Cardinals.

The District 8 4A tournament semifinals and consolations at Mead and Mt. Spokane were rained out and rescheduled for 3:30 p.m. today.

Boys soccer

Casey Chronister scored two goals 8 minutes apart in the first half to guide West Valley (Yakima) to a 4-0 win at Cheney in the Region IV 3A playoffs. The Rams (19-1) advance to the first round of the State 3A tournament against Hanford, a 1-0 winner over Selah on Thursday. Cheney, the Frontier League and District 7 champion, finished at 11-5-2.

Softball

The opening round of the District 8 4A tournament at Franklin Park was rained out. The schedule, Lewis and Clark (11-8) vs. Mt. Spokane (12-7) at 3:45 p.m. and Rogers (13-7) vs. Central Valley (13-7) at 6, was moved to today. Today’s regularly scheduled games were moved to Monday… . No. 3 Walla Walla defeated No. 6 Wenatchee 11-1, and No. 4 Moses Lake edged No. 5 Kamiakin 2-1 in loser-out openers of the District 5/6 tournament. Walla Walla (17-5) and Moses Lake (15-6) will join No. 1 Richland (18-2) and No. 2 Eisehhower (16-5) at Kennewick on Saturday to decide seeding to the Region IV 4A tournament against District 8 schools.

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BASEBALL

Perfect game

Pat Thomas of St. George’s pitched a perfect game Thursday to open the District 7B baseball tournament.

St. George’s (13-13) rode Thomas’ six-inning perfecto in a 10-0 win that eliminated Reardan (10-12) in Northport. Thomas struck out 11 and allowed just one ball out of the infield, the game-ending fly to center.

Thomas has struck out 41 and walked two in his last 26 innings. The last St. George’s no-hitter was by Seth Coleman in 1992.

St. George’s lost its second game to Northport 8-6, and plays Curlew on Monday for the district’s fifth and final seed to state.