Mt. Spokane advances, ends U-Hi’s season

Brett Hite is a goalkeeper’s nightmare.

As one of the Greater Spokane League’s leading scorers, University’s Hite poses a serious threat – especially to a team that had yet to capture a postseason win.

But Hite, who missed the Titans’ previous game against Mt. Spokane due to a knee injury, was unable to find the goal more than once in the teams’ rematch Wednesday in the District 8 4A boys soccer playoff opener.

The host Wildcats won 2-1 to end U-Hi’s season and qualify for the second round. Mt. Spokane (11-6) will play at Central Valley at 1 p.m. Saturday in another loser-out district match.

Though most of the first half was spent in University (8-7) territory, Hite wasn’t stopped from taking shots. In fact, he took five of the Titans six shots in the first half.

The real problem for Hite became keeper Jeff Srock, who acted as a human wall to Hite’s every attempt to even out the score.

Srock, Mt. Spokane’s goalkeeper, shut Hite down in the first half, leaving University scoreless heading into the second half. Drew Hill, the defender responsible for covering Hite defensively, also prevented Hite from taking control of a close game.

Mt. Spokane broke scoring open when Jordan Marshall followed up on a ball from Alex Cusick in the fifth minute. Three minutes later, Keith Kirsch picked up a through ball from Jared Crabtree to score the second and final Mt. Spokane goal.

Hite scored early in the second half, when he paired up with teammate Keith Realing to draw Srock out of the goal, leaving a wide-open shot.

The goal was not as impressive as Srock’s performance in goal. The junior made his intentions clear and evidenced them throughout the game as he came up with 15 saves, nine of the shots coming from Hite.

“I knew if we shut down Hite we would win the game,” said Srock.

One thing about holding Hite, who has been named to the all-GSL team since his freshman year, to a single goal and securing a second playoff game is the satisfaction of dumping a large cooler of ice water over the head of Jeremy Ochse, who captured his first playoff win with the Wildcats.

That was Srock’s first move as the team huddled together after the game to hear Ochse’s comments about the team’s performance.

“We are lucky we have great defenders and also two great forwards which makes it harder to defend us,” said Ochse, who acknowledged the importance of stopping Hite from scoring.

• Jay Vela scored all four goals, giving him 14 for the season, to guide Central Valley (12-4) to a 4-1 win over visiting East Valley (7-9) in the other district opener. Blake Trimmer assisted on the final two goals. Ben Funkhouser scored for the Knights, finishing his season with nine goals. CV defeated EV 5-2 during league.

Baseball

Steffan Blume homered and host Clarkston (9-11) stormed from a 5-0 deficit to defeat Cheney 8-7 in eight innings during a District 8 3A playoff. The Bantams scored single runs in the fifth and sixth, and two more in the seventh to force extra innings. Clarkston qualified for the 3A regionals and will travel to Sunnyside Saturday. Alek Webber doubled and tripled, and Jeff Arnold doubled and homered for the Blackhawks, who finished 2-19.

Softball

Megan Foster hit a two-run homer in the fourth and added a two-run single in the fifth to lead Mead (16-1-1, 16-1) to a 5-1 win at East Valley in the Greater Spokane League. Mead’s Kim Watson struck out 12, walked one and pitched a two-hitter. Leah Dubrock of the Knights (8-10, 8-9) had an RBI double in the third for a 1-0 lead… . Also in the GSL, Britney Brownlee finished 3 for 5 with three RBIs and four runs while leading Mt. Spokane (10-7-1, 10-7) to a five-inning, 23-0 win at Ferris. Winner Jen Kennedy pitched a six-hitter and walked one. Sarah Allen of the Saxons (1-17, 1-16) went 2 for 3.

Boys golf

Clarkston sophomore Joel Dahmen fired a 3-under-par 69 at Hangman Valley Golf Course to win the fifth and final Greater Spokane League competition of the season. Ferris senior Craig Leslie, Gonzaga Prep junior Brad Blakley and Central Valley sophomore Nick Grigsby all finished two shots behind Dahmen. Fifth-place Todd Christensen, a Mead senior, carded a 73. Ferris placed four golfers among the top 10 to win the team title with a 374, 13 shots ahead of CV. Third-place Mead shot 394 to edge G-Prep (397) and LC (399). Ferris ran away with the season title, scoring a perfect 70 points. CV finished second with 62 1/2 , and G-Prep took third with 60.