Lawrence finishes 2nd in U.S. nationals

Jared Lawrence of Sandpoint fnished second in the 145-pound freestyle division at the U.S. National Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas Saturday night.

Lawrence, who wrestles at the University of Minnesota, lost to Chris Bono 1-0, 1-1, 1-0.

Winners from this weekend’s event advance as the top seed to the world team trials, set for Ames, Iowa, in mid-June.

Baseball

Michael Thompson’s 13th-inning RBI single gave Santa Clara a 3-2 win over Gonzaga in the inaugural game at SCU’s new ballpark, Stephen Schott Stadium.

Thompson singled with the bases loaded and one out off Gonzaga reliever Nate Williams (3-1), who had thrown three perfect innings in relief of starter Patrick Donovan.

Gonzaga (25-17, 12-7 WCC) trailed 2-1 into the ninth inning, but rallied to force extra innings when Brandon Blank scored on a Broncos (21-22, 6-13) error.

Donovan allowed four hits and two runs in nine innings.

•CC Spokane went on the road and swept Big Bend CC 9-2 and 4-3 to pull back into a tie for first in the NWAACC Eastern Region.

Travis Bertholf (5-2) scattered 10 hits in Game 1, walking none and striking out four in a complete-game win. Catcher Shawn Gizynski, who had four RBIs, hit a two-run triple in the seventh to break a 2-2 tie, and the Sasquatch (22-9, 13-7) tacked on five in the ninth to win going away.

In Game 2, Big Bend (13-17, 11-9) led 3-0 going into the ninth inning, but walked in three Sasquatch (22-9, 13-7) runners to send the game into extra innings. In the top of the 12th, Brent Mertens singled, stole second and scored on an RBI triple by Gizynski.

•Whitworth shook off a first-game blowout, rebounding to win Game 2, 7-5, and earn a split with Pacific Lutheran in Tacoma.

The Pirates (19-14, 14-9 NWC) scored five in the sixth inning of Game 2 and hung on to preserve the win for Cody Person (5-1).

Catcher Ryley Hunter drove in three runs and had three hits in the win.

PLU (24-14, 18-5) drilled Whitworth in Game 1, scoring 14 unanswered runs to roll to a 14-3 win.

Softball

California scored the only run of the game on a third-inning squeeze bunt to beat Washington (26-16, 6-7 Pac-10) 1-0 in Seattle.

Kristina Thorson of the Bears (42-8, 9-5) allowed only two hits.

•Kristin McCuistion’s eighth-inning home run won Game 1 for Snow College, and the Badgers followed that up with another extra-inning win to earn a sweep of North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene.

McCuistion hit a one-out solo homer to give the Badgers (21-27, 19-21 SWAC) a 4-3 win in the opener. Game 2 saw an eighth-inning NIC throwing error score a runner from first to give Snow a 3-2 win.

Erin Dubrock had five hits and an RBI for the Cardinals (26-31, 17-22).

•Monica Judd homered twice and Stephanie Day hit her eighth home run of the year, but it wasn’t enough for CC Spokane to avoid a sweep at the hands of Walla Walla CC in Spokane.

WWCC (17-15, 12-10 NWAACC) scored seven in the second inning on the first game, and survived a frantic Sasquatch (20-12, 16-6) rally to win 11-10.

WWCC jumped out to an early lead in Game 2 also, leading 6-3 after three innings on the way to an 8-5 win.