Locally: CCS selects Wittkopf, Clift scholar-athletes for December

A couple of homegrown basketball products are the Community Colleges of Spokane scholar-athletes of the month for December.

Emily Wittkopf, a sophomore from Mt. Spokane, is the female selection. Jon Clift, a freshman from Ferris, earned the male award.

Wittkopf led the CCS women in scoring during their early schedule, averaging 13 points a game, and was second on the team in rebounding with a 6.5 average. She is making 45 percent of her shots from the field.

Off the court, she is a member of the 2006-07 district athletic committee and has a 3.5 grade-point average.

Clift, one of 13 freshmen on the Sasquatch roster, is the only player to have started every game. The 5-10 guard is averaging 11.8 points a game while shooting 61 percent from the field.

Clift has a 3.56 GPA.

Baseball

Gonzaga University has signed eight players – six high school seniors and two who will transfer from junior colleges – to national letters of intent, coach Mark Machtolf announced.

Slated to join the Bulldogs in the fall are Jason Chatwood, an infielder at Colby, Kan., Community College, where he hit .408 with a school-record 89 hits that included seven home runs and 18 doubles, and Grant Kveder, who can play the infield, outfield and catch, who will transfer from College of Southern Idaho, where he hit .301 and scored 32 runs.

Also joining the team are: Jake and Kyle Adkins, twin brothers and left-handed pitchers from Walnut Creek, Calif. (Kyle had a 2.10 earned run average with 40 strikeouts in 40 innings and Jake a 2.28 ERA with 38 strikeouts in 27 2/3 innings); and Kyle Lotzkar, a right-handed pitcher from Delta, British Columbia, who had a 2.13 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 23 innings.

And Cody Martin, a right-handed pitcher from Dos Palos, Calif., who had an 11-4 record with six saves as a junior with a 1.94 ERA and 149 strikeouts in 103 1/3 innings; Brett Nicholas, an infielder from Phoenix who hit .467 with school records of 32 RBIs, eight home runs and an .893 slugging percentage; and Chris Sturdivant, a center fielder from Redmond, Wash., who hit .436 with 24 hits and 18 stolen bases.

College scene

Ben Sawyer, a Gonzaga University senior men’s soccer player from Mead, was named to the West Coast Conference fall all-academic team with a 3.54 grade-point average in accounting.

Softball

Attention seniors: You still have some gas left in the tank and can’t burn it up mowing the lawn or tilling the garden. Why not give softball a try?

The Spokane Senior League is preparing for a second season that officials expect to be bigger and better than the inaugural season – and they still have room for you.

“We had eight teams in two divisions and about 140 guys last year,” said spokesman Dave Gunderson, noting indications are for 10 to 12 teams this year. “We have one all-women’s team that will be playing with us … (and) a couple of guys are putting together travel teams. One will be an over-65 team and one will be an elite team.”

The program is for players 50 and older, although each team can have one player 45 to 50, Gunderson said. The season will begin around the first of May with a tournament and the league will play doubleheaders Monday nights.

A preseason registration meeting will be held Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council Building, 6116 N. Market. Anyone interested is encouraged to attend.

Info: Gunderson, 928-7588 or Morris Clark, 327-4527.