Post Falls men’s senior softball team bound for nationals

The Shawn Montee Timber Company men’s senior softball team from Post Falls will represent the Pacific Northwest in the AA 50-plus age division at the Senior Softball USA Western National Championships in Salt Lake City, Friday through next Sunday.

The Montee team earned the tournament berth by winning the Senior Softball USA Northwest Championship last week in Portland with a 5-1 record. Seeded No. 1, Montee defeated the Bend (Ore.) Brewers 22-5 and 21-16 in the championship round.

As a team organized for tournaments made of players from local recreational leagues, the squad went 12-3 in three tournaments this season, winning the Coeur d’Alene Senior Invitational as well as the Northwest championship.

“Even though we play in the 50-plus division, most of our players are over 60,” said George Quiggle, 60, of Liberty Lake. “Our pitcher, Bob Legasa, is 67, so we’re doing pretty good against the younger guys.”

In addition to Quiggle and Legasa, the roster of teachers, coaches and professionals includes Carl Clack, Wade Edington, Tom Fordham, Jack Foster, Bob Gomez, Greg Hart, Mike Holden, Robie Johnson, John Klingaman, Lee Libera, Jim Palombi, Joe Partington, Howie Stalwick, Dick Stauffer and John Walkington.

Winning the Northwest championship also qualified the team for the senior softball world championships at Phoenix in October and the Tournament of Champions at Orlando, Fla., in January.

College scene

Golfers Diana Hong of Washington State and Kellie Holmstedt of Eastern were named to the National Golf Coaches Association All-America Scholar Team.

Hong, a sophomore, and Holmstedt, a freshman, were among 270 Division I women’s collegiate golfers recognized.

Also named to the all-scholar team as a freshman, Hong is WSU’s seventh women’s golfer to be named NGCA All-America Scholar multiple times since 1999. She posted two top-10 finishes and four top-25 finishes this season.

Holmstedt tied for seventh at the Big Sky Conference Championship with a 228 (71-78-79). She also earned All-BSC second-team honors, placing ninth among league competitors in Golfstat.com’s individual rankings.

The criteria for selection to the All-America Scholar Team include a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.50. Student-athletes must have competed in at least 50 percent of the college’s regularly scheduled competitive rounds during the year to be selected to the Division I list.

•Chris Johnson has been hired as the athletic department’s ticket manager/travel coordinator at Gonzaga University.

He was previously the interim sports information director at Seattle Pacific University.

A native of Spokane, Johnson graduated cum laude from Whitworth University with a bachelor’s in business management and economics in 2006 and earned a master’s in intercollegiate athletic leadership from the University of Washington in 2008.