Pirates’ Bofa gains 800 finals
Whitworth junior Emmanuel Bofa finished second in his heat in the 800-meter run Friday at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., to advance to today’s finals.
Bofa, who had the second-fastest Division III 800 in the country this season (1 minute, 52.54 seconds) timed 1:53.83.
In the NCAA Division I Indoor meet at College Station, Texas, former Ferris standout Kelly McNamee, a freshman at Washington, finished 14th in the women’s high jump, clearing 5 feet, 83/4 inches. The only freshman in the field just missed at 5-103/4.
Mattie Bridgmon, a former Eastern Washington runner now at Oregon, was 16th in the women’s 5,000, timing 16:20.95. She’ll run the 3,000 today.
Baseball
Royce Bolinger’s, bases-loaded, pinch-hit single up the middle in the sixth inning drove in two runs to break a tie and ignite a four-running inning that led Gonzaga to an 8-3 win over visiting Utah Valley in the first game of a doubleheader at Patterson Complex .
The Bulldogs (9-5) won the second game 10-5 over the Wolverines (5-9).
Senior Ryan Wiegand, who had a two-run double to highlight a three-run first inning for the Bulldogs in the first game, finished the day with five RBIs and senior leadoff man Evan Wells scored four runs and stole two bases.
•Matt Way pitched eight shutout innings and fellow senior Alex Burg homered twice and drove in four runs as visiting Washington State beat Long Beach State 9-0 in the opener of a three-game non-conference series. Way allowed four hits and struck out eight.
Burg staked WSU (4-8) to a 1-0 lead when he led off the top of the second with a home run, extending his hitting streak to six games. His second homer, and third of the season, capped a four-run fourth. He had four RBIs. Senior Greg Lagreid had a two-run double for WSU to highlight a three-run fifth.
•Community Colleges of Spokane (5-1) won the opener of a non-conference doubleheader at Tacoma 9-5, before suffering its first loss of the season, 5-1 in the second game.
Sophomore Mark Purser (Mt. Spokane) had four hits for the Sasquatch, including two doubles and a home run.
Softball
Jessica Solbrack pitched a no-hitter for Community Colleges of Spokane in the first of two games the Sasquatch played in the Maricopa (Ariz.) CC tournament, but CCS (7-1) squandered opportunities in a 1-0 loss to Chandler-Gilbert.
Chandler sandwiched two of CCS’ three errors around a wild pitch for the game’s only run in the third inning. Solbrack struck out five and walked just one. CCS left eight on base.
In the second game, Sean Topp pitched no-hit ball for 61/3 innings and finished with a two-hitter, striking out five and walking two, as CCS beat Paradise Valley 7-1. Haley Bauman had a bases-loaded, two-run double to highlight a four-run second for CCS.
•North Idaho College dropped two Scenic West Athletic Conference games at Salt Lake City, 5-1 and 6-5.
The Cardinals (15-12, 13-7) managed two hits in the opener, but matched SLC (22-5, 19-3) with 11 in the second game. Lisa Riches had a three-run homer in the first inning of Game 2 for SLCC.
Women’s golf
Gonzaga senior Elizabeth Jarrett shot a final-round 76 for a 36-hole total of 154 to tie for 12th in the Snowbird Intercollegiate in Tampa, Fla. Jessica Howe tied for 16th (78-78) as the Bulldogs finished fifth in the 17-team field.
Men’s basketball
Top-ranked St. Thomas (Minn.) (30-0) defeated seventh-ranked Puget Sound (25-4) 86-69, eliminating the Northwest Conference champs in the NCAA Division III tourney round of 16.