Area roundup: Idaho women’s tennis eliminated in first round of NCAA tournament

The Idaho women’s tennis team lost 4-0 to USC in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Friday at Los Angeles.

The 16th-seeded Trojans took the early lead by winning the doubles point, then picked up straight-set victories at the No. 2, 4, and 5 singles for the win.

Idaho finishes the season with a 19-6 record and its first conference championship in program history.

Softball

North Idaho’s season came to an end with a 8-5 loss to Southern Nevada in the Region 18 tournament at Twin Falls, Idaho.

After giving up four runs in the first two innings, the Cardinals (36-22) rallied behind a trio of home runs in the bottom of the third to tie the game. Kylene Hatton and Anthony Madison went back-to-back to pull NIC within one then, two batters later, Hayley Fields hit a solo shot.

Southern Nevada (39-19) responded in the fourth with a two-out, two-RBI double to take the lead for good.

Brittany Hecker, who worked 6 2/3 innings in relief for NIC, took the loss. Fields went 4 for 4.

• Washington (32-13, 12-9 Pac-12) hit three home runs and defeated Cal (23-28, 4-17) 9-1 in Pac-12 play at Berkeley, California.

Golf

The Gonzaga women shot a 319 in the second round of the NCAA West Regional at Suncadia Resort and sit in 22nd place with a total of 636.

Freshman Ciera Min carded a 5-over-par 77 to pace the Bulldogs. She has a 36-hole total of 155.

Host Washington shot a 292 to fall into third place, two strokes behind joint-leaders Arizona State and Southern Cal. The Huskies have a 26-shot advantage on ninth-place Wisconsin.

The final round is today, with the top eight teams advancing to the NCAA finals.

• Chris Williams of Moscow, Idaho, earned his PGA Tour-Canada card after a sixth place finish in a tournament at Crown Isle Golf Club in Courtenay, B.C. He shot 282 in the four-day event. The top 18 finishers earned their cards.

Baseball

Utah benefited from a two-out error in the top of the 13th to get past Washington State 4-1 in the first game of a three-game Pac-12 series at Bailey-Brayton Field.

With runners on first and third and two down, Utah’s Zach Jones chopped a grounder towards first base. WSU fielded the ball cleanly but Cougar second baseman Ian Sagdal, who earlier tied the game with a hit in the ninth, dropped the throw at first. Two batters later, Wyler Smith hit a two-RBI single to stretch the Utes’ lead.

WSU (20-24, 10-12 Pac-12) recorded 12 hits in the game but couldn’t push a run across until the ninth inning on Sagdal’s single. The Cougars left 10 runners on base.

Starting pitcher Joe Pistorese worked nine innings for WSU, limiting the Utes (15-28, 4-18) to three hits while striking out nine with zero walks. Kellen Camus struck out eight in 3 2/3 innings of relief work, allowing two unearned runs and took the loss.

• UC Davis scored the first six runs and cruised to a 7-2 win over Gonzaga in the first game of a nonconference series at Patterson Complex.

The Aggies (20-25) roughed up the Bulldogs pitchers to the tune of 15 hits. Freshman Brandon Bailey took the loss for GU (20-26) after giving up three runs on nine hits in four innings.

Hockey

Mitch Holmberg, who scored 118 points in 72 games for the Spokane Chiefs last season, has been selected as a finalist for the Canadian Hockey League’s top scorer award, the league announced.

Anthony Mantha (120 points in 57 games) of Val-d’Or Foreurs and the Erie Otters’ Connor Brown (128, 68) and are the two other nominees.