NORTHWEST NOTES: Friday, May 20, 2016

Five ex-Lake City players on

rosters of NCAA softball regional squads

Five former Lake City High standouts are in action this weekend in regional play as the 64-team NCAA Division I softball tournament begins.

Oklahoma State (29-24) and sophomore Vanessa Shippy take on Northwestern (26-26) today (10 a.m., PDT, ESPN3) in a regional at Athens, Ga. Maine (28-19) and Georgia (40-17) are the other teams in the regional.

Shippy was named co-Player of the Year in the Big 12 Conference earlier in the week.

Washington (36-13), seeded 11th in the tourney, and junior Casey Stangel host Weber State (37-17) tonight at 7 in Seattle. Freshmen outfielders JaeCie Wilson and Hannah Nelson play for Weber State. North Dakota State (38-13) and Minnesota (41-12) are the other teams in the regional.

Stangel, who transferred from Missouri following her freshman season, is hitting .336 with five homers and 29 RBIs. In the circle, she’s 6-4 with a 2.50 ERA.

Wilson is hitting .384 for the Wildcats, with 11 stolen bases in 12 attempts.

Fresno State (41-10-1) and junior utility player Lindsey Willmon plays Cal State Fullerton (43-14) today at 3 p.m. in the Los Angeles regional. Cal State Bakersfield (16-32) and 12th-seeded UCLA (35-13-1) are also in the regional.

Willmon, who played at Lake City as a senior, and played her first two years in college with Hawaii, is batting a team-high .373, with 11 homers (tied for the team lead) and 47 RBIs (a team high).

Regional play at 16 sites is scheduled to run through Sunday.

This weekend’s regional winners advance to Super Regionals next weekend, with those winners advancing to the Women’s College World Series.

Spokane, Tri-Cities square off

for final time in regular season

SPOKANE — The Spokane Empire (8-2) play host to the Tri-Cities Fever (3-8) tonight at 7 (SWX, ESPN 700) in the fourth and final regular season meeting between the Indoor Football League teams.

Heading into Week 14, the Empire have a 3-0 series lead against the Fever. When Tri-Cities last visited the Spokane Arena, the Empire trailed 29-18 at the half before a 28-point third quarter propelled them to a 53-51 win.

Earlier this week, the Empire re-signed kicker Brady Beeson. Beeson played for the Empire during the team’s April 1 matchup against the Iowa Barnstormers and converted on 6 of 6 his PAT attempts as a part of Spokane’s 54-51 win.

Spokane released kicker Steven Wakefield.

Club volleyball team

raising money for nationals

The VIP Juniors 16 club volleyball team, which includes some players from local high schools, is working on two fundraisers this weekend to defray costs for their trip to the 2016 USA Volleyball Junior Nationals in Indianapolis, June 29-July 3.

Information: Brooke Cope, 699-3801 or Vanessa Zink, (425) 260-4468