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Ex-Lake City star Shippy collects first-team All-America honors

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma State softball standout Vanessa Shippy was named a first-team All-American by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

It is the third time that Shippy, the 2016 and 2018 Big 12 Player of the Year, has been named an All-American in her career after earning third-team honors from the NFCA in both 2016 and 2017. She joins Jaime Foutch as the only three-time All-Americans in Oklahoma State softball history.

Shippy’s 2018 campaign helped rewrite the OSU record books as the senior, who played mostly third base this season, posted a .471 batting average, a .613 on-base percentage, scored 73 runs and walked 57 times. All of those marks lead the Big 12 Conference in 2018 and rank Shippy among the top five players nationally.

Her 73 runs scored and .613 on-base percentage both are OSU single-season records, surpassing the previous marks that Shippy set in her sophomore season. Shippy’s .471 batting average, 57 walks and 81 hits were all the second-best single-season totals in school history.

Coupled with the single-season marks she set in 2018, Shippy concludes her historic career with no less than 12 Oklahoma State records to her credit, including most games played, most games started, highest career on-base percentage, most career walks, most career runs scored and a host of others.

Shippy became the fifth player in Big 12 history to record at least 225 hits, 150 walks, 150 runs scored and 125 RBI in 2018. She is the only Cowgirl to ever reach those numbers and the first Big 12 player to do so since Oklahoma’s Lauren Chamberlain did in 2015.

The Coeur d’Alene native and Lake City High grad is now embarking on her pro career, after being picked 11th overall by the Cleveland Comets in the National Pro Fastpitch College Draft on April 23. She is also one of several elite competitors to be invited to join Scrap Yard Fast Pitch this summer in Conroe, Texas.

Idaho athletic director’s

administrative leave extended

MOSCOW — Administrative leave for University of Idaho athletic director Rob Spear will be extended until an external review into how the athletic department handled past allegations of sexual assault is completed, the report has been reviewed and a decision is made on Spear’s employment status, the school announced.

Spear was put on a 60-day administrative leave in April after several former female athletes brought to the university’s attention past sexual assault allegations.

Consultants were hired in April and continue to work diligently on a review of how the university handled sexual assault allegations in 2012 and 2013 and related matters. The goal is to better understand how the department managed such allegations in the past, improve its practices and provide the safest learning environment for Idaho students.

“It is never easy to examine one’s own actions critically,” UI President Chuck Staben said. “We know we have made improvements in how we approach sexual assault allegations but we need to know that we are doing all we can to keep our students safe. That is our number one priority.”

Zags, other WCC men’s teams

learn who they play just once

SAN BRUNO, Calif. — The West Coast Conference has announced the 16 conference matchups for each of its 10 men’s basketball teams for the 2018-19 season. The 16-game schedule is the result of changes adopted by the WCC Presidents’ Council as part of the Conference’s Men’s Basketball Enhancement Plan.

Each team will play seven WCC teams twice — once home, once away — and play two conference teams just once.

Gonzaga will play BYU, Loyola Marymount, Pacific, Saint Mary’s, San Diego, San Francisco and Santa Clara home and home.

The Zags will play Pepperdine and Portland just once — Pepperdine at home and Portland on the road.

The matchups were based on a conference formula including multi-year team RPI, last year’s West Coast Conference tournament seedings, and a spring survey of the league’s 10 head coaches.

Information: wccsports.com

Pac-12 Conference announces

2018 early TV selections

SAN FRANCISCO — Five Washington State football games, three at Martin Stadium and two road contests, have been picked as part of the Pac-12 Conference’s early television selections, the conference announced Thursday.

The Pac-12 television selections cover the first three weeks of the season, along with selected games later in the year.

The Cougars will open their 2018 season Saturday, Sept. 1 at Wyoming. Game time is set for 12:30 p.m. PDT and will be televised by CBS Sports Network. The Cougars begin their 2018 home schedule the following week by hosting San Jose State on Sept. 8, in a game televised by the Pac-12 Network. Kickoff will be 8 p.m.

The nonconference schedule comes to a close Saturday, Sept. 15 when the Cougars host Eastern Washington in a 5 p.m. contest televised by the Pac-12 Network.

Pac-12 play for Washington State begins Friday, Sept. 21 at USC in a 7:30 p.m. contest televised by ESPN.

The lone remaining TV selection was for the Apple Cup against Washington, which is set for the Friday, Nov. 23 at 5:30 p.m. in Pullman. The game will be televised by FOX.

While television selections for the first three weeks of the 2018 season have been made, as well as all Thursday and Friday games throughout the season, all remaining television game selections and start times, starting with week four (Saturday, Sept. 22) and running through the final week of the regular season (Saturday, Nov. 24) will be made 12 or six days in advance.

The remaining home games not selected for TV include Utah on Sept. 29, Oregon on Oct. 20, California on Nov. 3 and Arizona on Nov. 17.

The remaining road contests include Oregon State (Oct. 6), Stanford (Oct. 27), and Colorado (Nov. 10).

Kick times announced for

first three Boise State football games

BOISE — ESPN announced kick times for Boise State’s first three games of the 2018 regular season Thursday, including the Broncos’ home opener against Connecticut on Sept. 8.

Boise State will open its home slate against UConn at 8:15 p.m. MDT. The game will air on either ESPN2 or ESPNU, with that designation being made following the opening week of the college football season.

The Broncos open the year at Troy (Sept. 1), and that game will kick at 4 p.m. MDT on ESPNEWS.

The team’s other nonconference road game, at Oklahoma State on Sept. 15, will kick at 1:30 p.m. MDT on either ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. The network will be determined following games played on Sept. 8.