A prestigious NW school will kick off football season with 9 Mid-Columbia players

Whitworth University’s football team opens its season at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh on Sept. 2. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. Pacific.

The Pirates boast nine athletes on their roster who comes from this region.

They are: junior wide receiver Dylan Ashbeck (Walla Walla); senior kicker/punter Alvaro Campos-Ontiveros (DeSales); senior defensive back Colten Chelin (Kamiakin); freshman tight end Kenyon Coleman (Richland); freshman defensive back Seamus Doohan (DeSales); sophomore defensive lineman JT Munoz (Chiawana); freshman running back Luis Salgado (Kamiakin); sophomore defensive lineman Alex Smith (College Place); and senior defensive back Atticus Templeton (Kennewick).

▪ Chiawana grad Dre’Sonte Dorton finished his first season for the Bay Area Panthers of the indoor football league.

Dorton, a former standout at Eastern Washington University, joined the Panthers (1-15) midway through the IFL season and scored six touchdowns.

As a receiver, he caught 16 passes for 214 yards and 3 TDs; he rushed the football 8 times for 76 yards and two more TDs; and he returned 35 kickoffs for 556 yards — an average of 15.9 yards per return.

He also returned one kickoff for a touchdown.

On special teams, Dorton had 7 tackles.

Signings

▪ Sahara Browning, who graduated from Walla Walla Valley Academy in June, signed a letter of intent last month to play women’s volleyball for Walla Walla University in College Place.

Volleyball

▪ Columbia Basin College’s volleyball schedule starts Sept. 2 at home with the CBC Invitational.

The tournament will be played at the brand new Holden Court on the CBC campus.

Third-year coach DiShondra Goree will lead her Hawks with the hope of returning to the NWAC playoffs again this season.

Soccer

▪ Sophomore McKenna Martinez helped lead the Oregon State University women’s soccer team to a 4-1 victory over the University of Wyoming on Sunday by scoring two goals.

Martinez, who attended Tri-Cities Prep and played for Richland High School, had 5 shots in the match. Her first goal snapped a 1-1 tie in the first half, and her second goal gave the Beavers a 3-1 lead in the second half.

Hockey

▪ The Tri-City Americans hired two associate coaches to help head coach Stu Barnes for the coming season.

Jody Hull comes from the Ontario Hockey League, where he spent the last 16 seasons as a coach.

Before that, Hull played 16 seasons (831 games) in the National Hockey League.

TJ Millar comes to the Ams after spending last season as a coaching development associate with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

▪ Former Tri-City Americans goalie Eric Comrie signed a deal last month with the Buffalo Sabres to be their backup.

Comrie, 27, had played with Winnipeg this past NHL season.

With the Sabres, he signed a two-year deal for $3.6 million.

Baseball

▪ The Tri-City Dust Devils went 3-3 in Spokane last week, and now are home this week with a 6-game homestand against the Eugene Emeralds.

First game is Tuesday, and the series runs through Sunday. First pitch each night is 7:05 p.m.

Last week’s standouts are all everyday players.

Infielder Osmy Gregorio went 11 for 28 for a .393 batting average. He scored five runs, drove in 7 runs, and had three doubles and a triple.

Shortstop Kyren Paris was 6 for 22 (.273 batting average), had three home runs, drove in three runs, and he scored 6 times.

And outfielder D’Shawn Knowles was 8 for 22 (.364), scored seven times, had three RBIs, two doubles and two stolen bases.

Tri-City is 19-29 in the Northwest League second half standings.

Golf

▪ Pasco’s Jillian Breedlove won the Pacific Northwest Golf Association’s Junior Girls Amateur Championship title this past Saturday at the Wildhorse Golf Course.

Breedlove, who plays for Pasco High School, finished tied for second (along with Southridge High golfer Jillian Hui) after two rounds of stroke play. Both of them scored a 2-under-par 142.

But it was Breedlove who then advanced through the Round of 16, the quarterfinals, and semifinals to reach Saturday’s 36-hole final.

Breedlove defeated June Hsao of Coquitlam, British Columbia, by a 6&5 score for the title.

“The driver felt good all week, I was able to keep it in the fairway most of the time,” Breedlove told PNGA.com, “and my putting really helped me in match-play.”

Southridge grad Angela Park — headed to play for the University of Washington this fall — made it to the quarterfinals before being eliminated.

Hui got to the Round of 16 before being ousted.

Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.