Mid-Columbia athletes building their athletic reputations despite COVID delays

From East Coast to West Coast, players from the Mid-Columbia are building their athletic reputations and planning their futures even as COVID delays the start of many sports — or cancels them altogether.

▪ Prosser forward Scott Blakney is playing well for Idaho.

The 6-foot-8 senior is averaging 11.4 points a game for the Vandal and 2.2 rebounds. Teammate Damon Thacker, a 5-11 senior guard who spent two seasons at Walla Walla Community College, is averaging 5.6 points and 2.4 rebounds.

But the University of Idaho men’s basketball team isn’t off to a great start, going 0-5 with two Big Sky Conference losses to Sacramento State.

The Vandals also have dropped games to Washington State University, CSU Bakersfield and Utah.

The Vandals’ next game is a Big Sky Conference game at home against Northern Arizona on Dec. 31.

▪ Southridge High grad Ellie Smith — a 6-foot-2 redshirt junior forward — has started three of five games so far for the Idaho State University women’s basketball team.

Smith is averaging 4.2 points and 2 rebounds a game for the 4-1 Bengals, who have two wins over Big Sky Conference foe Northern Colorado, and one each over Utah State and Kansas State. Idaho State’s lone loss was to Nebraska.

Smith’s best game was in the 65-50 road win Dec. 8 at Kansas State, where she scored 8 points. Idaho State continues Big Sky Conference play at Weber State on Dec. 31 and Jan. 2.

▪ Butler University women’s basketball is off to a slow start, going 0-3 while having five other games postponed because of COVID.

Sophomore Oumou Toure, a Kamiakin grad, is one of five regulars on the team who has yet to play. But she should start seeing some action soon.

The Big East released the rest of its 2020-21 schedule last week, and that will include 18 more games for Butler. The Bulldogs’ next game is Dec. 31 at Georgetown.

▪ The Cascade Collegiate Conference announced last week that it was delaying its men’s and women’s conference basketball schedule from January to now at least March.

CCC league members Evergreen State College, Southern Oregon University and Walla Walla University have all announced they are opting out of the 2020-21 season.

In addition, the Oregon Health Authority has continued its ban on high-contact sports indefinitely.

Hockey

Former Tri-City American Malte Stromwall was traded recently in the Kontinental Hockey League, according to the MacBeth Report.

Stromwall, a Swede left winger who played for the Americans in the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons (32 goals, 61 assists), started his second straight season with KHL Russian team Sochi HC.

But the team sent him to fellow KHL Russian team SKA St. Petersburg on Nov. 30 for three other players. With Sochi, Stromwall had scored 8 goals and 8 assists this season in 26 games.

College signings

The following area athletes have signed letters of intent to play for various community colleges around the Northwest, beginning in the fall of 2021:

▪ Kamiakin senior Tommy Beason has committed to playing men’s golf at North Idaho Community College in Coeur d’Alene.

▪ Kamiakin’s Clayton German will be playing men’s golf for Spokane Community College.

▪ Chiawana’s Devyn Hernandez is set to play baseball at Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake.

▪ Southridge senior Ben Johnson will play men’s golf at Columbia Basin College.

▪ Kamiakin’s Logan Knaff is set to play men’s golf at CBC.

▪ Maddie Kutschkau, a senior at Kamiakin, is committed to playing women’s soccer at North Idaho Community College.

▪ Aiden McMurdo, a senior at Hanford, is set to play baseball for Grays Harbor Community College.

▪ Kennewick’s Grace Morby will be playing volleyball for CBC.

▪ Makenna Mosher, a senior at Walla Walla High School, has committed to play volleyball at Pierce Community College.

▪ Chiawana senior Ivan Palomino is going to play baseball for Walla Walla Community College.

▪ Chiawana’s Lucendy Perez is going to play volleyball for CBC.

▪ Kennewick High senior Cade Puckett has committed to playing baseball for CBC.

▪ Pasco High senior Estevan Ruiz is headed to Shoreline Community College in Seattle to play baseball.

▪ Southridge’s Kassadi Suitonu has committed to playing women’s soccer for CBC.

▪ Chiawana’s Preston Vine has signed to play baseball at Grays Harbor Community College.

▪ Walla Walla High School senior Jessalee Wilks has signed a letter of intent to play next fall for Blue Mountain Community College women’s soccer.

Baseball

Former Tri-City Dust Devils pitcher Walker Lockett was grabbed by the Toronto Blue Jays earlier this month, from waivers from the Seattle Mariners.

The right-hander started the abbreviated 2020 season with the New York Mets, only to get waived in September. But the Mariners signed him, and Lockett pitched in relief in five games for Seattle, having a 1.56 WHIP and 4.32 earned run average.

In 2015, Lockett pitched for Tri-City, going 3-0 in 11 starts.At the time, the San Diego Padres prospect was named a Northwest League all-star for his performance. Opposing batters just hit .230 off of Lockett, and he had a 2.83 ERA.

Golf

Richland grad Drew McCullough had another outstanding outing last month, finishing eighth at the Nevada Open in Mesquite.

McCullough, who played collegiately at the University of Wyoming, fired rounds of 70, 68 and 66 — getting progressively better in the Nevada tournament.

What made the finish even more impressive was the fact there were 222 golfers in the tournament.