NW Briefs | Huskies softball falls 10-6 to UCLA

LOS ANGELES — UCLA scored in each of the first four innings and cruised to an 11-2 win over the Washington baseball team Friday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

It was the fourth straight loss for Washington (15-13, 4-4 Pac-10).

Huskies starter Jorden Merry (5-3) gave up seven runs on seven hits over 3-2/3 innings in the loss.

Baseball

Joe DiPietro continued to dominate Northwest Conference hitters, and Justin Whitehall hit two homers and drove in five runs to lead Pacific Lutheran (23-6, 12-2) to a doubleheader sweep of Willamette, 7-0 and 14-6, in Salem, Ore.

In five conference starts this season, DiPietro has three complete games and has allowed just 24 hits and three earned runs for a 0.63 earned-run average. He went the distance against Willamette, allowing four hits while striking out seven and walking three.

• Chad Flett (2-2) pitched a complete game, and Whitworth (10-15) beat Occidental 9-3 in Los Angeles.

• Puget Sound (11-15-1, 10-7) split a NWC doubleheader with Whitman (5-20, 3-11), winning the first game 16-4, then falling in the nightcap 14-15 in Walla Walla.

Other women's golf

Washington State shot 307 on the first day of the Peg Barnard California Collegiate in Stanford, Calif., good for a tie for eighth place. Tracy Broders lead the Cougars with a 2-over 73, which tied her for ninth place.

Softball

Twelfth-ranked Washington came up shot in a slugfest with UCLA, 10-6, in Los Angeles. The Huskies (23-10, 1-3 Pac-10) scored six earned runs off Bruins pitcher Anjelica Selden — the most she's allowed all season — but gave up seven unearned runs.

• Seattle University (19-13, 4-2 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) swept Western Washington (13-15, 0-2), 3-1 and 2-0, in Bellingham.

• Linfield ripped 22 hits and took advantage of 10 Pacific Lutheran errors to take a NWC doubleheader from the host Lutes (11-8, 5-7) in Tacoma. The Wildcats (22-4, 13-1) won the opener, 13-1, and the second game, 3-1.

• Puget Sound (16-10, 5-9) dropped two to Whitworth (19-3, 14-0), falling 8-0 and 7-2 in a NWC doubleheader in Tacoma.

Men's tennis

California won the last two singles matches to upset No. 33 Washington 4-3 at Bill Quillian Stadium. Alex Slovic led the Huskies (12-6, 0-3 Pac-10) with a 6-2, 6-1 victory at No. 1 singles over Pierre Mouillon.

Women's tennis

Fifth-ranked Cal swept Washington (3-15, 0-5 Pac-10) 7-0 in Los Angeles. Cal dropped just one set in sweeping all three doubles matches and the six singles points.

• The Washington State women's tennis team dropped a 7-0 decision to top-ranked host Stanford at the Tennis Courts at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.

The Cougars fell to 13-9 and 1-5 in the Pacific-10 Conference, while Stanford improved to 16-1 and 4-0 in Pac-10 play.

Track and field

Western Washington's Chad Portwood won the men's 10,000 meters in 32 minutes, 23.64 seconds at the 26th annual Ralph Vernacchia Invitational in Bellingham.

• David Paul led Eastern Washington at the 36th annual Pelluer Invitational in Cheney, winning the hammer throw with a school-record toss of 216 feet, 11 inches, and the discus in 167-4. He also was third in the shot put (43-4 ½).

Eastern's Carolee Gutierrez won all four of her events — hammer (164-6), javelin (155-10), shot put (45-6 ½) and discus (146-3).

Rowing

Gonzaga's men's varsity eight was edged by Temple in the 20th annual George Washington Invitational Regatta on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C.

The Owls finished the 2,000-meter course in 5:34.10, while Gonzaga finished a half-boat length back in 5:35.90.

• Pocock Rowing Center's Lia Pernell rowed to a second-place finish in the women's single sculls time trial, while Matt Crouthamel of the Lake Washington Rowing Club rowed to a fourth-place finish in the men's single sculls time trial, earning top seeds at the first USRowing National Selection Regatta on Mercer Lake near Princeton, N.J.

Compiled from sports-information reports and other sources.