NW Briefs | Softball "King" Feigner, 81, dies

Eddie Feigner, the hard-throwing softball showman who barnstormed for more than 50 years with "The King and His Court" four-man team, died Friday. He was 81.

Feigner, the Walla Walla native and former Marine known for his trademark crew cut and bulging right arm, died in Huntsville, Ala., from a respiratory ailment related to dementia, his wife, Anne Marie, said Friday night.

With a fastball once clocked at 104 mph, Feigner threw 930 no-hitters, 238 perfect games and struck out 141,517 batters while playing more than 10,000 games. Feigner not only pitched from the standard mound, 46 feet from home plate, but also from second base, behind his back, on his knees, between his legs, from center field and blindfolded.

Men's basketball

Kurt Oliver hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to lift Pacific Lutheran (8-12, 5-8 Northwest Conference) to a 71-70 win over Whitman in Tacoma.

• Puget Sound hit 18 three-pointers and completed a regular-season sweep of Whitworth with a 95-90 overtime victory in Tacoma.

• Aaron Sawyer had 21 points as Northwest (20-7) edged Evergreen State (8-18) 54-53 in Olympia.

Women's basketball

Laura Hirsh had 22 points, six rebounds and three assists to lead Puget Sound (18-4, 11-2 NWC) past Whitworth 73-55 in Tacoma.

• Whitman outscored Pacific Lutheran 38-27 in the second half and went on to win 67-55 in Tacoma. Trish Buckingham led the Lutes (11-10, 6-7 NWC) with 12 points.

• Jennifer Solberg scored 27 points as Evergreen State (5-21, 2-12) snapped a five-game Cascade Collegiate Conference losing streak with a 77-66 win over Northwest (9-19, 4-11) in Olympia.

Golf

Alex Prugh shot a final-round 5-under 65 to help the Washington men finish sixth at the Hawaii-Hilo Intercollegiate. The Huskies carded an 8-under 272 over the final 18 holes to finish at 19-under 821. Prugh was the Huskies' top finisher, tying for fifth.

Men's tennis

Washington improved to 4-1 by beating Middle Tennessee State 4-0 at the Great Northwest Shootout at Nordstrom Tennis Center.

The UW duo of Patrik Fischer and Michael Ricks earned the doubles point for the Huskies with an 8-5 win. Washington clinched the overall win with singles victories from Andy Kuharszky, David Chu and Fischer.

• Pacific Lutheran swept Puget Sound (9-0) and Linfield (5-4) at the PLU/UPS Invitational in Tacoma.

Women's tennis

Eastern Washington (1-4, 1-1 Big Sky Conference) fell 7-0 to Sacramento State in Cheney.

Swimming

The Linfield men (185 points) and Whitworth women (212) have grabbed early leads at the NWC championship meet in Walla Walla.

Among the victors for Whitworth were Natalie Turner (500-yard freestyle, 5 minutes, 3.20 seconds) and Katelyn Erickson (200 individual medley, 2:12.06).

Winners for Linfield included Kevin Caple (200 IM, 1:55.90) and Dom Rieniets (50 freestyle, 21.24).

Gymnastics

Ashley Houghting won the floor (9.825) and shared first place on the vault (9.850), but Washington fell just shy of beating Arizona, 195.300-193.925, at Edmundson Pavilion.

• Debra Huss won the beam (9.800) and floor (9.825) on her way to winning the all-around competition, but Sacramento State beat Seattle Pacific 191.900-191.550 at Brougham Pavilion.

Softball

Washington split a pair of games with Cal Poly to open the season at the Mustang Classic in San Luis Obispo, Calif. The 11th-ranked Huskies came back from a 3-2 deficit in Game 1 to win 4-3 in eight innings, then fell 7-6 in the nine-inning nightcap.

Baseball

Central Washington's Jamie Nilsen had a home run and three walks as the Wildcats (2-0) picked up a rain-shortened 7-2 victory over Cal State Stanislaus in Turlock, Calif.

• Gonzaga (0-4) fell to host UC Riverside 9-3.

• Saint Martin's lost to Cal State Monterey Bay 9-8 in Olympia.

Compiled from wire and sports-information reports and other sources.