AWAY AT SCHOOL: Suddenly, Zink is a slugger

For all the time Shawnee Zink spent sweating through summer bullpen sessions with her father Pat - zinging fastballs into the glove of her makeshift catcher for hours on end - you'd think Zink's right arm would be her meal ticket to the next level.

That was what Zink presumed, too, when the ex-Lewiston High hurler committed to play softball at the Community Colleges of Spokane as a high-school senior.

But upon her arrival, she learned that the pitching staff at CCS was littered with capable arms and that the Bigfoot wouldn't need hers immediately.

It meant not only would she be in the hunt for a new position, but that the two, three hours a day she spent honing her craft in the circle would now be vacated.

"I did that for 12 years. I was like, 'What do I do with my extra time?' " Zink said. " 'I guess I'll go hit.' "

She's been hitting ever since.

As a sophomore at CCS, Zink carried a .447 batting average and claimed a team-high 37 RBI.

Her 10 home runs were also a team-best.

"In high school, I was a good hitter but I didn't produce as much as I did when I was in the field," said Zink, who transformed into a first baseman at CCS. "I would go into an at-bat thinking, 'Oh, I gave up that hit last inning, I need to produce now.' But when I was just playing infield for Spokane the last two years, I was much more relaxed on the field."

Two of Zink's long balls came in the championship game of the Northwestern Athletic Conference Tournament between CCS and Mt. Hood.

The first, a solo shot in the first inning, put the Bigfoot up 1-0. Zink ripped her second in the fifth inning, plating three runs to create a 12-3 CCS lead. Mt. Hood failed to counter in the bottom of the frame, invoking the mercy rule.

Zink accounted for five of her team's RBI and went 2-for-4 after enduring a mini-slump during the tournament's quarterfinal and semifinal rounds.

"On Friday I went 5-for-6 and the next two days, Saturday and Sunday, I went 0-fer," she said. "When I went into the championship game, I just thought, 'I've got to let go and just have fun.' "

At the time, Zink intended for it to be the last competitive softball game she'd ever play.

But a select group of college coaches hoped it wouldn't, including KJ Kelley, coach at the University of Mary, an NCAA Division II program in Bismarck, N.D.

"I wasn't really looking to go and play on," Zink said. "(Kelley) actually came out personally to watch me and she offered me a scholarship."

After a few weeks of pondering, Zink gave the Marauders her word, reckoning "I have my whole life to work and I only have a couple years left of something that I'm very passionate about."

At CCS, Zink studied to become an administrative medical assistant. At Mary, she'll make a slight shift in her field of study and focus on health care administration.

On the diamond, though, Zink will stick to the first-base role she adopted at Spokane.

But even two years later, she still has the itch to pitch.

"I do miss it a lot, it was a big part of my life for a really long time," Zink said. "I always joke to my teammates about coming out of retirement. ... I want to see if I still have it."

Here are more updates on athletes from the Tribune's circulation area who played collegiately in spring sports:

• Prairie's Sky Wilson made 12 appearances behind the plate for the Treasure Valley Community College's softball team. Wilson had four hits and one RBI as a freshman.
• Another former Prairie Pirate, Leah Holthaus, spent her freshman season with the Blue Mountain Community College softball team, appearing twice on the mound and finishing the season 1-0. Holthaus also played in the outfield and racked up 23 hits, batting .256 for the Timberwolves.
• Four area athletes earned field time as freshmen playing for the softball team at Walla Walla Community College.

Asotin's Mickenzie Mullins hit .277 in 20 games played, swatting four doubles and two home runs. Mullins appeared in 10 games on the mound and started in three of those.

Kendrick's Carli Taylor also played in 20 games, batting .273 with three doubles and three homers.

Potlatch's Kelsey Butterfield hits .164 at the plate in 28 games while Clarkston's Miranda Beuke appeared in eight games and recorded five at-bats.

• Ex-Lewiston High pitcher Lunden Young played her final season at Iowa's William Penn University, making 29 appearances on the hill for the Statesmen. Young finished with a record of 8-13 and an ERA of 3.80.
• McKenzie McClanahan, a Garfield-Palouse alum, used a redshirt year at Oklahoma Wesleyan - an NAIA program in Bartlesville, Okla.
• As a true freshman, Moscow's Haley Adams started in seven games and appeared in 11 for the softball team at Carroll College. Adams, an outfielder, hit .357 and didn't make an error.
• Homegrown talent played a big part in Lewis-Clark State's 17th NAIA World Series title and nobody proved more vital to the Warriors' efforts than Lewiston's Beau Kerns, who was named the Series MVP after recording two saves and two wins. All four of Kerns' appearances came out of the L-C bullpen.

Teammate Zach Holley, another Lewiston High graduate, tallied five hits during the World Series as the Warriors' starting left fielder. On the season, he hit .299.

LCSC freshman DePaul Blunt, a Clarkston High grad, made 17 appearances this spring, recording five hits, but didn't see any field time during the Series.

• Asotin's Jackson Webb wasn't on the active roster, but nonetheless returned to the valley to join Faulkner, of Montgomery, Ala., in its own quest for a Series championship. During the regular season, Webb made 29 appearances and nine starts, producing five hits - one of which was a home run.
• Alumni of the Moscow baseball program were spread out all over the Pacific Northwest this spring:

A senior at Oregon Tech, Ryan Snyder recorded 11 outings on the mound with a record of 1-2.

A starter at first base, sophomore Jarod Paul made 27 appearances during his final season at Walla Walla Community College. Paul hit .252 with 19 RBI and a home run.

Joey Reintjes didn't record any stats during his freshman season at Shoreline Community College.

Kellen Martin made one appearance as a freshman at Yakima Valley Community College.

Freshman outfielder Hunter Redinger saw the field 19 times at Pierce Community College, where he finished the season with a batting average of .263 and tallied seven RBI.

• Orofino's Jasper Sabatino wore a different shade of blue this spring as a freshman at Blue Mountain College. Sabatino pitched in five games, starting one for the Timberwolves.
• Pullman's Brady Mooney was the regular second baseman for the baseball team at the College of Idaho, where the ex-Greyhound made 50 starts, managed a batting average of .234 and swatted three doubles, four triples and one homer.
• Another Pullman grad, Matt Peterson, spent his spring with the Columbia Basin College baseball team but didn't log any playing time.
• Nick Scourey, also from Pullman, was a sophomore at Whitworth, where he made 11 appearances on the mound for the Pirates. Scourey, who made six starts, finished the 2015 campaign with a 2-1 record. His Whitworth team qualified for the NCAA Division III regional tournament, but lost consecutive games in Tyler, Texas.
• Colfax's Cole Neu and Lewiston's Mason Schumaker both competed for the track and field team at Northwest Christian. Neu, a throws specialist, competed in both the javelin and discus, while Schumaker, listed as a decathlete, also aided the Beacon relay teams.
• Chad Redman, of Garfield-Palouse, completed his college career with the track and field team at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps of California. Redman clocked in a seventh-place in the 400 hurdles event at the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships, where his Stags were team champions.
• Lewiston's Megan Ralstin completed her freshman track and field season at Montana State as the only Bobcat to compete in the triple jump. Ralstin also recorded the third-best long jump mark among MSU athletes, hitting 5.42 meters at the Utah Spring Classic.
• For the men's team at Montana State, Moscow's Alex Lewis finished his season with the team's best long jump mark, hitting 7 meters at the Bryan Clay Invitational in April.
• Lewiston's Shevaun Ames, a freshman distance runner at Utah Valley, placed 11th in the 1,500-meter event at the WAC Championships, where three of her Wolverine teammates finished inside the top 10.
• It didn't take Moscow's Jerry Cook-Gallardo long to catch on at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. Cook-Gallardo, a true freshman, earned a spot in the final heat of the 800 meter run at the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships at Canton, N.Y. The ex-Bear clocked in a time of 1:56.38, finishing eighth in the heat.
• Culdesac graduate Taylor Hewett completed her track and field career at Idaho and at the Big Sky Conference meet, where she competed in the 800 race but failed to qualify for the final day of action in Cheney.
• Also wrapping up her collegiate career with the Vandal women was Moscow's Helga Machleidt, who most recently competed in the 1500 at Boise State's Border Clash.
• Moscow's Al Taylor, another senior at UI, saw his own career come to a close at the conference meet, where Taylor competed in the hammer throw. Taylor recorded a final heave of 137-04.
• Alex Simpson of Asotin completed in his first outdoor track and field season at Washington State, competing most recently at the Cougar Invitational, where he ran the 800 meters.
• Pullman's Adam Mahama, a throws specialist, used up a redshirt year at Washington State after transferring from Lewis-Clark State.
• Amanda Henderson and Alexys Garcia, both distance runners who graduated from Pullman High, starred for the Cougars in the 1500 at the Cougar Invitational. Henderson (4:53.8) finished third, while Garcia (4:58.36) was sixth.

Those two were bested in the event by Colfax's Morgan Willson, a redshirt sophomore at WSU, who won the event in 4:49.9.

Pamela Henderson, also a former Greyhound, is listed on the WSU roster as a distance runner.

• Not a regular part of the Warriors' lineup, Clarkston's Kianna Arthur did see some action as a true freshman on the LCSC women's tennis team. Most recently, Arthur picked up both a singles and doubles win in L-C's 7-0 triumph over Skagit Valley College. The Warriors advanced to the NAIA national tournament but lost in the second round.
• Brothers Drew and Ryan Adams, Clarkston High grads, spent their spring together in Spokane, playing for the men's tennis team at Whitworth. Drew, a junior, went 7-10 in singles play and 9-7 in doubles competition. A freshman, Ryan was 1-1 in singles play and 1-2 in doubles play.
• Clarkston's KC McConnell, also a member of the Whitworth women's basketball team, was 0-1 in singles competition and 2-3 in doubles play for the Pirates tennis team.
• Lewiston's Rafa Hewett earned All-Appalachian Athletic Conference honors after his freshman season at Point University of Georgia. The two-time Idaho Class 5A state champ was 18-10 in singles matches, playing in the top spot of the Skyhawks' singles lineup. Hewett strung together an overall record (singles and doubles) of 32-24.
• Clarkston's Roni Hewett was named by her Chaminade teammates "Most Inspirational" after the senior wrapped up her senior season with the Silversword women's tennis team. Hewett went 2-10 in doubles play and played 11 of her 12 singles matches at the No. 1 position for the Honolulu school.
• Former Lewiston standout Amy Hasenoehrl, an Idaho sophomore, finished in a tie for eighth place in the recent Big Sky women's golf tournament, where the Vandals finished three strokes shy of a team title.
• After transferring from Spokane Community College, Moscow's Cooper Wright returned home to spend his spring with the men's golf team at UI. Wright didn't compete at the conference tournament, though his Vandals returned with a team title.
• Moscow's Jake Verlin was a freshman on the Community Colleges of Spokane golf team that recently picked up its fourth consecutive NWAC championship.
• Another ex-Bear, Garrett Adair, competed for the University of Great Falls (Montana) after transferring from North Idaho College. Adair finished in a tie for 25th at the Frontier Conference tournament.
• Pullman's Paige Whidbee wrapped up her own collegiate golfing career in style at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. The Ephs were crowned NCAA Division III national champions after edging Wittenburg by 17 strokes. Whidbee didn't compete at the national tournament, but finished fourth in her final collegiate tournament - the Williams Spring Invitational.
• Clarkston's Aaron Magnum and Lewiston's Kenneth Stroupe both played for the men's golf team at LCSC, helping the Warriors win a Frontier Conference championship and earn a berth into the NAIA national tournament.
• Colfax alum Paige Mackleit was part of the women's golf team at L-C that would also go on to pick up a conference title.
• Clarkston's Tyler Carlson completed his junior season at Oregon State and shot a 9-over 289 at the Pac-12 Championships in Pullman, where the Beavers finished sixth as a team.
• AJ Barndt, another former Bantam, played for the men's golf team at Oregon's George Fox University. There, Barndt competed in various spring events and most recently at the Willamette Spring Thaw, where he finished 19th.

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Away at School is published periodically throughout the school year. To include collegiate athletes who graduated from high school in north central Idaho or southeastern Washington, submit names to the Tribune at (208) 848-2268, by email at sports@lmtribune.com or fax at (208) 746-1185.