After injury in the opening game, this Hanford grad is back on the diamond for Gonzaga
Hanford High grad Hudson Shupe has had a wild ride over the past nine months.
Shupe spent his freshman season in 2022-23 at Seattle University, where he was outstanding with a .338 batting average.
Over the summer, Shupe entered the transfer portal, and the infielder ended up signing with Gonzaga University.
Starting at second base and leading off, the sophomore blasted the first pitch he ever saw as a Zag for a home run in an 8-7 loss at UCLA on Feb. 19.
He finished the game by going 3-for-5 and driving in three runs. … and then he wasn’t in the lineup for a few weeks.
“I broke my hamate bone in my right hand in my last at-bat in that opening game,” Shupe told the Herald.
Shupe had surgery a few days later, and said he’d likely by out four to six weeks.
“I’m definitely disappointed to miss some time and some cool opportunities,” Shupe said back in February. “But I’ll never have to worry about this injury again once the scar heals. I’m happy to know I will be back for most of conference play and to help us when postseason comes around.”
The hand has healed though, and Shupe was back in the lineup, leading off, as Gonzaga opened West Coast Conference play last weekend in Spokane against Loyola Marymount.
The Bulldogs ended up sweeping the three-game series against the Lions.
Shupe was hot, going 8 for 11 at the plate. That included him hitting a two-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth in Saturday’s 7-6 victory.
So, in just four games, Shupe is batting .688 (11 hits in 16 at bats), with two home runs, 7 runs scored and 7 RBIs. Gonzaga is now 6-14 this season.
Women’s basketball
The Providence University women’s basketball team placed second at the NAIA Nationals in Sioux City, Iowa, this week, falling to Dordt of Iowa 57-53.
The loss snapped a 10-game win streak for the Argonauts, who finished the season with a 27-9 record.
Sunnyside High grad Ashlee Maldonado — who is a graduate student after playing with Santa Clara University the previous four years — finished with a game-high 18 points. Maldonado added 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
Providence defeated Frontier Conference rival Carroll College 58-53 on Monday night in the semifinals.
In that game, Maldonado scored a team-high 22 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and dished off 4 assists for Providence.
The Argonauts roster has a pretty heavy Mid-Columbia roster, with sophomore Camryn Cartwright (Chiawana), sophomore Katelyn Heideman (Hermiston), and grad student Alicia Oatis (Kennewick) on the team.
Maldonado’s older sister, Emilee Maldonado (who starred the previous four seasons for the team, is an assistant coach.
College volleyball
Richland graduate Sage Brustad finished her college volleyball career last fall at Eastern Washington University by making second-team All-Big Sky Conference as an outside hitter.
The Eagles were 13-17 overall, and the senior Brustad led the team with 383 kills and 44 service aces. She was second on the team in digs with 287.
College hockey
Former Tri-City Americans Sam Huo and Sasha Mutala were University of British Columbia’s Nos. 2 and 3 scorers, respectively, this season.
Huo scored 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points, while Mutala scored 7 goals and 22 assists for 29 points. Both are sophomores.
UBC was 26-6-1-1 this season and won the Canada West title for the first time in 53 years.
▪ Former Tri-City American Parker AuCoin finished up his university career this spring, but he was far from done with hockey.
AuCoin then signed a contract to play for the Idaho Steelheads in the ECHL.
In 11 contests, AuCoin scored 3 goals and 7 assists. Then on March 20, the Atlanta Gladiators of the ECHL traded for AuCoin.
He’s played in two games for the Gladiators so far.
In 84 games with Carleton, AuCoin scored 69 points.
From 2014-19, he played four full seasons for the Americans. That included 272 games, scoring 88 goals and 92 assists.
▪ Sophomore Jadon Joseph was No. 6 in scoring this season for the Calgary University Dinos men’s hockey team.
Joseph, a former Tri-City American had 5 goals and 17 assists for 22 points, as Calgary went 30-9 this season.
▪ What a year for former Tri-City American Connor Bouchard.
The sophomore played for Mount Royal University, scoring 22 goals and 38 assists to lead all of Canada West players in scoring with 60 points.
He was named Canada West Player of the Year, and U SPORTS Player of the Year — meaning he was the top player in all of Canadian University hockey.
Mount Royal had a 26-12 record this season.
College track
Cameron Breier, a junior at the Air Force Academy, ran the anchor leg for the men’s 4x400 relay team that finished third in the Mountain West Conference Indoor Track Championships on Feb. 22-24.
Breier, a Chiawana graduate, helped the Falcons finish with a time of 3:12.07.
College rowing
Freshman Sarah Plemons (Hanford) was part of Western Washington University’s second Varsity Eight women’s rowing team that beat Pacific Lutheran at the PLU Invite on March 9.
Plemons and her Western teammates crossed the finish line in 8 minutes, 58.36 seconds. PLU crossed the line in 9:32.25.
Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.
