WJPA Sports

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Henry Davis hit a go-ahead solo home run in the seventh inning to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Davis turned on a 91 mph cutter from Cubs reliever Trent Thornton and sent it 427 feet over the fence in left field for his fourth homer of the season. Pittsburgh’s bullpen did the rest. Wilber Dotel earned his first big-league win with three innings of scoreless relief. Michael Busch homered for Chicago, but couldn’t stop the Cubs from dropping their ninth straight game, the club’s longest skid since a 10-game slide in 2022.

MONTREAL (AP) — Andrei Svechnikov scored at 14:06 of overtime as the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference Final. Shayne Gostisbehere and Taylor Hall scored in regulation for Carolina. Frederik Andersen made 11 saves. Mike Matheson and Lane Hutson scored for Montreal, which got 35 stops from Jakub Dobes. Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is Wednesday at the Bell Centre.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Karl Anthony-Towns had 19 points and 14 rebounds, OG Anunoby scored 17 and the New York Knicks routed the Cleveland Cavaliers 130-93 Monday night to complete a four-game sweep of the Eastern Conference finals and advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999. Landry Shamet scored 16 off the bench while Mikal Bridges and Jalen Brunson had 15 apiece for the Knicks, who became the fourth team to have an 11-game winning streak during their postseason run. The last to do it was Golden State, which had a 15-game run en route to its second title in three seasons in 2017. Donovan MItchell had 31 points for Cleveland, which was swept in a postseason series for the first time since the 2018 NBA finals against Golden State.

PARIS (AP) — Tennis players at the French Open say they haven’t experienced conditions this hot at Roland Garros since the 2024 Paris Olympics. And the Olympics were held in July and August. Temperatures for the opening two days of the clay-court Grand Slam have soared to 33 degrees C (91 F). That’s far beyond normal for late May in the French capital. And it’s forecast to stay that way for the entire first week. Besides making it uncomfortable for fans and players alike the sultry conditions have also created faster conditions on court. Russian-born Australian player Daria Kasatkina says “I don’t remember the last time it was so hot at Roland Garros.”

It’s WPIAL Baseball & Softball Championship Week, a framework that includes Fort Cherry baseball, Bentworth, Chartiers-Houston, Carmichaels, Jeff-Morgan & West Greene softball. Each will have their last WPIAL playoff games before the end of the week. Baseball championship games start Tuesday at EQT Park with third-place games next door at W&J’s Ross Memorial Park. Most softball third-place games are scheduled for Tuesday at various sites, though the Jeff-Morgan / West Greene game is listed for Wednesday.  The softball championships are Wednesday/Thursday at PennWest California’s Lilley Field. The teams from Bentworth, Chartiers-Houston, Carmichaels and Fort Cherry have all clinched berths in the PIAA tournaments scheduled to begin June 1. Only the Jeff-Morgan/West Greene winner qualifies for the state softball playoffs.

WPIAL Baseball Brackets 
Tuesday, May 26
1:00 pm 3A Final South Park vs. Ellwood City
1:00 pm 1A Third Place Western Beaver vs. Serra Catholic
4:00 pm 2A Final Fort Cherry vs. Neshannock, WJPA-AM (1450) Listen Here
4:00 pm 2A Third Place Riverview vs. South Side Beaver (winner only qualifies)
7:00 pm 4A Final Indiana vs. Elizabeth-Forward
7:00 pm 4A Third Place Derry Area vs. Hopewell (winner only qualifies)

Wednesday, May 27
1:00 pm 1A Final Eden Christian vs. Greensburg Central Catholic
2:00 pm 5A Third Place Montour vs. Thomas Jefferson
4:00 pm 6A Final Butler vs. North Allegheny
5:00 pm 3A Third Place Avonworth vs. Riverside
7:00 pm 5A Final Upper St. Clair vs. South Fayette

WPIAL Softball Brackets
Tuesday, May 26
3:00 pm 3A Third Place Ellwood City vs. Keystone Oaks at North Allegheny (winner only qualifies)
4:00 pm 5A Third Place West Mifflin vs. Thomas Jefferson at West Mifflin
5:00 pm 2A Third Place Laurel vs. Chartiers-Houston at North Allegheny
7:00 pm 4A Third Place Hampton vs. North Catholic at North Allegheny (winner only qualifies)

Wednesday, May 27
11:45 am 2A Final Bentworth vs. Neshannock, WJPA-AM (1450) Watch/Listen Here
2:15 pm 5A Final Shaler vs. North Hills
4:00 pm 1A Third Place Jeff-Morgan vs. West Greene at Pleasant Valley (winner only qualifies)
4:30 pm 6A Final Hempfield vs. Seneca Valley

Thursday, May 28
12:00 n 1A Final Union vs. Carmichaels
2:15 pm 3A Final South Park vs. Mt. Pleasant
4:30 pm 4A Final Elizabeth-Forward vs. Blackhawk