May 10, 2022 3:06 am
UNDATED (AP) – The New York Islanders have fired coach Barry Trotz after missing the playoffs in his fourth season with the team. General manager Lou Lamoriello made the surprising announcement more than a week after the regular season ended. Trotz coached the Islanders to playoff appearances in each of his first three years with them.
May 10, 2022 3:07 am
UNDATED (AP) – College sports leaders are trying to send a warning to schools and boosters when it comes to paying athletes for endorsement and sponsorship deals: There are still rules and they will be enforced. The NCAA’s Division I Board of Directors has approved guidance clarifying the types of payments and booster involvement that could be considered recruiting violations. It is not clear whether the NCAA will clamp down on boosters offering money to recruits or whether it will be taken to court over it.
May 9, 2022 6:47 am
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. — For the first time since 1993, the Waynesburg University Softball program won the PAC Championship. The Yellowjackets beat the tournament host Westminster Titans 3-1 on Sunday. The PAC Softball Championship was delayed two days because of weather, and finished on Sunday afternoon. The victory gives Waynesburg an automatic qualifying bid into the NCAA D-III Softball Tournament. The selection show will air live on ncaa.com at 1 p.m. on Monday, May 9. The complete bracket for the event will be posted at ncaa.com immediately after the online webcast.
May 9, 2022 3:04 am
CINCINNATI (AP) – Colin Moran hit a grand slam and a two-run homer against his former team, powering the Cincinnati Reds to a 7-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Tyler Mahle pitched five solid innings and the Reds rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the sixth. Cincinnati took two of three against Pittsburgh to win a series for the first time this season, improving the majors’ worst record to 5-23. Moran’s bases-loaded drive to right field in the sixth gave Cincinnati a 5-2 lead. He homered to center with Kyle Farmer on first base in the eighth, giving him six RBIs in a game for the first time in his career. They were his first two home runs this season.
May 9, 2022 3:02 am
UNDATED (AP) – The Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning have tied their Stanley Cup first-round series at two games apiece. Brad Marchand delivered two goals and three assists as the Bruins turned a 2-1 deficit into a 5-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Steven Stamkos, Pierre Edouard Bellemare and Pat Maroon scored in the first eight minutes of the Lightning’s 7-3 win against Toronto.
May 9, 2022 3:03 am
POTOMAC, Md. (AP) -Max Homa played solid, steady golf during a week of cold, wet conditions and a back-and-forth Sunday duel with Keegan Bradley. He closed with a 2-under 68 for a two-shot victory in the Wells Fargo Championship. The 31-year-old Homa finished at 8-under 272 at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. He won for the fourth time overall, third in 15 months and second since he gave up his popular podcast. Bradley started the day with the lead, gave it away and took it back before Homa moved ahead for good on the back nine. He closed with a 72 to finish two shots back, tied with Cameron Young and Matt Fitzpatrick.
May 8, 2022 5:43 am
PITTSBURGH — Louis Domingue remembers dragging a net out into the street, pulling on his rollerblades and dreaming what it would be like to be in the NHL playoffs. The reality is surpassing the Pittsburgh Penguins’ backup to the backup goaltender’s greatest expectations. The journeyman stopped 32 shots — including a handful on the penalty kill in the third period with the Penguins reeling — to set the stage for Danton Heinen’s late tally as Pittsburgh surged past the New York Rangers 7-4 on Saturday night to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round series. The Penguins grabbed control of the series heading into Monday night’s Game 4 by chasing Vezina Trophy-favorite Igor Shesterkin in the first period, blowing a three-goal cushion in the second then responding even with the top line of Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust contributing nothing on the scoresheet until New York’s net was empty in the final minutes. The Penguins killed off a pair of penalties in the first half of the third to keep the score tied before Heinen jumped on a loose puck near the New York goal line and flicked a shot by Alexandar Georgiev 11:02 into the third to put the Penguins in front to stay. Evan Rodrigues had two goals and assisted on another for the Penguins. Jeff Carter also scored twice for the Pittsburgh while Brock McGinn started the scoring on what became two-plus hours of seismic momentum shifts with his first goal of the playoffs. Kaapo Kakko, Frank Vatrano, Artemi Panarin and Andrew Copp scored for the Rangers. Georgiev finished with 19 saves on 20 shots after taking over for Shesterkin, who was chased after allowing four goals in the first period.
May 8, 2022 5:46 am
CINCINNATI — Josh VanMeter had just one thought when he suddenly realized the Pittsburgh Pirates needed him as a catcher. “Pure panic,” he said. Forced into an emergency role, VanMeter had a rough time Saturday when he moved from second base for his first try behind the plate since he was a teenager. The Cincinnati Reds took advantage to end a nine-game losing streak, beating the Pirates 9-2 in the opener of a doubleheader. In the nightcap, Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a two-run homer and Yoshi Tsutsugo and Diego Castillo had back-to-back home runs as Pittsburgh won 8-5 for a split. VanMeter did not play in the second game after his position switch in the first game. Tyler Stephenson fouled a ball hard off VanMeter’s mask, then hit a tiebreaking, bases-loaded double in the eighth inning that fueled a seven-run burst. Pirates starting catcher Roberto Pérez was helped off the field with a left hamstring injury after falling while rounding second base in the top of the eighth of the opener. Backup catcher Andrew Knapp had been ejected by plate umpire Will Little in the bottom of the sixth for chirping from the dugout. That left VanMeter as the Pirates’ next best option behind the plate, so he traded his infielder’s glove for a catcher’s mitt. It had been a while, too, for a player who’s listed as a second baseman/outfielder. “I think it was when I was 14 in summer ball, but they didn’t throw as hard and their stuff didn’t move like that,” he said. VanMeter quickly gathered the equipment he needed. He grabbed Knapp’s gear, but wound up using Perez’s glove.
May 8, 2022 5:48 am
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Anyone anticipating a return to normalcy in the Kentucky Derby got a dose of crazy Saturday when an 80-1 shot came charging up the rail to win at Churchill Downs. With favorite Epicenter and Zandon engaged in a duel at the front, Rich Strike stole the show with the second-biggest upset in the Derby’s 148-year history. The chestnut colt beat 4-1 favorite Epicenter by three-quarters of a length. Zandon finished another three-quarters of a length back in third. Rich Strike paid $163.60 Only Donerail in 1913 had a higher payout of $184.90. Rich Strike wasn’t even in the Derby until Friday when Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas scratched Ethereal Road, making room for the chestnut colt who had just two previous wins in his career. “We found out about 30 seconds before the deadline on Friday,” owner Rick Dawson said. “It put us in the race and really we always felt if we just got in we’ve got a shot.”
May 7, 2022 3:57 am
Friday’s Pirates game against Cincinnati was postponed because of rain. It has been rescheduled as part of a split doubleheader on Thursday, July 7. The make-up game from Friday will be July 7 at 2:10 p.m., and the originally scheduled July 7 game will begin at 7:10 p.m. Weather permitting, the Pirates will try to take on the Reds as part of a doubleheader today, and you can hear that action starting at 12:10 p.m. on WJPA 1450 AM.
