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Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Ethan Hedges homers twice to lift USC baseball past Saint Mary's in NCAA tournament
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Saint Mary's coach Eric Valenzuela knew who he didn't want to beat him. Valenzuela said before Saturday night's matchup with USC that Ethan Hedges is the scariest hitter in the Trojans' lineup even though the midseason All-American hadn't played to the same standard in the second half. Hedges was hitting .415 with 22 extra-base hits, including 11 home runs, and 39 RBIs through USC's first 32 games. But since April 8, Hedges had lacked the same electricity. Over a 25-game span, he had batted .247 with just five extra-base hits and 17 RBIs. Still the fear was there for opposing coaches. Hedges showed why Saturday. He broke out with a two-homer performance, including the go-ahead long ball, to power USC to a 6-4 victory and into the Corvallis Regional final. The Trojans are one win away from their first super regionals appearance since 2005. USC left-hander Mason Edwards pitched an efficient 5⅓ innings, needing just 64 pitches before he was removed after giving up his sixth hit. Two of those left the yard, giving Saint Mary's an 3-1 lead early, but USC showed the resiliency that has been a key element of the program under third-year coach Andy Stankiewicz. With two outs and seemingly no momentum in the fourth inning, Abbrie Covarrubias triggered the Trojans by beating out a high chopper to shortstop. Freshman Augie Lopez tied the game two pitches later when he demolished a fastball, putting it on top of the scoreboard in right-center field. Hedges' second blast gave USC a 4-3 lead an inning later. The Trojans led 5-3 heading into the eighth when things got dicey. Saint Mary's loaded the bases with a pair of soft singles to right field and a four-pitch walk. A sacrifice fly brought Gaels three-hole hitter Aiden Taurek to the plate. USC ace reliever Brodie Purcell got Taurek to ground into a fielder's choice, but then Stankiewicz made the intriguing decision to pull the right-handed Purcell, the Trojans' workhorse out of the pen all season, in favor of left-hander Caden Hunter despite a right-handed hitter due up. Hunter, who had worked as a starter until the last couple weeks, struck out Saint Mary's cleanup hitter Ryan Pierce on a 95-mph fastball after pumping multiple 96- and 97-mph offerings — his hardest pitches of the season — earlier in the count. The Trojans added an insurance run in the bottom half of the inning before Hunter dismissed Saint Mary's final three batters to collect his first Division I save. USC advances to the Sunday night regional final at 7 p.m. PDT where it will await the winner of Sunday afternoon's 3 p.m. matchup between top-seed Oregon State and No. 4 seed Saint Mary's. If USC were to lose Sunday night's game, a winner-take-all game would be played Monday.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
UCLA facing WCWS elimination after comeback sputters in loss to Texas Tech
UCLA starting pitcher Taylor Tinsley, shown here delivering against UC Santa Barbara on May 16, gave up four hits and three earned runs in a 3-1 loss to Texas Tech at the Women's College World Series on Saturday. (Kyusung Gong / Associated Press) UCLA had its chances against a familiar foe at the Women's College World Series on Saturday. But the Bruins, who walked off with a win against Oregon late early Friday morning, failed to duplicate the same magic against Texas Tech's NiJaree Canady. Advertisement Canady, the hard-throwing former Stanford ace, pitched a complete game seven-hitter with seven strikeouts and two walks to help secure a 3-1 win for the Red Raiders and a spot in Monday's semifinals. Read more: More Bruin magic: Jessica Clements' walk-off homer lifts UCLA past Oregon at WCWS The Bruins left five runners on base against Canady — three in the second inning and two more in the seventh. Back-to-back singles by Alexis Ramirez and Rylee Slimp to lead off the seventh gave UCLA hope against Canady. But Bragg popped out to second, pinch-hitter Sofia Mujica struck out and Slimp was tagged out to end the game. The Bruins (55-12) now must travel a different path if they are going to challenge for a 13th national title. UCLA plays Tennessee on Sunday at noon (PDT) and must win to extend their season. Advertisement Texas Tech (52-12) needs just one win to reach the championship series. The Red Raiders will face either four-time defending champion Oklahoma or Oregon, who play Sunday. Taylor Tinsley (15-5) pitched a complete game four-hitter with one walk and two strikeouts for UCLA, which scored on a solo home run by Kaniya Bragg in the fifth to make it 1-1. Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
UPI
a day ago
- Science
- UPI
SpaceX deploys 27 Starlink satellites from the West Coast
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully deploys a Global Positioning System satellite on Friday, and another launch on Saturday deployed 27 Starlink communications satellites. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo May 31 (UPI) -- SpaceX ended May with another successful launch of its Falcon 9 rocket Saturday afternoon at its West Coast launch facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The launch occurred at 1:10 p.m. PDT with a payload of 27 Starlink satellites bound for low-Earth orbit, SpaceflightNow reported. It was the Falcon 9's 16th successful launch and the 25th for its first-stage booster rocket. The booster rocket successfully landed on the "Of Course I Still Love You" drone ship in the Pacific Ocean. The successful landing marked the 133rd successful booster rocket landing and 455th overall on the droneship. Anne Mason, director of National Security Space Launch for SpaceX, said at least 170 more Falcon launches are planned this year. "This demonstrates how Falcon's reusability and reliability ... have been critical to supporting assured access to space," Mason told media before the afternoon launch. SpaceX is producing a second-stage rocket every 2.5 days to meet the demand for the large number of planned launches. Officials for the Elon Musk-owned space company also are looking to buy Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg Space Force Base to support the ambitious launch schedule.
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
The Sports Report: UCLA gets walk-off win at Women's College World Series
From Tim Willert: Jessica Clements hit a walk-off, two-run home run in the seventh inning early Friday morning to carry ninth-seeded UCLA past No. 16 Oregon 4-2 at the Women's College World Series, after the Ducks tied the game in the top of the inning on a call at home plate that was overturned. Catcher Alexis Ramirez also hit a two-run homer in support of Bruins' starter Kaitlyn Terry, who pitched a four-hitter and gave up one earned run. UCLA (55-11) will play No. 12 seed Texas Tech on Saturday at 4 p.m. (PDT) for a spot in the semifinals. Oregon (53-9) will face unseeded Mississippi in Friday's elimination game. Oregon's Paige Sinicki doubled inside the third-base line to lead off the seventh, but the ruling was challenged by UCLA. The call was upheld, but the next hitter, Dezianna Patmon bunted Sinicki to third with one out. Emma Cox followed with a ground ball to third baseman Jordan Woolery, who tried to throw Sinicki out at home. The throw to Ramirez was on time and Sinicki was ruled out at home for the second out. Oregon challenged the call, and it was overturned after a video review showed obstruction by Ramirez. Continue reading here All Times Pacific Conference finals Western Conference No. 1 Oklahoma City vs. No. 6 Minnesotaat Oklahoma City 114, Minnesota 88 (box score)at Oklahoma City 118, Minnesota 103 (box score)at Minnesota 143, Oklahoma City 101 (box score)Oklahoma City 128, at Minnesota 126 (box score)at Oklahoma City 124, Minnesota 94 (box score) Eastern Conference No. 3 New York vs. No. 4 IndianaIndiana 138, at New York 135 (OT) (box score)Indiana 114, at New York 109 (box score)New York 106, at Indiana 100 (box score)at Indiana 130, New York 121 (box score)at New York 111, Indiana 94 (box score)Saturday at Indiana, 5 p.m., TNTMonday at New York, 5 p.m., TNT* NBA FINALS West No. 1 Oklahoma City vs. NY/Ind. Thursday at Oklahoma City, 5:30 p.m., ABCSunday, June 8 at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m., ABCWed., June 11 at NY/Ind, 5:30 p.m., ABCFriday, June 13 at NY/Ind, 5:30 p.m., ABCMonday, June 16 at Oklahoma City, 5:30 p.m., ABC*Thursday, June 19 at NY/Ind, 5:30 p.m., ABC*Sunday, June 22 at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m., ABC* *if necessary From Jack Harris: Before the start of the season, Dodgers first base and infield coach Chris Woodward pulled Mookie Betts aside one day, and had him envision the ultimate end result. 'You're gonna be standing at shortstop when we win the World Series,' Woodward told Betts, the former Gold Glove right fielder in the midst of an almost unprecedented mid-career position switch. 'That's what the goal is.' Two months into the season, the Dodgers believe he's checking the requisite boxes on the path toward getting there. 'I would say, right now he's playing above-average shortstop, Major League shortstop,' manager Dave Roberts said this week. 'Which is amazing, considering he just took this position up.' Betts has not only returned to shortstop this season after his unconvincing three-month stint at the position last year; but he has progressed so much that, unlike when he was moved back to right field for the stretch run of last fall's championship march, the Dodgers have no plans for a similar late-season switch this time around. 'I don't see us making a change [like] we did last year. I don't see that happening,' Roberts said. 'He's a major league shortstop, on a championship club.' 'And,' the manager also added, 'he's only getting better.' Continue reading here Shaikin: 'Another log on the fire.' Yankees eager to avenge World Series meltdown against Dodgers Dodgers acquire former All-Star closer Alexis Díaz in trade with Reds From Gary Klein: Tutu Atwell played quarterback. He played receiver, and he also played on defense. Years before diminutive and speedy Atwell matured into an NFL prospect, the Rams receiver played flag football. Could anybody stop him? 'Nah, nah,' Atwell said, chuckling. So Atwell, a 2021 second-round draft pick who will earn $10 million this season, said he would be cool and fun if he got the opportunity in a few years to try out for the 2028 U.S. Olympic flag football team. Atwell echoed the feelings of Minnesota Vikings star receiver Justin Jefferson and other players in the league since NFL owners last week approved a resolution that would allow them to try out for flag football. The resolution limits only one player per NFL team to play for each national team in the Los Angeles Games. NFL players would compete for spots with others already playing flag football. 'It's great,' Rams coach Sean McVay said. 'If that's something that players say they want to be able to do, then I think it's a really cool experience for them to be able to be a part of while also acknowledging that, man, there are some other guys that have been doing it.' Continue reading here Let's hear from you. Could a smoother path to the College Football Playoff be worth losing the Notre Dame-USC rivalry? Vote here and let us know. Results announced next week. All times Pacific Conference finals Western Conference Central 2 Dallas vs. Pacific 3 Edmontonat Dallas 6, Edmonton 3 (summary)Edmonton 3, at Dallas 0 (summary)at Edmonton 6, Dallas 1 (summary)at Edmonton 4, Dallas 1 (summary)Edmonton 6, at Dallas 3 (summary) Eastern Conference Metro 2 Carolina vs. Atlantic 3 FloridaFlorida 5, at Carolina 2 (summary)Florida 5, at Carolina 0 (summary)at Florida 6, Carolina 2 (summary)Carolina 3, at Florida 0 (summary)Florida 5, at Carolina 3 (summary) STANLEY CUP FINALS P3 Edmonton vs. A3 FloridaWednesday at Edmonton, 5 p.m., TNTFriday, June 6 at Edmonton, 5 p.m., TNTMonday, June 9 at Florida, 5 p.m., TNTThursday, June 12 at Florida, 5 p.m., TNTSaturday, June 14 at Edmonton, 5 p.m., TNT*Tuesday, June 17 at Florida, 5 p.m., TNT*Friday, June 20 at Edmonton, 5 p.m., TNT* * If necessary 1903 — Flocarline becomes the first filly to win the Preakness Stakes. 1908 — Jockey Joe Notter misjudges the finish of the Belmont Stakes and eases up on his mount, Colin, whose career record to that point was 13-for-13. Notter recovers from his mistake and holds off Fair Play, who came within a head of defeating Colin. When he retired, Colin's record stood at 15 wins in as many starts. 1911 — Ray Harroun wins the first Indianapolis 500 in 6 hours, 42 minutes and 8 seconds with an average speed of 74.59 mph. 1912 — Joe Dawson wins the second Indianapolis 500 in 6:21:06. Ralph Mulford is told he has to complete the race for 10th place money. It takes him 8 hours and 53 minutes as he makes several stops for fried chicken. The finishing rule is changed the next year. 1951 — Lee Wallard wins the Indianapolis 500, becoming the first driver to break the 4-hour mark with a time of 3:57:38.05. 1951 — Ezzard Charles beats Joey Maxim in 15 for heavyweight boxing title. 1952 — At 22, Troy Ruttman becomes the youngest driver to win the Indianapolis 500. 1955 — Bob Sweikert, an Indianapolis native, wins the Indianapolis 500. Bill Vukovich, seeking his third consecutive victory, is killed in a four-car crash on the 56th lap. 1957 — European Cup Final, Madrid: Alfredo Di Stéfano and Francisco Gento score as defending champions Real Madrid beats Fiorentina, 2-0. 1974 — 17th European Cup: Ajax beats Juventus 1-0 at Belgrade. 1985 — The Edmonton Oilers win the Stanley Cup for the second straight year with an 8-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 5. 1987 — Mike Tyson beats Pinklon Thomas by TKO in round 6 in Las Vegas to retain WBC/WBA heavyweight boxing titles. 1993 — Emerson Fittipaldi wins his second Indianapolis 500, by 2.8 seconds. Fittipaldi takes the lead on lap 185 and holds on, outfoxing Formula One champion Nigel Mansell and runner-up Arie Luyendyk. 2004 — In Cooper City, Fla., Canada easily beats the United States in a three-day cricket match, the first competition on American soil sanctioned by the International Cricket Council. 2005 — Johns Hopkins wins its first NCAA lacrosse title in 18 years, beating Duke 9-8 to complete an undefeated season. 2009 — English FA Cup Final, Wembley Stadium, London (89,391): Chelsea beats Everton, 2-1; Frank Lampard scores 72′ winner. 2010 — Dario Franchitti gets a huge break from a spectacular crash on the last lap to climb back on top of the open-wheel world to win the Indianapolis 500. Franchitti's second Brickyard victory in four years helps his boss, Chip Ganassi, become the first owner to win Indy and NASCAR's Daytona 500 in the same year. 2011 — Jim Tressel, who guided Ohio State to its first national title in 34 years, resigns amid NCAA violations from a tattoo-parlor scandal that sullied the image of one of the country's top football programs. 2012 — Roger Federer breaks Jimmy Connors' Open era record of 233 Grand Slam match wins by beating Adrian Ungur of Romania 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3 in the second round of the French Open. Federer, who owns a record 16 major championships, is 234-35 at tennis' top four tournaments. Connors was 233-49. The Open era began in 1968. 2015 — English FA Cup Final, Wembley Stadium, London (89,283): Arsenal beats Aston Villa, 4-0; Gunners' 12th title. 1894 — Boston's Robert Lowe became the first player in Major League history to hit four home runs in a game, leading the Beaneaters to a 20-11 win over Cincinnati. After hitting four straight homers, all line drives far over the fence, Lowe added a single to set a major league record with 17 total bases. 1922 — Between the morning and afternoon games of a Memorial Day twin bill, Max Flack of the Chicago Cubs was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Cliff Heathcote. They played one game for each team. 1927 — In the fourth inning of a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, shortstop Jim Cooney of the Chicago Cubs caught Paul Waner's liner, stepped on second to double Lloyd Waner and then tagged Clyde Barnhart coming from first for an unassisted triple play. 1935 — Babe Ruth made his last major league appearance. He played one inning for the Boston Braves against the Philadelphia Phillies. Jim Bivin retired Babe Ruth on an infield grounder in the Babe's final major league at-bat. 1940 — Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants threw 87 pitches in a 7-0 one-hitter against the Brooklyn Dodgers. He faced the minimum 27 batters. Johnny Hudson, who singled, was caught stealing. 1956 — Mickey Mantle hit a home run that came within a foot-and-a-half of leaving Yankee Stadium. It hit the face of the upper deck in right field, 370 feet from home plate and 117 feet in the air. Mantle became the first player to hit 20 home runs by the end of May as the Yankees beat the Washington Senators 4-3. 1961 — Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Bill Skowron each hit two homers to lead the New York Yankees to a 12-3 rout of the Boston Red Sox. Yogi Berra also added a homer. 1962 — Pedro Ramos of the Cleveland Indians tossed a three-hitter and hit two home runs, including a grand slam, for a 7-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. 1977 — Cleveland's Dennis Eckersley pitched a 1-0 no-hitter against the Angels. 1982 — Baltimore's Cal Ripken Jr. began his record consecutive games streak by starting at third base against the Toronto Blue Jays. 1987 — Eric Davis hit a grand slam in the third inning, breaking two National League records and leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Davis became the first NL player to hit three grand slams in a month and his major league leading 19 homers broke the NL record for most homers in April and May. 1992 — Scott Sanderson became the ninth pitcher to beat all 26 major league teams as New York defeated Milwaukee 8-1. Sanderson joined Nolan Ryan, Tommy John, Don Sutton, Mike Torrez, Rick Wise, Gaylord Perry, Doyle Alexander and Rich Gossage as those who have defeated every club. 2001 — Barry Bonds hit two home runs, moving past Willie McCovey and Ted Williams into 11th place on the career list with 522. Bonds with 17 home runs in May, surpassed the mark set by Mark McGwire in 1998 and Mickey Mantle in 1956. 2003 — Ken Griffey Jr. hit a game-tying home run in the ninth and a go-ahead homer in the top of the 11th to lead Cincinnati over Florida 4-3. 2006 — Vernon Wells hit three home runs and Troy Glaus added two more in Toronto's 8-5 victory over Boston. 2009 — Travis Tucker hit an RBI single with one out in the top of the 25th inning, leading Texas to a 3-2 victory over Boston College in the longest game in NCAA history. The game eclipsed the previous record of 23 innings, set in 1971 when Louisiana-Lafayette defeated McNeese State 6-5. 2010 — Albert Pujols hit three long home runs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 9-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. Pujols homered in the first, fifth and ninth innings for his fourth career three-homer game. 2011 — Jo-Jo Reyes won for the first time in 29 starts by throwing his first career complete game to lead Toronto to an 11-1 rout of Cleveland. Reyes avoided becoming the first pitcher to go winless in 29 starts. Oakland's Matt Keough went 28 starts between wins in 1978 and 1979, matching the dubious mark first set by Boston's Cliff Curtis in 1910 and 1911. Reyes went 0-13 with a 6.59 ERA in his 28 starts between wins. 2011 — Arizona's Kelly Johnson became the second player in the majors this year to have four extra-base hits in a game as the Diamondbacks beat the Florida Marlins 15-4. Johnson hit solo home runs in the third and sixth, doubled in the fourth and tripled in the seventh. 2015 — The Dodgers snap a 42-inning scoreless road streak in beating the Cardinals, 5-1. They are held hitless for five innings by Michael Wacha to beat an unenviable club record dating back to 1908, until a run-scoring single by Howie Kendrick in the 6th puts the team on the board and a three-run homer by Yasmani Grandal gives them the lead. It is Wacha's first loss after opening the year with seven straight wins. Compiled by the Associated Press That concludes today's newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you'd like to see, email me at To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
More Bruin magic: Jessica Clements' walk-off home run powers UCLA to win at WCWS
OKLAHOMA CITY — Jessica Clements hit a walk-off, two-run home run in the seventh inning early Friday morning to carry ninth-seeded UCLA past No. 16 Oregon 4-2 at the Women's College World Series, after the Ducks tied the game in the top of the inning on a call at home plate that was overturned. Catcher Alexis Ramirez also hit a two-run homer in support of Bruins' starter Kaitlyn Terry, who pitched a four-hitter and allowed one earned run. UCLA (55-11) will play No. 12 seed Texas Tech on Saturday at 4 p.m. (PDT) for a spot in the semifinals. Oregon (53-9) will face unseeded Mississippi in Friday's elimination game. Oregon's Paige Sinicki doubled inside the third-base line to lead off the seventh, but the ruling was challenged by UCLA. The call was upheld, but the next hitter, Dezianna Patmon bunted Sinicki to third with one out. Emma Cox followed with a ground ball to third baseman Jordan Woolery, who caught Sinicki in a run down. The throw to Ramirez was on time and Sinicki was ruled out at home for the second out. Oregon challenged the call, and it was overturned after video review because of obstruction by Ramirez. Oregon led 1-0 in the fourth inning when Ramirez hit a two-out pitch from starter Lyndsey Grein over the left-field wall to give UCLA a 2-1 lead. It was the first run the Bruins had scored against Grein in four games this season. The Ducks took two of three from UCLA in April. After Woolery singled and Megan Grant walked to open the sixth, Grein was pulled in favor of Elise Sokolsky, who retired the next two batters. Lightning and rain resulted in a 75-minute delay, and two brief power outages lasting less than a minute each, turned Devon Park dark in the first inning. Oregon scored first against Terry in the third inning. Kaylynn Jones led with an infield single before a bunt by Katie Flannery. Jones took third on a ground out by Kai Luschar. Her sister, Kedre Luschar then drove in Jones on a single to right field. The Bruins nearly answered in their half of the inning when Savannah Pola drove a pitch from Grein 220 feet to the base of the center-field wall that was hauled in by Kedre Luschar to end the inning.
