Plain leads Huskies at WCWS
OKLAHOMA CITY — Gabbie Plain dominated on the softball field for the second straight day as Washington defeated Oregon 6-2 Friday in the Women’s College World Series. Plain, a freshman pitcher from Australia, gave up four hits and no earned runs in six innings against the top-seeded Ducks. She gave up four hits in 5 2/3 scoreless innings Thursday against Oklahoma, the No. 4 seed trying to win its third straight title. Fifth-seeded Washington (51-8) needs one win Sunday to advance to the championship series. Oregon (53-9) won all three meetings against its Pac-12 rival during the regular season. With the game scoreless, Washington loaded the bases with one out in the fifth. Kelly Burdick put the ball in play, forcing a throw home, and Kaija Gibson scored despite taking a glove to the face on the tag. Taylor Van Zee then singled and knocked in two runs to chase starter Megan Kleist. The Huskies added another run in the inning and their final two in the sixth, with Oregon scoring its runs in the seventh.
BASKETBALL
› MEMPHIS — Lance Thomas has decided to transfer to Memphis after being granted his unconditional release by Louisville. Thomas announced his choice Friday in a video he posted to Twitter, and the Tigers confirmed his transfer later Friday. Thomas will have to sit out a year but will have three seasons of eligibility remaining. The 6-foot-8, 210-pound Thomas averaged 2.2 points, 1.3 rebounds and 4.2 minutes in 12 games last season as a freshman. Thomas is the latest addition for former NBA star Penny Hardaway, the firsttime college head coach who was hired in March to revitalize his alma mater.
FOOTBALL
› IRVING, Texas — The Big 12 Conference set a revenue record for the 12th consecutive year, and the money is expected to keep increasing in the near future. While wrapping up its spring meetings Friday, the league announced revenue of nearly $365 million for the 2017-18 academic year, an average of about $36.5 million for 2017-18. Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said there are some variances — a gap of about $2.5 million between the top and bottom of the league based on member participation subsidies. That average is an increase from last year when the league generated about $348 million, or about $34.8 million per school. And it could increase into the range of $40 million per school next year. The 14-team Southeastern Conference still leads the way with an average distribution of about $41 million per school, with the Big Ten reportedly at $38.5 million per school. But the Big 12 is ahead of the Pac-12, which has distributable revenue of about $31 million per school, and the Atlantic Coast Conference — its 14 football schools received between $25.3 million and $30.7 million.
› HOUSTON — Five former NFL cheerleaders sued the Houston Texans on Friday, alleging the team failed to fully compensate them as required by law and subjected them to a hostile work environment in which they were harassed, intimidated and forced to live in fear. The lawsuit, filed in Houston federal court, accuses the franchise of paying the women less than the $7.25 per hour they were promised, not compensating them for making public appearances or performing other tasks related to their jobs and creating a workplace where the women were threatened with being fired for voicing any complaints. Texans spokeswoman Amy Palcic said the team is constantly evaluating its cheerleader program and makes changes “as needed to make the program enjoyable for everyone.” Prominent women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred, who’s representing the cheerleaders as they seek unspecified damages, alleged the women were paid “so little or not paid at all” for much of the work they did because of their gender. This is the second such lawsuit filed against the Texans. Last month, three ex-cheerleaders also filed suit in Houston federal court, accusing the Texans of not paying them minimum wage and not paying overtime wages and accusing a cheerleading supervisor of body shaming them.