Texas corrals Connecticut

Texas jumped out to an early lead on Connecticut and took home a 14-4 victory in a semifinal of the U.S. bracket at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pa.

Texas scored eight runs in the first inning, fueled by a home run by Collin Ross, a stolen base, an error, and a single by Malcolm Deason. Texas had 13 hits in the game.

Mark Requena earned the win for the Southwest representatives. He went 42⁄3 innings, surrendering four runs, four hits and striking out seven.

Home runs for New England came when Matthew Vivona went long in the fifth inning and Michael Iannazzo homered in the third. Vivona also pitched and took the loss for the New England representatives.

Texas will now face North Carolina in the final of the U.S. bracket at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

More baseball

Mexico scored three runs in the fifth inning and then held on for a 6-2 victory against Canada in the semifinal of the international bracket. The big inning was fueled by a home runs by Jorge Garcia and Jorge Lambarria. Andre Garza earned the win for Mexico. He pitched four innings and struck out seven. Mexico moves on to face Japan in the final of the international side at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

Soccer

Cristiano Ronaldo won his third UEFA men’s player of the year award in four seasons, beating Lionel Messi and Gianluigi Buffon to get the trophy.

• Riverhounds goalkeeper Trey Mitchell will have surgery on his left shoulder to repair an injury in Saturday’s match at Saint Louis FC and will miss the remainder of the season.

College hockey

Robert Morris signed women’s coach Paul Colontino to a four-year contract extension through the 2021-22 season. Colontino is 110-72-26 entering his seventh season with the Colonials.

Pro basketball

Manu Ginobili is returning for his 16th season with the San Antonio Spurs. Terms of the deal with the 40-yearold Argentine guard weren’t disclosed. He will become the eighth player in NBA history to spend his entire career with one team and play at least 16 seasons, joining Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, John Stockton, Reggie Miller and John Havlicek.

Tennis

Nadal is seeded No. 1 at the U.S. Open for the first time since 2010, and Karolina Pliskova will make her debut as the top-seeded woman at any Grand Slam tournament. The U.S. Open draw is Friday and play begins Monday at Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

• Second-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia beat sixthseeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, 7-5, 6-4, to reach the Connecticut Open semifinals in New Haven, Conn. Cibulkova is seeking her ninth WTA Tour title.

Track

Four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah’s track career ended with a thrilling win in a sprawling four-man finish to the 5,000 meters at the Weltklasse Diamond League meet in Zurich. Just 0.13 seconds separated the first four men.