Ott, World Series catcher for ’79 Pirates, dies at age 72
Ed Ott, a hard-nosed and well-respected catcher on the Pirates’ World Serieswinning team in 1979, has died. He was 72.
“We are saddened by the loss of such a beloved member of the Pirates family,” Pirates president Travis Williams said in a statement issued Sunday night. “Ed spent seven of his eight years in the major leagues with the Pirates and was a valued member of our World Series championship team in 1979.
“It was great to see him last summer when he was in Pittsburgh to support former teammate Kent Tekulve at our Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Our sincere condolences to his wife, Sue, daughter Michelle and the entire Ott family.”
Ott, a Danville, Pa., native who went to Muncy High School, made his MLB debut in 1974 and produced arguably his best season five years later, hitting .273 and collecting 51 RBIs.
After his playing days ended, Ott coached and managed in the California, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati farm systems. He was also a big league bench coach with the Astros from 1989-93 and the Tigers’ bullpen coach from 2001-02.
Auto racing
Kyle Larson won his second consecutive race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on to keep keep Chevrolet undefeated and give Hendrick Motorsports its second victory in the first three NASCAR Cup Series races of the season.
Larson won for the third
time in his career at Las Vegas, where in 2021 he got his first win driving for Hendrick following a nearly yearlong suspension in 2020. Larson also won in the No. 5 Chevy at Las Vegas last October in the playoffs.
• Jos Verstappen says the Red Bull Formula One team will “explode” if Christian Horner stays on as team principal. Jos Verstappen, the father of three-time F1 champion Max Verstappen, tells the Daily Mail newspaper that “the team is in danger of being torn apart” and that “it will explode” if things continue.
Hockey
Penn State’s women’s hockey team defeated Mercyhurst, 1-0, on Saturday to win its second straight College Hockey America championship and earning an auto bid to the NCAA tournament beginning on March 14. The bracket will be announced on March 10.
• Robert Morris’ men’s hockey team beat Bentley, 43, in overtime to advance to the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Hockey Association
tournament. The Colonials will face No. 1 seed RIT in a best-of-three series starting on March 8.
Golf
Austin Eckroat left PGA National with a share of the lead on Saturday. He left with the outright lead Sunday. He’ll have to come back Monday to finish the job. A Monday finish awaits at PGA National, after the final round of the opening event on the PGA Tour’s Florida Swing was interrupted by thunderstorms that brought nearly 2 inches of rain in a hurry and forced everyone off the course for 3 1/2 hours.
• Hannah Green made a stunning 30-foot birdie at the final hole to clinch a onestroke victory against Celine Boutier at the LPGA Tour’s HSBC Women’s World Championship.
• Joaquin Niemann won his second LIV Golf title in three starts, closing with a 4under 66 at LIV Golf Jeddah for a four-shot victory versus Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel.
• Jordan Gumberg, an American ranked No. 669, was a surprise winner of the SDC Championship on the European tour when he beat Robin Williams in a playoff.
Tennis
Rafael Nadal played an unofficial event, losing to fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, 3-6, 6-4 (14-12), in The Netflix Slam before a sellout crowd of 9,489. Nadal, 37, showed no apparent sign of any issues related to his hip.
Soccer
Jenna Nighswonger and Jaedyn Shaw scored in the first half, and the United States rebounded from its loss to Mexico with a 3-0 victory in Los Angeles against Colombia on to advance to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup. Lindsey Horan also converted a penalty in the opening minutes for the Americans, who will face Canada on Wednesday.
Olympics
Top surfers Gabriel Medina of Brazil and Sally Fitzgibbons of Australia won the final qualifier for the upcoming Olympics following nine days in which scores of competitors faced volatile weather and painful sea urchin spines.
Sports media
Chris Mortensen, the award-winning journalist who covered the NFL for close to four decades, including 32 as a senior analyst at ESPN, died Sunday morning. He was 72. ESPN confirmed Mortensen’s death. There was no immediate word on the cause or place of death.