Rouse, Elgin on a roll as districts heat up
Rouse and Elgin both produced big wins in Austin-area softball action last week, as Elgin pushed across a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to win 1-0 and hand Georgetown its first district loss while red-hot Rouse battered district-leading Liberty Hill 10-2.
Liberty Hill responded impressively, however, as the Panthers pounded out four home runs, including a grand slam by Cadence Wiese, to beat Leander 10-8. Bella Nicholson, Skylar Strable and Makayla Mendoza also homered.
Around the area
Round Rock pounded McNeil 13-3 and Vandegrift 15-1 as Brantley Lavas improved to .562 on the season with a five-hit week. The Dragons and Vista Ridge, which battered Stony Point 13-2 and Manor 15-0, are tied for second place behind Cedar Ridge, which won twice, including a 15-3 win over Vandegrift after beating Manor 11-2.
The second-ranked Raiders got a complete game three-hitter in the circle from Nicole McCann as Caitlin Benningfield ripped three hits, including a pair of triples, and Gabriella Zulfekar added two triples. In the Vandegrift win, Kendall Ward fanned five in earning the pitching victory while collecting three hits at the plate herself, Tyra Thompson added a three-run home run and both Benningfield and Zulfekar collected three hits.
Dripping springs won twice, beating Bowie for a season sweep 7-4 and then outlasting Johnson 9-8 in eight innings. The Tigers moved back into a game out of first place in district by scoring twice in the bottom of the eighth which completed a 2-0 week after Dripping Springs had beaten Bowie 7-4 on Tuesday. In the Johnson win, Dripping Springs was led by Lorelei Gamble, who smacked three doubles and drove in a pair of runs . ... Bowie's Kate Bookidis notched her 100th strikeout in the loss to Dripping Springs. Anya German had three hits, including a home run, for Bowie, which responded with a 16-1 win over Austin High.
Navarro is 6-1 in district play with six of its starters hitting at least .500. In other action, Stony Point beat Westwood 12-5 while Lockhart beat Cedar Park 5-4 and Hays edged Glenn 6-5.
Crockett blasted Travis 17-2 in three innings while LASA trounced McCallum 16-1 and Eastside Early College outscored Northeast Early College 2111.
Hyde Park cliched its TAPPS district title with a dominating 11-2 win over Victoria St. Joseph's, marking win No. 107 for the Panthers' seniors as a class. Skye Perez hit a home run while Taylor Haywood earned her 18th win by striking out 13.
Rouse is on a roll, gets honored
Team of the week: Rouse. The Raiders beat state-ranked and district front-runner Liberty Hill 10-2 at home. Blakely Barber pitched a complete game with 11 strikeouts. Ciana Arguijo went 3-for-3 at the plate and Delaney Vannoy went 3-for-4 with a home run.
Staying hot, Rouse then beat Lehman 12-0 as Madi George had four hits, including a home run, and Barber struck out seven in four innings.
Fab Fives
Class 6A
1. Cedar Ridge 23-1
2. Lake Travis 18-10
3. Vista Ridge 19-6
4. Dripping Springs 19-11
5. Bowie 19-7
Class 5A
1. Liberty Hill 17-4
2. Georgetown 24-7
3. Elgin 16-7
4. Glenn 19-10
5. LASA 14-7
Class 4A/others
1. Hyde Park 25-4
2. Llano 17-2
3. Burnet 13-8-1
4. Gateway College Prep 17-6-2
5. Johnson City 17-5-1
Hurley due at least $1.8 million in bonuses after UConn title
In addition to a net, a trophy and a ring, Connecticut men's basketball coach Dan Hurley will collect a $500,000 bonus for the Huskies' defeat of Purdue on Monday night in the NCAA men's tournament championship game.
A second consecutive national title means that Hurley will receive at least $1.8 million in bonuses for a season in which Connecticut becomes the first school to win consecutive national men's titles since Florida did so in 2006-07. He could reach his contractual maximum of $2 million, depending on the team's academic success.
Hurley received $775,000 of a possible $1 million in bonuses last season, including $175,000 connected to team academic performance, according to documents UConn provided to USA TODAY Sports in response to an openrecords request. However, he and the school then renegotiated their contract, increasing his pay and his maximum annual bonus total.
His basic annual pay for this season is $5 million, which placed him seventh in USA TODAY's annual men's basketball coaches' compensation survey.
Hurley came into the NCAA Tournament with a combined total of $300,000 in bonuses.
Record 18.7M watch Iowa-South Carolina title game
NEW YORK – The NCAA women's championship clash between Iowa and South Carolina was watched by 18.7 million viewers on Sunday - a record for a women's college basketball game, ESPN said.
It peaked at 24 million viewers on ABC and ESPN, the sports broadcaster said, and was the most-watched basketball game across men's, women's, college or professional sport since 2019.
The figure beats the 12.3 million who tuned in for Caitlin Clark and her Iowa Hawkeyes' revenge game against LSU earlier in the tournament and their Final Four match against rivals University of Connecticut last week, which drew 14.2 million.
– Wire reports