The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Oklahoma, Florida St. to clash for NCAA softball title
It wasn’t pretty, but Oklahoma kept its historic win streak alive.
Tiare Jennings doubled in the ninth inning to score two runs, leading the top-seeded Sooners past No. 9 Stanford 4-2 on Monday in Oklahoma City for a shot at their third straight Women’s College World Series title.
Oklahoma increased its Division I record to 51 consecutive victories. The Sooners advanced to play No. 3 Florida State for the national championship in a rematch of the 2021 championship series that the Sooners won. Oklahoma (59-1) looks to become the first program since UCLA in 198890 to win three consecutive titles. The best-of-3 championship series starts Wednesday.
“We win a lot, and that’s fabulous,” Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso said. “But sometimes I think we’re so used to taking it for granted, and this means a lot. This means a lot. To get to the championship game means a lot.”
Stanford (47-15) reached the World Series for the third time, and the first time since 2004.
Because Oklahoma was unbeaten in the double-elimination bracket, the Sooners needed just one win on Monday, while Stanford would have needed two to advance. Oklahoma handed Stanford both of its World Series losses.
Stanford’s Kylie Chung hit a two-run homer in the first, the only runs the Sooners have allowed at the World Series. Jayda Coleman’s solo homer tied the score at 2 in the third.
Grace Lyons doubled to start off Oklahoma’s ninth. Coleman came up with Lyons on third base and with two outs and was intentionally walked. With two strikes, Jennings — celebrating her 21st birthday — sent Nijaree Canady’s pitch into the gap in right-center to bring Lyons and Coleman home.
In the nightcap, Kathryn Sandercock and Makenna Reid combined for five innings of scoreless relief to help No. 3 seed Florida State defeat No. 4 Tennessee 5-1 and advance to the championship series against Oklahoma.
Sandercock, the Seminoles’ veteran ace, allowed one hit and struck out four in three innings to claim her 10th save of the year.
President Biden hosts Chiefs at White House
President Joe Biden said the Kansas City Chiefs are “building a dynasty” as he hosted the team at the White House to mark their Super Bowl victory in February.
Speaking on the South Lawn, Biden praised the team for playing with “the real joy of the game and love for each other and the great city you represent.” He also praised the team for their charitable work off the field, saying, “as these guys know about football, they know about life and how to use their platform to make a difference. ”
Biden joked that first lady Jill Biden, a “rabid” Philadelphia fan, is still not over the dramatic end to the game, which included a controversial holding penalty against the Eagles that set the Chiefs up for their game-winning field goal.
• The Buffalo Bills reached an agreement to sign linebacker Leonard Floyd to a one-year contract, reuniting the player with fellow edge rusher, Von Miller, multiple sources reported.
Floyd, 30, is entering his eighth NFL season after spending the past three with the Rams, with whom he won a Super Bowl two years ago while playing on the opposite side of the line as Miller — the NFL’S active leader in sacks. In 104 games, all starts, Floyd has 47 1/2 sacks since being selected by Chicago in the first round of the 2016 draft.
• A former part owner of the Minnesota Vikings who defrauded a short-lived professional football league known as the Alliance of American Football in a $700 million cryptocurrency scam was sentenced to more than six years in prison.
Reginald Fowler, 64, of Chandler, Arizona, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to six years and three months in prison and was ordered to forfeit $740 million and pay restitution of $53 million.
The Alliance of American Football met a speedy end in 2019 when it ran out of money.
Prosecutors said Fowler lied to the league’s executives when he claimed to control bank accounts with tens of millions of dollars from real estate investments and government contracts that he could use to support the league.
In 2005, he tried to buy the NFL’S Minnesota Vikings, becoming a minority owner before his involvement in the team ended in 2014.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement that Fowler broke the law by processing hundreds of millions of dollars of unregulated transactions on behalf of cryptocurrency exchanges that were used as a shadow bank.
The deal, which will pay the 22-year-old winger an average annual salary of $7.85 million, runs through the 2030-31 season.
Caufield scored 26 goals and added 10 assists in 46 games in 202223 before he underwent season-ending surgery on his right shoulder in February. Despite missing nearly half the season, Caufield led the Canadiens in goals for the second consecutive season, tied with Nick Suzuki.
OBITUARY Hines, former world record holder in 100, dead at 76
Jim Hines, the 1968 Olympic 100-meter champion who later went on to be an NFL wide receiver, has died. He was 76.
USA Track and Field announced that Hines died Saturday. No cause of death was provided.
Born in Arkansas and raised Oakland, Hines took his talent to Texas Southern University, where he quickly rose up the ranks.
Hines won the 100 at the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City in a world-record time of 9.95 seconds. He also helped the 4x100 relay to a gold medal. Hines’ world mark in the 100 meters stood for 15 years before it was broken by Calvin Smith.
After his track career, Hines briefly suited up for the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Hines was inducted into the track and field hall of fame in 1979.