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NCS softball playoffs: Pinole Valley captures first section title in over a decade

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:05:00 GMT

PLEASANT HILL – On a sunny Saturday afternoon at Diablo Valley College, Pinole Valley defeated heavy underdog Encinal 6-1 to win the North Coast Section Division III softball championship.Pinole Valley looked every bit like the No. 1 seed in the first inning, batting around the order and scoring four runs. Melina Mendoza singled in one run, Aneesa Brewer drove in another, senior Milanya Rosales put one across the plate, and Jennifer Ramirez finished the scoring with a single into right. For a team that had scored a combined three runs in the past two games, the opening salvo felt like a weight being lifted off the Spartans’ shoulders. “Those first four runs in the first inning were huge just to get their confidence back,” Tatro said. “They were starting to worry. It’d been tough for a while to score.”Pinole Valley’s Aneesa Brewer hits a double against Encinal in the NCS Division III softball championship at DVC College in Pleasant Hill, Calif., Saturday, May 27, 2023. (Karl Mo...

CCS Open championship: Hollister’s big adjustments prevent St. Francis three-peat

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:05:00 GMT

SARATOGA – Hollister’s 4-0 Central Coast Section Open Division victory became official on the West Valley College scoreboard at 5 p.m, but the Haybalers won the mental game a few minutes after the 3 p.m. first pitch. It was only one run in the top of the first inning, but when Hollister’s Grace Peffley drove a grounder into right field and a runner across the plate, the Balers got the emotional edge over the St. Francis Lancers.“When they scored the run in the first inning, I could feel the energy drop,” St. Francis pitcher Shannon Keighran said. “As a captain, that’s really hard to see.”It didn’t hurt that Hollister executed a strategy that turned St. Francis’ fearsome bats into popup machines. Starting pitcher Sophia Mariottini pounded the inside part of the plate and dared the Lancers to pull the ball into gaps, something St. Francis was unable to do. “They beat us in every facet of the game,” St. Francis coach Mike Oakland said. “They pitched better, they hit better, they ...

Crews search for man submersed in Livermore lake: officials

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:05:00 GMT

(KRON) -- Crews are searching for a man submersed in a Livermore lake Saturday afternoon, East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) announced in a press release. Park officers responded to a call around 3:51 p.m. from a family of a man who entered the water to retrieve an oar. 2 SF women arrested after $50K worth of merch stolen from Santa Rosa Sunglasses Hut: police The man jumped into the water at Lake Del Valle, immediately began to struggle and then went underwater, according to witnesses who spoke to EBRPD. Officers arrived at the scene minutes later.Marine officers and EBRPD lifeguards assisted in the response. As of Saturday night, crews are still searching for the unidentified man.Lake Del Valle is located at Del Valle Regional Park in Livermore, approximately 15 miles southeast of the Livermore outlets.

Aidan Meola’s walk-off home helps Oklahoma St. eliminate Texas Tech, advance to Big 12 title game

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:05:00 GMT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Aidan Meola hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth and No 7 seed Oklahoma State beat Texas Tech 6-5 Saturday to eliminate the Red Raiders and advance to the championship game of the Big 12 Tournament.Oklahoma State (41-17) has won four games in three days — including an 8-1 win early Saturday over Texas Tech — since losing its opening game of the tournament on Wednesday. The Cowboys play No. 4 seed TCU, which won two of three games against the OSU in the regular season, for the title on Sunday. Texas Tech (39-21) scored five runs in the top of fifth, capped by Hudson White’s ‘three-run home run, and the Red Raiders led 5-0 going into the bottom of the eighth, which Zach Ehrhard led off with a single. Beau Sylvester followed with a pinch-hit two-run home run, Colin Brueggemann later scored on a wild pitch with the bases loaded before pinch-hitter Carson Benge made it 5-all with a two-RBI single.After Ehrhard struck out in the bottom of ...

Opinion: Girls are in crisis — and their mental health needs to be taken seriously

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:05:00 GMT

By: Alexe Bernier, McMaster UniversityAn article in the Washington Post recently declared “a crisis in American girlhood.” Girls in the United States are experiencing alarmingly higher rates of sexual assault, mental health issues and suicidality than ever before.Data collected in 2021 by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) demonstrates how dire the circumstances of American girlhood are. Fourteen per cent of teenage girls in the United States shared that they had been forced to have sex, and 60 per cent had experienced extreme feelings of sadness or hopelessness. Nearly a quarter of girls had considered and planned suicide.While these findings are based on U.S. data, the story is consistent with what girls in Canada have been saying for the past decade. In Canada, over 50 per cent of female students in Ontario have reported moderate to severe psychological distress. One in four girls has been sexually abused by the time they turn 18.Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death fo...

Red Sox mailbag: What should the Sox do with Jarren Duran when Adam Duvall returns?

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:05:00 GMT

The Red Sox have nearly hit the season’s one-third mark, and in the coming days they’ll wrap up this week’s extended west coast road trip and return to Fenway to kick off the summer slate.Sounds like as good a time as any to empty the mailbag.Today we’ll cover some early trade speculation, possible offseason moves and how the Red Sox are going to deal with their impending roster crunch as the club starts getting healthier.I wanted to get your take on what the Sox should do when Adam Duvall returns. In my opinion, Jarren Duran has played his way as the starting center fielder and should not have to relinquish his spot to Duvall. Given the current batting average of (Triston) Casas, can he and Duvall platoon and perhaps Duvall DH once or twice a week? — Jeff P.It speaks to how good Duran has been that anyone has this kind of sentiment, since the last time we saw Duvall he was in the midst of an epic hot streak with four home runs and 14 RBI in his first eight g...

Aztecs drop game 2 of NCAA Super Regional series to Utah

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:05:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State Aztecs softball team has one more shot to make its first Women's College World Series in the program's history following a 10-1 defeat to the Utah Utes in the NCAA Super Regional.Saturday's five-inning loss was the second game of the best-of-three series in the tournament against No.15 overall seed Utah at Dumke Family Softball Stadium.The Aztecs entered the game after securing a 4-3 victory Friday over the Utes, becoming the first team to win its debut NCAA Super Regional game since James Madison in 2016. But they couldn't keep the same mojo as SDSU pitchers allowed 13 hits on Saturday. How to get discounted San Diego County Fair tickets, parking and other deals The dominating performance from the Utes completed the run-rule win, which according to the NCAA, the plate umpire may declare the run-ahead rule if one team is up by eight or more runs after five or more equal innings.With the series now split at 1-1, the Aztecs (39-16) and Utes (41-...

Liz Cheney to give Colorado College graduation speech as GOP campaign speculation persists

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:05:00 GMT

Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney will give a graduation speech at her alma mater, an elite Colorado liberal arts college, amid questions about her political future and insistence that Donald Trump never become president again.At Colorado College’s commencement on Sunday, the Wyoming Republican is expected to touch on themes similar to those she has promoted since leaving office in January: Addressing her work on the House January 6 Select Committee that investigated the U.S. Capitol insurrection and standing up to the threat she believes Trump poses to democracy.Cheney’s busy speaking schedule and subject matter have fueled speculation about whether she may enter the 2024 GOP presidential primary. Declared or potential candidates ranging from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley have calibrated their remarks about Trump, aiming to counter his attacks without alienating the supporters that won him the White House seven years ago.Though some have ...

‘Anatomy of a Fall’ wins Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or; 3rd time female director wins top honor

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:05:00 GMT

Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” won the Palme d’Or at the 76th Cannes Film Festival in a ceremony Saturday that bestowed the festival’s prestigious top prize on an engrossing, rigorously plotted French courtroom drama that puts a marriage on trial. “Anatomy of a Fall,” which stars Sandra Hüller as a writer trying to prove her innocence in her husband’s death, is only the third film directed by a woman to win the Palme d’Or. One of the two previous winners, Julia Ducournau, was on this year’s jury. Cannes’ Grand Prix, its second prize, went to Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest,” a chilling Martin Amis adaptation about a German family living next door to Auschwitz. Hüller also stars in that film. The awards were decided by a jury presided over by two-time Palme winner Ruben Östlund, the Swedish director who won the prize last year for “Triangle of Sadness.” The ceremony preceded the festival’s closing night film, the Pixar animation ...

Indian official suspended after he drains reservoir to retrieve phone he dropped while taking selfie

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:05:00 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — A government official in India has been suspended from his job after he ordered a water reservoir to be drained so he could retrieve his smartphone, which he had dropped while taking a selfie.Food inspector Rajesh Vishwas dropped his Samsung smartphone in Kherkatta dam in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh last week, The Times of India newspaper reported.Vishwas first asked local divers to jump into the reservoir to find the device, claiming it contained sensitive government data. But after the initial efforts to retrieve his smartphone failed, he asked for the reservoir to be emptied using diesel pumps.Over the next three days, more than 2 million liters of water were pumped out from the reservoir, which is enough to irrigate at least 1,500 acres of land during India’s scorching summer, local media reported.In videos that went viral on social media, Vishwas is seen sitting under a red umbrella as diesel pumps run to drain water from the reservoir.Vishwas told...