HIGH SCHOOLS

Olivia Howe of Thornton Academy has been named the winner of the Miss Maine Softball award, presented to the state’s outstanding senior player.

The announcement was made Wednesday after the annual all-star games scheduled for Thursday at Colby College were canceled because of the forecast of rain.

Howe batted .655 with 32 RBI and 15 extra-base hits for a team that lost only twice – both against eventual Class A champion Scarborough. As a pitcher, she was 11-1 with 106 strikeouts and a 1.94 ERA in the regular season.

“She’s a pretty versatile kid,” said Thornton Coach John Provost. “She could play multiple positions for us and pitched out of necessity this year.”

The other finalists were Grace Tutt of Massabesic, Kassidy Lessard of Noble, Olivia Albert of Old Town and Lanie Perry of Narraguagus.

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BASEBALL

EASTERN LEAGUE: Anthony Castro struck out 11 and allowed only one hit in seven innings, and the Erie SeaWolves opened the second half of the season with a 3-2 win against the Portland Sea Dogs in Erie, Pennsylvania.

The loss ended a five-game winning streak for the Sea Dogs, who went 6-3 on a nine-game road trip. Portland returns home to face the Reading Fightin Phils on Friday.

The Sea Dogs cut into a 3-0 deficit in the eighth inning, as a walk to Joey Curletta and singles by Luke Tendler and Jake Romanski made it 3-1. Tendler later scored on a throwing error, but the potential tying run was stranded at third.

Sea Dogs starter Konnor Wade allowed seven hits and three earned runs in seven innings. Josh Lester’s two-run homer in the third inning was the big blow against Wade.

NECBL: Noah Dickerson’s tiebreaking two-run single in the sixth inning lifted the visiting Danbury Westerners (6-3) to a 3-1 win over the Sanford Mainers (3-6).

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Sanford tied the game in the fifth when Connor Tate doubled home Sterling Hayes.

CMGFL: Caleb Viola pitched a three-hitter to lead Troiano’s Property Service (2-2) to an 8-0 win over Thornton Academy (1-1) in a CMG Financial League game in Saco.

Viola struck out seven and walked two. He also hit a double and a single. Tyler Small contributed a two-run single as Troiano’s opened the scoring with four runs in the third.

CWS: Kumar Rocker followed up his no-hitter in the super regionals with another strong start in his College World Series debut, and Stephen Scott homered twice and drove in four runs in Vanderbilt’s 6-3 victory over Mississippi State in Omaha, Nebraska.

Vanderbilt (56-11) needs one more win on Friday or Saturday to advance to the best-of-three finals next week.

Rocker, a 6-foot-4, 255-pound freshman, held the Bulldogs (52-14) scoreless until Rowdey Jordan’s two-out RBI single in the sixth inning. That ended Rocker’s 192/3-inning shutout streak.

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• Louisville (50-17) eliminated Auburn (38-28) from the College World Series with a 5-3 win in the completion of a game suspended Tuesday because of rain in Omaha, Nebraska.

Louisville led 4-1 when the game was suspended after four innings Tuesday.

SOCCER

USL2: Grant Elgin, Matt Bentley and Juwon Akintunde scored in the second half for GPS Portland Phoenix in a 3-1 win over AC Connecticut in a Northeast Division game at Deering High School.

Khesanio Hall recorded two assists, and Bentley also had an assist for the Phoenix (7-2-2). Ryan Mingachos converted a penalty kick in the first half for AC Connecticut (0-7-2).

BASKETBALL

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NBA: The Memphis Grizzlies traded away the final piece of the franchise’s best years, sending veteran point guard Mike Conley to the Utah Jazz for Jae Crowder, Kyle Korver, Grayson Allen and Utah’s No. 23 pick overall in Thursday night’s draft.

WNBA: Tiffany Hayes scored a season-high 28 points, Renee Montgomery added 16 points and nine assists, and the Atlanta Dream pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the visiting Indiana Fever, 88-78.

AUTO RACING

TRUCKS: NASCAR denied Ross Chastain’s appeal after his race-winning truck was disqualified following a postrace inspection at Iowa Speedway on Saturday.

Chastain’s disqualification was the first under strict new rules put in place this season to deter cheating. NASCAR said the last time it disqualified an apparent race winner was April 17, 1960, when Emanuel Zervakis’ victory at Wilson Speedway in North Carolina was thrown out because of an oversized fuel tank.

Chastain was disqualified because the front end of his truck was too low. His misfortune gave the victory to Brett Moffitt, and Chastain will be scored as if he finished last.

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BOXING

OLYMPICS: The International Boxing Association is near bankruptcy, days before a decision to formally exclude the body from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

AIBA executive director Tom Virgets told board members it will be insolvent if International Olympic Committee members derecognize the troubled body next Wednesday.

The full IOC membership is expected to sign off on recommendations made last month by its executive board, which would deny AIBA its expected $17.5 million share of Tokyo Games commercial revenue and cut off the men’s and women’s 2019 world championships in Russia as qualifying paths.

The IOC board, chaired by President Thomas Bach, discussed the Tokyo boxing tournaments again Wednesday. However, there were no detailed talks about AIBA’s financial and staffing issues, IOC sports director Kit McConnell said.

SOCCER

SPAIN: Luis Enrique is stepping down as coach of the Spanish national team for personal reasons.

Spanish soccer federation president Luis Rubiales said assistant coach Roberto Moreno will take over. Moreno has running of the team since Enrique had to step away for what the federation said were “family reasons” in March.


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