SOFTBALL
Lily Regan struck out 15 and allowed only three hits as Bonny Eagle advanced to the championship game of the Little League Softball New England Regional in Bristol, Connecticut, with a 5-0 win Thursday against Cranston, Rhode Island.
The Maine champions took the lead in the top of the first, scoring twice with the help of two errors. Bonny Eagle added three runs in the fifth, including an RBI single by Grace McGlinn and a bases-loaded walk to Lila Boudreau.
It was the third straight win after an opening loss for Bonny Eagle, which will play for the New England title at 1 p.m. Friday against Milford, Connecticut. The winner advances to the World Series in Greenville, North Carolina, starting Aug. 6.
BASEBALL
EASTERN LEAGUE: Andy Thomas was 3 for 4 with three RBI, and the Richmond Flying Squirrels took advantage of four Portland Sea Dogs errors on the way to an 11-4 win in Richmond, Virginia.
The Sea Dogs were held to five hits, including RBI doubles by Chase Meidroth and Nathan Hickey. Portland has lost three in a row to the Flying Squirrels.
NECBL: Kevin Skagerlind led off with a home run, Jack Toomey hit a bases-loaded triple later in the first inning, and the Sanford Mainers clinched a playoff berth by completing a doubleheader sweep with a 7-5 win over the Upper Valley Nighthawks in White River Junction, Vermont.
Devin Russell also homered in Game 2.
In the opener, with Sanford as the home team, Cameron Johnson singled home Nicholas Roselli in the bottom of the seventh to give the Mainers a 4-3 win.
COLLEGES
COLORADO: Colorado is leaving the Pac-12, and the Big 12 is ready to welcome the Buffaloes back to the conference they left a dozen years ago.
Colorado’s board of regents voted 9-0 in a special remote meeting Thursday to approve the conference switch in 2024.
Colorado becomes the third school to leave the Pac-12 in the last year, joining UCLA and USC, who are joining the Big Ten next year.
MEN’S BASKETBALL: Bronny James has been discharged from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and is resting at home, three days after the 18-year-old son of LeBron James went into cardiac arrest.
Dr. Merije Chukumerije, a consulting cardiologist for Bronny James, said in a statement issued by the hospital that James was “successfully treated for a sudden cardiac arrest.” Chukumerije gave credit to “the swift and effective response by the USC athletics’ medical staff” after the incident Monday at the University of Southern California’s Galen Center, where the incoming freshman guard was participating in basketball practice.
FOOTBALL: Oregon and head coach Dan Lanning agreed to a contract extension that will extend his deal through the 2028 season.
Lanning’s new deal will pay him a total of $45 million in base salary over six years. Lanning, 37, led Oregon to a 10-3 record, including a victory in the Holiday Bowl, in his first season in charge of the Ducks in 2022.
GOLF
LPGA: Paula Reto made eight birdies as she carded a 7-under 64 to take a surprise first-round lead at the Évian Championship in France.
The 33-year-old South African holds a two-shot lead in the fourth of five LPGA major championships. Lydia Ko, the 2015 champion from New Zealand, is tied for second with Celine Boutier of France, Alison Lee of the U.S. and Wichanee Meechai of Thailand.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: Miguel Angel Jimenez shot a 5-under 66 to take the first-round lead at the Senior British Open in Bridgend, Wales, five years after he became the first Spaniard to win the tournament.
Jimenez is two shots ahead of Alex Cejka and Mario Tiziani at Royal Porthcawl. Vijay Singh and Jeev Milka Singh are three shots off the lead.
PGA: Lee Hodges shot an 8-under 63 for a one-stroke lead in the first round of the 3M Open at Blaine, Minnesota.
Kevin Streelman had the best of the afternoon rounds with a 64, matching Hideki Matsuyama, Brandt Snedeker and Tyler Duncan.
Two-time major champion Justin Thomas, who’s trying to make both the playoffs and the U.S. Ryder Cup team, opened with a 69 in windier afternoon conditions at the TPC Twin Cities.
SOCCER
SPAIN: David Silva announced the end of his career at age 37, one week after suffering a serious knee injury.
Silva had been preparing for another Champions League campaign after helping Real Sociedad finish fourth in Spain’s La Liga last season. He damaged the ACL in his left knee in training last week.
Silva was on Spain’s title-winning squads at the 2008 European Championship, the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012. He also won four English Premier League titles in a decade with Manchester City, where there is a statue of him outside the stadium.
BASKETBALL
WNBA: Breanna Stewart scored 25 of her 33 points in the first half, Jonquel Jones had 19 points and 13 rebounds, and the New York Liberty won at home against the Atlanta Dream, 95-84.
• Nneka Ogwumike had 25 points and nine rebounds, Jordin Canada added 21 points and seven assists, and the Los Angeles Sparks beat the visiting Indiana Fever, 81-68.
TENNIS
HAMBURG EUROPEAN OPEN: Casper Ruud reached the quarterfinals with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Cristian Garin, while Daniel Altmaier upset Andrey Rublev, 6-2, 6-2, in the second round of the clay-court event in Hamburg, Germany.
In the women’s competition, up-and-coming German player Noma Noha Akugue reached the semifinals in her first WTA Tour event by defeating Martina Trevisan, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5.
HOCKEY
NHL: The Ottawa Senators signed free-agent right wing Vladimir Tarasenko to a one-year, $5 million deal.
A six-time 30-goal scorer, Tarasenko had 18 goals and 32 assists in 69 games last season with the St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers.
• The Arizona Coyotes signed 2022 first-round draft pick Logan Cooley to a three-year, entry-level contract after the center changed his mind about returning to Minnesota for another college season.
Cooley, 19, was the third overall pick last year. He led Minnesota in scoring as a freshman with 22 goals and 38 assists in 39 games, helping the Gophers reach the NCAA championship game.
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