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Titans lose in NCAA opener
ANGOLA, Ind. -- Westminster College was dealt a 9-0, five-inning run-rule loss by defending Division III champion and fourth-ranked Trine University Thursday afternoon in an NCAA Div. III tournament game at SportONE/Parkview Softball Field.
Trine, 40-3 this season, has won 14-straight games. On Friday, the Thunder will face Mount Union at 11 a.m. in the next round.
Westminster, in its first NCAA tournament appearance, falls to 25-12. The Titans will take on Wisconsin-Stevens Point at 1:30 p.m. today in the regional elimination game.
After registering a pair of runs in the second and three more in the third, Trine added four runs in the fourth inning to go up 9-0.
Graduate student left-hander Madison Brown, an East Liverpool High School graduate, fell to 11-7 this season with the loss, giving up five runs on seven hits with a walk and a strikeout in two innings. Freshman righty Natalie Davis of Boardman worked 1 1/3 scoreless relief innings, walking one and striking out one.
Home runs fuel Bucco win
CHICAGO (AP) -- Edward Olivares and Nick Gonzales homered, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs 5-4 on Thursday night.
Olivares hit a two-run homer in the first inning. He also doubled and scored in the sixth against Justin Steele (0-1) to make it 5-3.
Gonzales hit a solo drive in the fourth, and Jared Jones (3-4) struck out seven in six solid innings. Colin Holderman gave up a sacrifice fly to Christopher Morel in the eighth, but the Pirates opened the four-game series on a winning note after losing six of eight. They dropped two of three to the Cubs in Pittsburgh over the weekend.
Jones was charged with three runs and seven hits. The 22-year-old right-hander has gone at least five innings and allowed three runs or fewer in each of his nine career starts.
Aroldis Chapman worked the seventh. Holderman hit Seiya Suzuki in the left arm leading off the eighth and catcher Yasmani Grandal threw wildly to first after fielding Cody Bellinger's roller, putting runners on second and third. Morel then cut it to 5-4 with a sacrifice fly before Ian Happ struck out. Michael Busch walked, but Nick Madrigal grounded out to end the inning.
David Bednar came on in the ninth for his ninth save in 12 chances.
The slumping Ian Happ hit a solo homer for Chicago in the second after being held out of the previous two games.
Steele, coming off a shaky outing at Pittsburgh on Saturday, gave up five runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings. The left-hander struck out seven and walked one in his third start back from a strained left hamstring.
NFL pulls back from Butker
NEW YORK (AP) -- The NFL is distancing itself from Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, saying "his views are not those of the NFL as an organization."
Butker appeared as the commencement speaker last week at Benedictine College, a private Catholic liberal arts school in Kansas, and said most of the women receiving degrees were probably more excited about getting married and having children.
Butker also said some Catholic leaders were "pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America."
"Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity," Jonathan Beane, NFL senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer, said in a statement released Thursday. "His views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger."
The three-time Super Bowl champion delivered his roughly 20-minute address Saturday at the school in Atchison, Kansas, which is located about 60 miles (97 kilometers) miles north of Kansas City. He received a standing ovation from graduates and other attendees.
Butker, who's made his conservative Catholic beliefs well known, also assailed Pride month, a particularly important time for the LGBTQ+ rights movement, and President Joe Biden's stance on abortion.
"I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you," Butker added in his speech.
"Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world. I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say that her life truly started when she started living her vocation as a wife and as a mother," he said.
Butker, 28, said his wife embraced "one of the most important titles of all. Homemaker."
Butker also criticized as disparaging to the Catholic Church an article by The Associated Press highlighting a shift toward conservativism in some parts of the church.
Butker also referred to a "deadly sin sort of pride that has a month dedicated to it" in an oblique reference to Pride month. Butker also took aim at Biden's policies, including his condemnation of the Supreme Court's reversal of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and advocacy for freedom of choice -- a key campaign issue in the 2024 presidential race.
The 2017 seventh-round pick out of Georgia Tech has become of the NFL's best kickers, breaking the Chiefs' franchise record with a 62-yard field goal in 2022. Butker helped them win their first Super Bowl in 50 years in 2020, added a second Lombardi Trophy in 2023, and he kicked the field goal that forced overtime in a Super Bowl win over San Francisco in February.
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