ALL-DISTRICT SOFTBALL

Several area softball players were named to the Ohio High School Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association Northeast district teams recently.

In Div. IV, West Branch pitcher Ellie Tucker and West Branch infielder Sara Schmidt were second team choices.

In Div. V, South Range infielder Keira Brogan and outfielder Solena DeJesus were first team selections. Columbiana pitcher Ella Eisenbraun was a second team choice.

In Div. VI, Crestview catcher Gia DePace, United catcher Callie Koons and United infielder Chloe Angelo were first team selections. United outfielder Brittany Miller was a second team choice.

LAKE CENTER WINS TITLE

AKRON — The Lake Center Christian baseball team played a couple of area teams on the way to its first state championship.

Lake Center beat Berlin Hiland, 2-1, in the Division VI state final Friday at Canal Park to avenge a 5-4 loss to the Hawks in the 2025 title game.

The Tigers finish the season at 25-4-1. They beat Oak Glen 16-5 in the season opener and suffered its last loss, 2-1 to Edison on May 8.

RAMIREZ HAS SURGERY

CLEVELAND (AP) — Guardians All-Star third baseman José Ramírez underwent surgery on Tuesday to remove the hook of the broken hamate bone in his left hand.

The team said in a statement before Tuesday night’s game at Milwaukee that the procedure were performed in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, by Dr. Thomas Graham.

Ramírez suffered the injury during the fifth inning of Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Detroit Tigers, when he fouled out on a pop up to Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler.

It is only the second time in Ramírez’s 14 big league seasons that he has been placed on the injured list.

The seven-time All-Star also broke the hamate bone in his right hand in 2019 and missed only a month. The normal recovery time post-surgery is five to seven weeks.

“That’s part of life. Those are things that are going to happen, so I’m not upset. It’s just part of the game and just got to keep going,” Ramírez said about the injury on Sunday.

The 33-year-old native of the Dominican Republic has played in a franchise-record 1,681 games. He is also the only player in Cleveland’s 125-year history to have at least 300 stolen bases and 250 home runs.

Cleveland also placed outfielder Angel Martínez on the 10-day injured list Tuesday due to a non-displaced fracture in his left foot. Martinez’s injury also occurred after fouling off a pitch during Saturday’s game.

Outfielder Petey Halpin was called up from Triple-A Columbus.

WILLIAMS SISTERS TRY AGAIN

Serena and Venus Williams won a combined 21 titles on the storied grass of the All England Club in their singles and doubles careers and now they’re going for one more.

A doubles wild card invitation for the sisters was announced on Tuesday by organizers of Wimbledon, which starts in less than two weeks.

The move comes after 44-year-old Serena recently returned to competition after nearly four years away from professional tennis.

Venus, who has still been competing sporadically, turns 46 on Wednesday.

“I think it’s going to be fun. My daughter, Olympia, told me I should play with Venus. She’s always right,” Serena said after losing a doubles match with another partner, Karolina Muchova, in Berlin on Tuesday. “So I said, “OK Olympia, we’ll see if we can do it.”

The sisters have won 14 Grand Slam titles together in doubles, including six at Wimbledon — the first of them in 2000 and the last in 2016. Their first two doubles titles at Wimbledon, in 2000 and 2002, came as wild cards.

USA STAR INJURED

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — Christian Pulisic worked out on his own again Tuesday during the U.S. team’s World Cup practice session while he rehabilitates his calf injury.

A team spokesman described Pulisic as “day to day” after his second straight day doing individual workouts while his teammates practiced at the U.S. training base in Orange County. The Americans’ next game is against Australia in Seattle on Friday.

Pulisic was limited to one half of action in the Americans’ World Cup-opening 4-1 victory over Paraguay last Friday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

The AC Milan forward was stellar in the first match of his second World Cup. He recorded an assist on Folarin Balogun’s first goal, and he caused an own-goal by Paraguay with his playmaking from relentless runs down the left side of the U.S. attack.

Pulisic was kicked in the back of his left calf during training last week, and he was removed from the win over Paraguay at halftime when he felt stiffness. The U.S. was already ahead 3-0 after its highest-scoring half in a World Cup match.

Coach Mauricio Pochettino described the decision to shorten Pulisic’s appearance as precautionary.

“I’m hoping I’ll be fine the next few days,” Pulisic said after the match. “Just the back of my leg, sort of my calf area. I’m staying positive. I don’t think it’s anything.”

After traveling to Seattle, the Americans return to Inglewood on June 25 to conclude group play against Turkey.

FAST TIMES IN THE RARE 150

OSTRAVA, Czech Republic (AP) — Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles set the world best time in the rarely contested 150 meters at the Golden Spike meet on Tuesday.

The U.S. sprinter clocked 14.67 seconds to beat a field of runners including Australia’s teenage sprint sensation Gout Gout.

Lyles, who won the 100 at the Paris Olympics and is four-time world champion in the 200, capitalized on a fast start before using his speed to cruise to the finish line.

He beat the previous best set by Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson at 14.92 in April at Miramar, Florida.

Sinesipho Dambile of South Africa placed second in 14.78 and 18-year-old Gout was third in 14.96.

Gout set the under-20 world record in the 200 — a time faster than Usain Bolt’s best at that age — in winning the open Australian title in 19.67 seconds in April.

The young Australian has spent time training with Lyles and had earmarked the rarely-raced 150 as a chance to go head-to-head with the champion American.

MOST WATCHED FINALS

NEW YORK (AP) — The NHL said Tuesday the Stanley Cup Playoffs this spring were the most-watched on record in the U.S. with an average of 1.8 million viewers.

That surpassed the previous record of 1.56 million in 1996 and is up 68% over last year.

ESPN reported this was the most-watched Cup final since 2019. Carolina beat Vegas in six games in a final without some of the biggest hockey markets in the country.

Some of the increase across sports ratings can be attributed to a change in how Nielsen is counting viewers, but hockey is also enjoying a popularity spike, especially among women, after the 4 Nations Face-Off and the Olympics and in light of shows like “Heated Rivalry” and “Off Campus” putting it in front of a different audience.

MORE THAN MAHOMES

GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) — When shown the number of Instagram followers he had gained after helping tiny Cape Verde hold off powerhouse Spain in his team’s World Cup debut, 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha gasped and laughed, in shock.

He was speaking shortly after Monday’s stunning 0-0 draw in Atlanta against the European champions, when he had gone from about 50,000 followers to more than 1 million. Less than 24 hours after the game, Vozinha already had nearly 10 million Instagram followers — more than NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama (6.2 million) and NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes (6.4 million).

“Crazy, that’s crazy,” Vozinha told Brazilian YouTube channel CazéTV after the match that turned him into the biggest new name of the World Cup so far. It was CazéTV, the only channel in Brazil with the rights to all 104 World Cup games, that was taking credit for the huge surge in followers.