Sports Digest: USM wins Little East softball tourney opener, 7-0 over Rhode Island

COLLEGES

Lexus McIntosh pitched a two-hitter as fifth-seeded Southern Maine broke open a close game with six runs in the final two innings to open the Little East Conference softball tournament with a 7-0 victory over No. 4 Rhode Island College in Boston on Wednesday.

Maddy Paradis drove in three runs with a single and a double, and Madi Day paced a 10-hit attack by going 3 for 4 with two runs scored.

USM next faces No. 1 seed UMass Boston on Thursday.

• Krista Francia and Gabby Papushka scored on an error in the top of the eighth inning, and sixth-seeded Maine (5-39) won its opening game in the America East softball tournament with a 9-7 victory over third-seeded Bryant (32-16) in Orono.

Maine erased a 3-0 deficit when Caitlyn Fallon belted a three-run homer in the sixth inning, then took the lead with four runs in the seventh. Bryant, though, forced extra innings by answering with a four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh.

Francia, Papushka and Kyrah Haba-Dailey all scored twice for the Black Bears, who play No. 2 seed Binghamton on Thursday.

HOCKEY

PWHL: Blayre Turnbull scored two goals to lead host Toronto to a 4-0 win over Minnesota in the first league playoff game.

Natalie Spooner, with the opening goal and one assist, and Emma Maltais also scored for top-seeded Toronto in front of 8,473 fans at Coca-Cola Coliseum, the home of the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies.

Kristen Campbell posted a 26-save shutout. Nicole Hensley stopped 16 shots for fourth-seeded Minnesota.

Game 2 in the best-of-five semifinal is set for Friday in Toronto.

GOLF

PGA: Rory McIlroy won’t be returning to the PGA Tour board, saying that a plan to replace Webb Simpson was met with resistance from board members.

Simpson, one of six player-directors, recently offered to give up his seat — but only if McIlroy were to replace him. McIlroy would have needed board approval to be reinstated to a position that he resigned from last November.

But McIlroy said ahead of the Wells Fargo Championship that conversations surrounding his potential return became “pretty complicated and messy,” which reminded him of why he left in the first place.

• The opening round of the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club on Thursday will be delayed with rain in the forecast.

The start of the first round was set for 11 a.m. because of heavy rain expected to move through the area in the morning. Tournaments typically begin around 8 a.m.

BASKETBALL

WNBA: Indianapolis Star sports columnist Gregg Doyel, whose interaction with WNBA No. 1 draft pick Caitlin Clark at her introductory news conference was criticized in the national media as being inappropriate, will not cover the Indiana Fever in person this season.

Gannett spokesperson Lark-Marie Antón said in a statement the corporate owner of the Star does not comment on personnel matters but added: “Indianapolis Star sports columnist Gregg Doyel will not be covering the Indiana Fever.”

Former Star sports writer Bob Kravitz, citing anonymous sources, first reported the decision and also that Doyel had been suspended for two weeks, which Antón would not confirm. Doyel’s most recent column appeared April 29.

Doyel has apologized for the interaction with Clark during a news conference in Indianapolis two days after the Fever chose the Iowa star with the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft. When it was Doyel’s turn to ask a question, he made a heart shape with his hands toward Clark, who is known for making the gesture toward family members at her games. That was followed by this exchange:

Clark: “You like that?”

Doyel: “I like that you’re here, I like that you’re here.”

Clark: “Yeah, I do that to my family after every game, so… Pretty cool.”

Doyel: “Well, start doing it to me, and we’ll get along just fine.”

The interaction was roundly panned as being awkward at best and inappropriate and even creepy at worst. Doyel apologized on social media and again in a column.

“In my haste to be clever, to be familiar and welcoming (or so I thought), I offended Caitlin and her family,” he wrote. “After going through denial, and then anger – I’m on the wrong side of this? Me??? – I now realize what I said and how I said it was wrong, wrong, wrong. I mean it was just wrong.”

TENNIS

ITALIAN OPEN: Naomi Osaka looked comfortable in her opening match at Rome, beating 45th-ranked Clara Burel 7-6 (2), 6-1.

It was Osaka’s first victory over a top-50 player on clay since defeating Victoria Azarenka at the 2019 French Open..

Osaka, who was formerly ranked No. 1 but is now No. 173 after a maternity break, served eight aces and produced 27 winners to her opponent’s 10. She’ll next face 19th-seeded Marta Kostyuk, who reached the final of a clay event in Stuttgart, Germany, recently.

GENEVA OPEN: Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray is set to return from his ankle injury at the Geneva Open this month.

Tournament organizers announced they had given Murray, 36, a wild-card entry for the clay-court event that starts May 18.

Murray damaged ligaments in his left ankle during a match at the Miami Open last month. He opted against surgery.

SOCCER

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: With more late drama and another magical night at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Real Madrid rallied to defeat Bayern Munich 2-1 to reach the final for the second time in three seasons.

Joselu scored in the 88th minute and then in stoppage time for the record 14-time European champion, which advanced 4-3 on aggregate to set up a final against Borussia Dortmund on June 1 in London.

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