Posted on Sun, May. 11, 2008

COLLEGE SOFTBALL

UMass takes A-10 softball championship

JIM UTTER

jutter@charlotteobserver.com

Massachusetts won its fourth consecutive Atlantic 10 softball tournament championship and fourth trip to the NCAA tournament on Saturday with a 3-0 win against host Charlotte at Philips Complex.

Charlotte (35-31), the third seed, beat Fordham 2-1 earlier Saturday to advance to the title game with UMass (39-11).

UMass pitcher Brandice Balschmiter (28-6), who was named the tournament's most outstanding player, held Charlotte to three hits in seven innings, striking out 10 of 24.

Second baseman Sarah Malene and outfielder Serena Smith from Charlotte were named to the all-tournament team.

"I'm incredibly proud of our team this week -- they had a passion to prove themselves as hosts of the tournament," said Charlotte coach Aimee DeVos. "In the end, a great team won the tournament, but we truly have an excellent foundation to return next season."

In brief

BOXING: In Atlantic City Friday night, N.J., Mike Arnaoutis outpointed Lanardo Tyner to retain the USBA light welterweight title.

• In Vigo, Spain, Omar Narvaez stopped Ivan Pozo in eight rounds to retain his WBO flyweight title.

• Timothy Bradley (22-0) knocked down Junior Witter (36-2-2) in the sixth round on the way to winning the WBC light-welterweight title Saturday in Nottingham, England, in a split decision.

Two of the judges scored the fight 114-113 and 115-113 in Bradley's favor and the third gave it 115-112 to Witter, whose chances of a showdown with former world champion Ricky Hatton now appear slim.

OLYMPICS: Kyle Bennett is the U.S.'s first Olympic BMX qualifier.

A three-time BMX world champion, Bennett clinched his spot on this summer's Beijing-bound team, making the finals of a World Cup race in Copenhagen, enough to wrap up USA Cycling's yearlong points competition for an automatic Olympic berth. • Former pole vault world champion Giuseppe Gibilisco of Italy wants to compete at the Beijing Olympics after having a two-year doping ban rescinded.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the suspension on Friday.

• Mike Rodgers and Lauryn Williams won the 100-meter races at the California Invitational Relays in Modesto, Calif., and Jenn Stuczynski set a meet record in the pole vault at 15 feet, 5 inches in the kickoff to her Olympic campaign.

Among other American hopefuls for Beijing, Christian Cantwell won the shot put with a mark of 71-43/4, and Khadevis Robinson won the men's 800 in 1:47.32.

• In Bowie, Md., Monica Abbott struck out five of the six batters she faced and the U.S. women's softball team beat National Pro Fastpitch's Washington Glory 2-0 in front of 8,724 fans, the largest crowd to see an American pre-Olympic tour game.

The attendance shattered the previous mark for a pre-Olympic tour game of 7,245 in Lake Jackson, Texas in 1996. It was just short of the Olympic record of 8,750 set in Atlanta in 1996.

COLLEGES: Tennessee assistant basketball coach Holly Warlick and former assistant turned UCLA head coach Nikki Caldwell, who both played at Tennessee and have spent a combined 27 seasons at coach Pat Summitt's side, embark today on bicycles from Knoxville, Tenn., to Key West, Fla., and back.

They are on their second weeklong "Cruisin' for a Cause" ride to raise money for breast cancer programs and the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.

• Matt Danowski set the NCAA's career scoring record in Durham with two goals and five assists to help Duke (17-1) take a 12-7 lacrosse win against Loyola of Maryland and Collin Finnerty, one of three former Duke players falsely charged with rape two years ago before being exonerated.

The Blue Devils are the tournament's top seed and will play either Cornell or Ohio State in next weekend's second round.

CYCLING: The Slipstream-Chipotle team won the first stage of the Giro d'Italia in Palermo, Sicily, with American Christian Vandevelde crossing first to take the leader's pink jersey.

TENNIS: Andy Roddick and Radek Stepanek quit the Rome Masters shortly after their semifinal matches began.

Roddick pulled out with a back problem after falling behind 3-0 in the first set against Stanislas Wawrinka. Stepanek stopped while trailing Novak Djokovic 6-0, 1-0 after appearing affected by the heat.

• Elena Dementieva beat second-ranked Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 7-5 in Berlin to reach the final of the upset-filled German Open.

In today's final, the ninth-ranked Dementieva will face fellow Russian and 17th-ranked Dinara Safina, who beat 18-year-old Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-4, 6-1.

TRACK AND FIELD:Bonnie Richardson ran, threw, jumped, and then accepted the 1A team championship for Rochelle High School -- by herself.

Richardson was the only Rochelle athlete to qualify for the state meet and stunningly won the team title in Austin, Texas. University Interscholastic League officials said it was the first time they can remember a single athlete winning a girls' team title.

It's happened before on the boys' side, but not since former Baylor Bear and Pittsburgh Steeler Frank Pollard did it for Meridian High School in the 1970s, said UIL Athletics Director Charles Breithaupt.

Richardson's title march began with field events on Friday when she won the high jump (5 feet, 5 inches), placed second in the long jump (18-7) and was third in the discus (121-0).

On Saturday, she won the 200 meters in 25.03 seconds and nearly pulled off a huge upset in the 100 before finishing second (12.19) to defending champion Kendra Coleman of Santa Anna. Richardson, a junior, earned a total of 42 team points to edge team runner-up Chilton (36).