YSU softball team defeats Valpo

YSU softball team defeats Valpo

Chicago

Junior Casey Crozier threw a four-hitter with nine strikeouts in the Youngstown State softball team’s 9-1 victory over Valparaiso in the Horizon League Tournament.

The sixth-seeded Penguins (17-25) will face No. 2 seed Loyola in today’s game.

Junior Courtney Ewing had three hits with two RBIs while classmate Haley Knight had two run-scoring singles.

Boardman Y sets 9th annual triathlon

BOARDMAN

The 9th annual Spring Classic Sprint Triathlon is set Sunday at the Davis Family YMCA on McClurg Road.

The event kicks off with the swim at 7:30 a.m. in the Davis Family YMCA pool in waves of about 20 athletes at a time.

The swim is followed by a 14.5-mile bike throughout the surrounding communities and a 5K run through neighborhood streets.

Proceeds from the event benefit the YMCA’s Strong Kids Campaign, which provides financial assistance to thousands of underprivileged youth, families and individuals each year.

Last year, nearly 100 individual athletes and teams of all skill level participated.

Canfield’s Sulick sets victory record

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J.

With 58 career wins, Canfield High graduate Lauren Sulick has moved into first place on the Monmouth University career victories list.

Sulick, a member of Canfield’s 2008 state championship team, eclipsed the 56 wins that Scarlett Reuter posted from 1998-2001.

Sulick also is the all-time appearance leader with 116 and ranks third all-time with 399 strikeouts.

Monmouth is a member of the Northeast Conference and will play in the conference tournament this weekend at the Robert Morris North Athletic Conference in Moon Township, Pa.

NASCAR panel reduces JGR penalties

CONCORD, N.C.

A three-member NASCAR appeals panel has dramatically reduced most of the penalties levied against Joe Gibbs Racing for an illegal part found in Matt Kenseth’s race-winning engine at Kansas.

The panel reduced the points deducted from Kenseth from 50 to 12, and reinstated his bonus points earned for the April 21 victory. The race will count toward the Chase and he moves from 11th in the Sprint Cup standings to fourth.

The panel also reduced crew chief Jason Ratcliff’s suspension from six races to one race, and eliminated the six-race suspension for owner Joe Gibbs. It let stand Ratcliff’s $200,000 fine. NASCAR found one of eight connecting rods in Kenseth’s engine was 3 grams too light. JGR appealed, saying Toyota was responsible for the engine part.

O’Brien: Exodus over from Penn State

NEW YORK

Penn State has 67 scholarship players on its football roster and coach Bill O’Brien sees no reason why that will change significantly by the time the season starts Aug. 31.

O’Brien said Wednesday he doesn’t expect a second wave of departures from the Nittany Lions, even though NCAA sanctions still allow his players to transfer without sitting out a season.

Ten players transferred out of Penn State after the NCAA handed down severe sanctions last summer in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal. O’Brien was forced to prepare for his first preseason practice with uncertainty over who would show up for training camp.

Players can still leave without penalty until the 2013 season starts, but O’Brien said he has not spent any time this offseason re-recruiting his guys.

“I don’t see the mass exodus coming,” O’Brien said before speaking to a banquet hall full of Penn State supporters in midtown Manhattan. “We’re going to coach who shows up July 31st for training camp. I think we’re way past that.”

Staff/wire reports