Local Sports Digest

STEELHOUNDS
Preseason schedule
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Youngstown SteelHounds will play one home preseason game in preparation for the 2006-07 season.
The SteelHounds will play host to the Dayton Bombers of the East Coast Hockey League Oct. 13 at 7:05 p.m.
Tickets for that game will go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m.
Training camp begins Oct. 9 and concludes the following Sunday.
Admission for the game against Dayton will be free to SteelHounds season ticket holders and mini-plan holders and all seats in the arena will be general admission. Tickets will be $5 for non-package holders and can be purchases at the Chevy Centre box office, at most Sparkle Markets, at Clear Channel located in Boardman on South Ave., on-line at www.gettix.net and via the telephone at 330-747-PUCK or 866-4-GETTIX.
LOCAL
Phantoms
BOARDMAN -- The Mahoning Valley Phantoms will conclude their preseason schedule Thursday against the Springfield Jr. Blues. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Ice Zone.
Admission is free and fans are invited to meet the Phantoms after the game.
PAC awards
*Thiel freshman LaToya Locke (Farrell) was named Presidents' Athletic Conference volleyball player of the week.
Locke helped lead the Tomcats to a 4-0 record and the championship of the D'Youville College/Nickel City Women's tournament. Locke and teammates Kari Zeleznick and Kristen Martin were named to the all-tournament team.
Locke is fifth in the PAC in kills per game (3.83) and 15th in hitting percentage (.250).
*Westminster junior Sarah Calderone was named women's soccer offensive player of the week by the PAC.
Calderone had six points in the Titans' 5-0 win over Medaille Saturday. She had two goals on two shots and also added a pair of assists. Westminster went 2-0 during the week and won the Westminster/Grove City tournament. The Titans also posted a 3-0 win over Maryville.
Calderone was also named offensive MVP of the Westminster/Grove City tournament.
Canfield dentistwins qualifier
CANFIELD -- Dr. Larry McCall, a Canfield dentist, won the U.S. Senior Amateur qualifier at Canterbury Country Club, carding at 3 under par 69. Three golfers shot 73 as the top four from a field of 70 advanced to the national tournament, where 156 golfers from around the country will play 36 holes to reduce the field to 64 competitors that will advance to match play.
The tournament will be held at Victoria National, near Evansville, Ind., Sept.16-21.
NATION
Davis Cup
NEW YORK -- Win or lose, Andy Roddick, James Blake and Bob and Mike Bryan form a tight-knit group, the sort of camaraderie the U.S. Davis Cup team hadn't enjoyed in quite some time.
Now the big question is whether that friendly foursome can pull off a victory over host Russia in the Davis Cup semifinals Sept. 22-24.
"I did just luck out," U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe said Tuesday, after announcing his team would consist of those players.
The best-of-five semifinal is scheduled to be played indoors at Moscow's Olympic Stadium on clay, a surface that's given Roddick and Blake fits in the past.
The U.S.-Russia winner will meet Argentina or Australia in the Davis Cup final.
U.S. softball
Cat Osterman has pitched plenty of back-to-back games in her career. On Tuesday, she delivered her best 1-2 punch.
First, she led the U.S. softball team to a 5-1 victory against longtime rival Australia. Two hours later, Osterman avenged Monday's loss to Japan, striking out 14 in a 3-0 win that gave the USA its sixth consecutive world title.
The win gives the U.S. team the top seed at the Beijing Olympics, where softball and baseball will make their final appearances. Both sports are to be dropped from the Olympics beginning in 2012 at London.
Feds, reporters reach deal in Bonds case
SAN FRANCISCO -- Two San Francisco Chronicle reporters are appealing a judge's order to tell a federal grand jury who leaked them secret testimony from Barry Bonds and other elite athletes ensnared in the government's steroid probe.
Vindicator staff/wire reports