AREA

AREA

Clippers to honor 1994 team

COLUMBIANA — Columbiana High School will honor the 1994 Football Team at Friday’s home game against Steubenville Central Catholic.

There will be a pregame ceremony honoring the team and a social at the American Legion after the game.

Youngstown 14s fall in first round

APPLETON, Wisc. — The Youngstown All-Stars fell to Eau Claire, Wisc., 3-1 in the first round of pool play in the 14-year-old Babe Ruth World Series on Saturday.

Christopher Maze singled, walked, scored a run and drove in a run for Youngstown, while Vic Kuchmaner doubled and drove in a run and Shawn Coyne and Robert Vargo each scored runs.

Youngstown will play Jupiter, Fla., today at noon and also has games on Monday and Tuesday.

Single-elimination games begin Thursday.

Correction

Mineral Ridge’s Dan Skiba won the Division III state title in the long jump in June. The Rams’ preview capsule in today’s Blitz football preview incorrectly lists Mike Dominic as the state long jump champion. The section was printed before the correction could be made.

Poland golf team wins Copley event

COPLEY — Poland High’s girls golf team recently won the Copley Lady Indians Annual Tournament.

The Bulldogs totaled 325 while Highland finished second at 330 and Magnificat third at 342.

Poland’s Maria Mancini was runner-up medalist with a 77, while also on the All-Tournament team was Alison Mitzel who shot 78. Also scoring for the Bulldogs was Angelo Molaskey 82, and Mariah Groner. All four players were part of Poland’s 2008 Division State Championship team.

Boyce earns honor

ERIE, Pa. — Bryan Boyce, a senior linebacker for the Mercyhurst College football team from Hubbard High, has been selected to the 2009 All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Preseason First team by D2football.com.

Boyce started all 11 games last year and led Mercyhurst in tackles last season with 91. He also had 10 tackles for losses of 36 yards, and led the team in fumble recoveries (2) and was second in sacks (5.5).

Boyce was named to the 2008 PSAC West First Team and to the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA All-Region Team. He also was a first-team Academic All-American — the first Mercyhurst player to make Academic All-American since 1998.

Boyce ranked No. 6 in the PSAC in tackles per game (8.3) and was tied for eighth with his 5.5 sacks. He had a career-best 13 tackles in back-to-back games against Gannon and Indiana (Pa.).

In 2006, Boyce was selected to the All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference team as an honorable mention, and to the GLIAC All-Academic team.

REGION

Reds’ Rolen to come off DL

PITTSBURGH — Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker says third baseman Scott Rolen will be activated off the 15-day disabled list and start today against Pittsburgh.

Rolen sustained a concussion when he was hit in the head by a pitch from Colorado’s Jason Marquis on Aug. 2, although he did not go on the disabled list until Aug. 11. Rolen says it was the third significant head injury of his athletic career, following those that occurred in high school track and earlier in his major league career.

After undergoing tests given by a neurologist, Rolen was cleared Saturday to return.

NATION

Whalen’s free throws lead Sun past Lynx

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Lindsay Whalen made two free throws with 34 seconds left to give Connecticut the lead for good and the Sun beat the Minnesota Lynx 98-94.

Whalen finished with 21 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, Sandrine Gruda had 21 points and seven rebounds, and Tan White scored 15 points for the Sun (14-12). Anete Jekabsone had 13 points and Chante Black added 10 points and six rebounds.

White and Jekabsone made free throws in the final 22 seconds to seal the win.

Candice Wiggins and Tasha Humphrey scored 21 points each to lead the Lynx (11-15), who have lost five straight and eight of their last nine. Renee Montgomery had 18 points and Charde Houston scored 11.

Sky Blue wins first WPS title

CARSON, Calif. — The first champion of an unlikely league had an even less plausible rise to the top.

Sky Blue FC won the Women’s Professional Soccer title on Saturday by beating the Los Angeles Sol 1-0 in the championship game. The club from New Jersey nearly didn’t make the playoffs after its second coach resigned with two games remaining in the season.

Christie Rampone took over as player-coach in late July when Kelly Lindsey resigned one day before practice.

Now she and the nearly two dozen women she played alongside since March are champions of the United States’ second try at a women’s soccer league — launched in a worldwide recession — after the first one lasted only three seasons.

Miracle Mets still draw a crowd

NEW YORK — The New York Mets paid tribute to the 1969 World Champions Saturday at Citifield.

The biggest cheers were reserved for star pitchers Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Nolan Ryan, the Hall of Famer who hadn’t attended a Mets function since being traded by the team in 1971.

In all, 21 players and coaches — including another Hall of Famer, Yogi Berra — lined the arc just behind the infield dirt at Citi Field, which is hosting its first season. The ballpark they called home, Shea Stadium, is gone, reduced to rubble in the parking lot.

But with a full house on hand to celebrate the past, this group of aging ballplayers sure made Citi Field feel like home.

The first and third base lines were adorned with “Mets 1969,” and a pennant with a big “69” in the middle was mowed into the center-field grass for the current homestand.

Staff/wire reports