Swartzlander wins at Sharon

June 22, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

HARTFORD

Brian Swartzlander, Joel Watson, Nick Ritchey, Mike Clark, Casey Bowers-and Andy Proper were winners in Saturday racing at Sharon Speedway.

Swartzlander led all 30 laps of the Hovis Auto & Truck Supply feature holding off Rex King and Rex King Jr. for the victory.

Watson survived five restarts to capture his 20th career win. Ritchey made it back-to-back wins with his first career Sharon win in the 20-lap Weller Hughes Contracting & Developing feature. Ritchey had to hold off the division’s only winners to date in Rocky Kugel and point leader Greg Martin. Clark made a late race pass of Mike Miller to win his first Stock Car feature of the season and become the fourth different winner.

Bowers made a late race pass for his second straight win and took over the point lead in the HTMA/Precise Racing Products-sponsored division.

Tuesday will be the 33rd annual Ohio Speedweek for Tony Stewart’s All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Cars paying $5,000 to-win plus the Mini Stocks racing for $300 to-win.

Gates open at 4 p.m. There will be an autograph session with Tony Stewart and Dave Blaney from 5-5:40 p.m. Warm-ups are scheduled for 6:15 followed by time trials and racing.

Baseball, softball shortlisted for 2020

TOKYO

The combined bid of baseball and softball are among eight sports shortlisted for inclusion in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Tokyo Olympic organizers selected the eight from a list of 26 sports that had applied for inclusion.

The other sports shortlisted are bowling, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, surfing and wushu.

Baseball and women’s softball was considered a favorite because of the popularity of those sports in Japan.

The federations of the eight sports will next make a presentation in Tokyo on Aug. 7-8, and organizers will make recommendations for inclusion to the International Olympic Committee by Sept. 30. The IOC will make a final decision on which sports will be added in August 2016, when it meets ahead of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Mercury defeats Storm

SEATTLE

DeWanna Bonner scored 22 points and Candice Dupree added 15 to help Phoenix beat Seattle.

Monique Currie had 12 points and Cayla Francis 11 for the Mercury (3-3), who pulled away with a 16-5 run in the middle of the second quarter to a 38-28 lead.

Sue Bird rallied the Storm (2-4) within 71-69 when she put back her own missed 3-point attempt with 5:18 left in the game. But Phoenix closed on a 13-3 burst as Seattle’s offense suffered a pair of shot-clock violations in the final 1:30.

Crystal Langhorne had 13 points to lead the Storm. Bird and Alysha Clark added 11 each.

Phoenix was 7 of 17 from 3-point range while Seattle was just 1 of 13.

It was the sixth contest of Brittney Griner’s seven-game suspension for a domestic violence incident.

Henderson wins Symetra event

SOUTH BEND, Ind.

Canadian teen Brooke Henderson won the Four Winds Invitational to become the third-youngest winner in Symetra Tour history.

The 17-year-old Henderson closed with a 3-under 69 for a two-stroke victory, finishing at 10-under 206 at Blackthorn.

“It’s amazing to win and I’m so thankful that I got the sponsor’s exemption this week,” Henderson said. “I’m very grateful for the win here and I think it will be a big confidence booster moving forward.”

Henderson tied for fifth last week in the Women’s PGA Championship, the second of the LPGA Tour’s five majors.

“I’ve been busy, but I wouldn’t change it for the world, it has been a lot of fun,” Henderson said.

Staff/wire report