SPORTS digest

Milena Lacatena signs with YSU softball

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown State softball program has signed Milena Lacatena to a national letter of intent to join the Penguins for the 2018 season, YSU head coach Brian Campbell announced Wednesday.

Lacatena, a catcher and corner infielder, was a four-year letterwinner at Lenape Valley Regional High School in Stanhope, N.J. Named team co-captain as a senior, she set the school’s single-season home run record with eight in 2017 and batted .470.

Lacatena’s sister, Maria, was a four-year starting catcher at Youngstown State from 2014-17.

Milena Lacatena joins Elle Buffenbarger (Mason), Yazmine Romero (Castro Valley, Calif.) and Nikki Saibene (Canton) in YSU’s 2018 recruiting class.

Steelers sign WR Juju Smith-Schuster

PITTSBURGH

The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed second-round pick Juju Smith-Schuster to a four-year deal.

Financial details were not released. The Steelers took the wide receiver out of Southern California with the 62nd overall selection in the draft. Smith-Schuster caught 213 passes for 3,092 yards with 25 touchdown catches in 40 games at USC. He is expected to fight for a starting spot alongside All-Pro Antonio Brown.

Smith-Schuster is the fifth of Pittsburgh’s eight picks to sign a contract. First-round pick T.J. Watt, third-round pick Cameron Sutton and fourth-rounder Josh Dobbs have yet to come to terms.

The Steelers also signed quarterback Bart Houston and wide receiver Canaan Severin on Wednesday and released quarterback Nick Schuessler and linebacker Akil Blount. Blount is the son of Steelers Hall of Fame safety Mel Blount.

LaVar Ball ups shoe deal price to $3 billion

LaVar Ball has upped the ante.

The outspoken father of former UCLA star Lonzo Ball said Wednesday on Fox Sport 1’s “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” that it will now cost a shoe company $3 billion to make a deal with his Big Baller Brand.

“If they want to talk to me now, it just went up to $3 billion. Triple Bs — billion, billion, billion,” LaVar said.

He also repeated that he wants Lonzo to play only for the Los Angeles Lakers, the hometown team that got the No. 2 pick Tuesday night in the NBA draft lottery.

“Now that Lonzo’s headed to Los Angeles, what they should have done is give me a billion dollars and let me be on my way,” LaVar said.

LaVar said he has sold 400 to 500 pairs of the $495 ZO2 shoes, and has no need to market his products to women.

Sharapova says she’ll ’rise again’ after snub

Maria Sharapova is vowing to “rise up again,” a day after she was denied a wild-card entry for the French Open.

On her Twitter feed Wednesday, Sharapova posted these words: If this is what it takes to rise up again, then I am in it all the way, everyday. No words, games, or actions will ever stop me from reaching my own dreams. And I have many.”

French Tennis Federation president Bernard Giudicelli announced Tuesday that he decided not to invite Sharapova to play at Roland Garros, where the main draw starts May 28. She recently returned to the tour after serving a 15-month doping ban.

New Baylor suit alleges rape video, dog fighting

AUSTIN, Texas

A new federal lawsuit against Baylor University alleges football players routinely recorded gang rapes and staged dogfights in a program that fostered sexual violence.

A former Baylor volleyball player identified only as Jane Doe filed the lawsuit Wednesday. It alleges she was gang raped by four or more players in 2012. She says the players later harassed her and her family until she left school the next year. The lawsuit doesn’t identify any players.

The woman says she confided in her coach, who contacted Baylor’s football coach and athletic director at the time. She says nothing happened.

From staff and wire reports