Thursday's Report: Scoreboard; Roquan Smith, Mercer golf; Braves, Tech, UGA, Falcons; MLB, US Open, college 🏈/south/nat'l, NFL, NASCAR, NBA, more
Wednesday's Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media.
Coming Thursday: The Sports Report’s Predictions, high school notebook
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High School
🥎 🥎 🥎Softball 🥎 🥎 🥎
ACE 3, Glascock County 0
Dixiana Sims threw another complete-game shutout, striking out 12. Laney Bridges, Destiny Lucas, and Sims each had two hits for the 9-2 Gryphons.
Brentwood 6, Thomas Jefferson 4
East Laurens 9, Montgomery County 0
Hampton 5, Lamar County 4
Hampton’s walk-off came after an error, single, stolen base, and error, with no outs. Lauren Wilcher and Shakiria Foster had three hits each for Lamar County.
Jasper County 11, FPD 3
The Purple Hurricanes got control with five in the fourth and two in the fifth, aided by a four-error FPD outing. Mackenzie Diaz had three hits, and Jasper County got two-hit games from Madisyn Spieks, Hayven Cannon, Hailey Roper, Lindsey Thomas, Madelyn Taylor, and M’Kayla Middlebrooks. Kaylee MacDonald, Alanna Ray, Emily Claire Howard, and Hannah Davis had two-hit outings for FPD.
Perry 7, Upson-Lee 4
The Panthers won their fifth straight, behind pitchers Ashlyn Sanders and Chloey Davey. Trinity Odom< Anna Dean, and Lucy Layson drove in all of Perry’s runs.
Westfield 4, John Milledge 0
🏐🏐🏐Volleyball🏐🏐🏐
Crisp County 3, Peach County 0
Pro
MLB
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Alumni Update
Smith (Macon County) focused on season, not contract
Around/About Central Georgia
Around/About Georgia/Southeast
Wright on point, wins 17th, as Braves break losing streak
Why Tech capped attendance at the lower bowls at MBS, no upper-deck seats
Pittman knows how Lanning feels
First of three games in Atlanta for UGA?
Crash, then practice for Bulldogs’ Gilbert
Falcons’ young roster fits vision of Fontenot, Smith
Baseball/MLB
Nimmo catch saves Mets against Dodgers
Phillies knock out 22 hits, knock out D-Backs
Ohtani’s 30th HR lifts Angles over Yankees
Baltimore prospect goes yard in MLB debut
League: Hernandez blew ALDS calls, losing WS spot
Tennis
Serena powers back to knock off No. 2
2021 runner-up, No. 3 Sakkari ousted
Smell of weed disrupts Kyrgios
College Football
New and improved QBs give Big Ten a new look
Narduzzi has own memories of The Backyard Brawl
And it’s quite the 127-year-old rivalry
Wisconsin RBs paying tribute to late position coach Brown
College Football/South
D will determine Tennessee’s success, not O
Can Auburn’s O-line get it done?
Big – really big – Tide freshman already impressive
Lunch pail returns to Virginia Tech
What Tennessee fans don’t want to say
South Carolina has question marks
Canceled game gets a nice $1.5 mil payout for FBS school
NFL/USFL/Football
Chargers add depth with UGA alum Michel
Campbell laments worst part of “the (bleepin) job’ on Hard Knocks
Mayfield denies using sharp words for Browns game
Donald blows off helmet-swinging as ‘practice’
Auto Racing
Breaking down the playoffs and postseason format
Like boss Jordan, Wallace changing numbers
Golf
Watson: Smith will ’fall off the map’
Two holes-in-one 20 minutes? Curse the high-schooler
NBA/WNBA
Steph Curry gets a 1-man commencement, and jersey retirement
W-Parker leads Sky to even series
High Schools
Water issues in Mississippi forcing coaches to adjust
Around the nation/world