WPPA/T102 SPORTS-THURSDAY

DISTRICT 11 BASEBALL

AAA

Saucon Valley vs Blue Mountain, at Pine Grove-430pm

AA

Pine Grove vs Northern Lehigh at Salisbury-430pm
Catasauqua vs Sch Haven at Blue Mountain-430pm

A

Marian vs Notre Dame ES at Northampton-430pm
Williams Valley vs Pius X at Tamaqua-430pm

Softball

AAA

Blue Mountain at Pottsville-4pm

AA

Notre Dame-GP at Pine Grove-4pm
Sch Haven at Pen Argyl-4pm

A

Tri Valley vs Wms Valley-4:30pm
Marian vs Minersville-630pm
BOTH AT BLUE MOUNTAIN



NEW YORK (AP) - The Mets came up with another shutout over the Phillies last night. Hisanori Takahashi threw six scoreless innings in a 5-0 win in New York. It's the first time the Phillies have been shut out in consecutive games since 2008.


CINCINNATI (AP) - Reds starter Bronson Arroyo went seven-plus and got his fifth straight win as the Reds shut out the Pirates 4-0 yesterday. Miguel Cairo had a solo homer off the Pirates' Ross Ohlendorf, who was in trouble most of his six innings. Orlando Cabrera drove in two runs with a sacrifice fly and a single for Cincinnati.



PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Flyers goalie Brian Boucher has returned to practice after suffering a knee injury and hopes he can back up Michael Leighton in the Stanley Cup finals. Boucher was
Philadelphia's postseason starter until he sprained a ligament in his left knee in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Leighton led the Flyers to three shutouts in the East finals after
taking over for Boucher.


PITTSBURGH (AP) - Mike Wallace is on the fast track to replacing Santonio Holmes as the Steelers' primary deep passing threat. Wallace is convinced the transition will take less time than might be expected, given he's replacing a former first-round draft pick who caught 79 passes last season and had a combined 18 touchdown receptions the last three seasons.


OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) - LPGA golfer Natalie Gulbis has played a round of golf with ex-boyfriend Ben Roethlisberger and calls the troubled Steelers quarterback "a great guy." Gulbis played golf
Tuesday with Roethlisberger at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, a former site of the Ryder Cup and PGA Championship. Yesterday, she visited Oakmont Country Club, where the U.S. Women's Open will be played in July.


DE PERE, Wis. (AP) - Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue thinks the Big East Conference is being proactive about its future and sees cable giant ESPN as the key player in any long-term
decisions the 16-member conference will make. Tagliabue has been named a special adviser to the conference and is a part of Georgetown University's board of directors.


UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (AP) - Penn State has set kickoff times for its first two home games of the year. Both the matchup with Youngstown State on September 4th and Kent State two weeks later will kick off at noon. The Youngstown State game will air on the Big Ten Network. The Kent State matchup will be shown on ESPN or ESPN 2.


ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Dwight Howard had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Orlando Magic to a 113-92 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals. The Magic have won two straight with the Celtics taking a slim 3-2 lead into a pressure-packed Game 6 in Boston on Friday night.


DENVER (AP) - Ubaldo Jimenez tossed eight shutout innings, Seth Smith homered twice and the Colorado Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-3. Jimenez won his major league-leading ninth game, extended his current scoreless streak to 16 and a-third innings and dropped his ERA to 0.88, the best in baseball.


BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) - Midfielders Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley, and defender Steve Cherundolo earned their third World Cup trips as they were named to the U.S. World Cup team that competes in South Africa next month. Edson Buddle and Herculez Gomez also made the 23-man roster, coming from obscurity a few months ago to earn trips to the World Cup.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A former Oklahoma State assistant basketball coach who sued Minnesota coach Tubby Smith over an aborted hiring was awarded nearly $1.25 million by a jury in Minneapolis. The jury found that Smith falsely represented that he had the authority to
hire Jimmy Williams when he called Williams in 2007 to talk about an assistant coach position in Minnesota, which Williams never got after he quit his $200,000-a-year post at Oklahoma State.