Tennessee's Karen Weekly: 'Everybody but four people' saw Megan Grant miss home plate

Tennessee's Karen Weekly: 'Everybody but four people' saw Megan Grant miss home plate

Roughly 90 minutes had passed since a controversial, game-tying home run sentTennessee softball's Women's College World Series elimination game against UCLA into extra innings Sunday. But as she sat down for her post-game news conference after her team's win,Lady Volscoach Karen Weekly wasn't any less bothered by what had occurred. Weekly teed off on the umpiring and replay review crews afterNo. 7 Tennessee's 5-4 victory against No. 9 UCLAin nine innings, noting that she believed the incorrect call had been made on atwo-run homer from Bruins slugger Megan Grant, who didn't touch home plate as she completed her trot around the bases. REQUIRED READING:Tennessee softball, Karlyn Pickens vs UCLA highlights: Lady Vols going back to WCWS semifinals "I think everybody but four people saw the play at the plate," Weekly said. "We saw in the dugout she had missed the plate and we saw her teammates had kind of pushed her back. By rule, that should have been nullified. ... We went to the umpire and said, 'This is what happened.' Then they did their thing." After Grant had initially stepped over home plate, one player in her mob of teammates who greeted her, Alexis Ramirez, grabbed her and moved her in the direction of the plate to make sure she touched it. "The runner did miss home plate, it was assisted. However, that play is not reviewable."UCLA tied the game with this home run in the seventh inning. Tennessee challenged the play and the ruling was ultimately upheld after review.pic.twitter.com/8HzgMhUQ76 — ESPN (@espn)June 1, 2025 After a 20-minute video review, it was determined that, while Grant did not touch the plate and had been assisted, it was not reviewable according toAppendix G of the NCAA Softball Rule Book. When asked later during her news conference about what her team did to occupy itself during the review, Weekly sarcastically referred to it as "that lengthy review-not review." REQUIRED READING:Why did Megan Grant's home run count in WCWS for UCLA? Play was not reviewable The victory the Lady Vols would have gotten had the call gone the other way was ultimately delayed, not denied. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning, Tennessee native Laura Mealer roped a single to left field to bring home the game-winning run. With the win, Tennessee has advanced to the WCWS semifinals on June 2, where it will play No. 6 Texas. The Lady Vols, who already have a loss in the double-elimination tournament, will need to beat the Longhorns twice in order to make it to the WCWS championship series. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Tennessee's Karen Weekly addresses controversial Megan Grant home run

byAlex Perish

in

June 01, 2025

Tennessee's Karen Weekly: 'Everybody but four people' saw Megan Grant miss home plate

Tennessee's Karen Weekly: 'Everybody but four people' saw Megan Grant miss home plate Roughly 90 minutes had passed since a cont...

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Florida coach Paul Maurice has Panthers back in Cup final, fueled by his mix of laughs and hard work

Florida coach Paul Maurice has Panthers back in Cup final, fueled by his mix of laughs and hard work

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida coach Paul Maurice keeps the day-to-day routine simple. Show up for work early and have copious amounts of coffee. Trust assistant coaches to do their jobs. Sit in on meetings when needed. Hammer home a consistent message with players. Swear a little bit sometimes, swear profusely at other times. Hey, it works. In the Stanley Cup Final for a third consecutive season with the Panthers, Maurice's style — laugh-out-loud funny at times, incredibly smart and serious at others — continues to deliver results for Florida. He was 41-51 in his playoff career before coming to Florida; he's 41-21 in his playoff career with Florida. A coaching lifer, he already was well-respected within the game before the Panthers brought him aboard, but he never had anything close to a run like this until now. "I'm not being disrespectful to the other teams I've coached," Maurice said. "The team here, this is the best team I've ever coached. It's not really that close." Winners of the Stanley Cup last season, the Panthers will try for back-to-back titles starting Wednesday night when they visit Edmonton for Game 1 of a rematch. Florida beat the Oilers last year in seven games for Maurice's first Cup in a 30-year career. "Oh, I'll never get tired of hearing that," Maurice said. It's a hilarious game of tug-of-war that Maurice and the Panthers players are engaged in these days. Players don't want to be showered in praise for making a third consecutive Cup final; the coach insists that it's all about them and that he just pushes a few buttons here and there. The truth is that there's more than enough credit to go around. "He keeps things light, but he expects us to work our hardest and he's very prepared and — I know I've said this before — he can get you up for a Tuesday night game against Columbus or whatever in the middle of the year and it feels like a playoff game," forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "His speeches and his ability to get us to run through a wall each and every game is a big gift." The speeches aren't filibusters, however. Maurice thinks it's critically important to have the ability to go into the locker room, say exactly what needs to be said and depart without saying anything more or anything less. He's not afraid to tell his players that they're playing poorly. He's not afraid to tell his players that he loves them, either. He's also not afraid to make himself the butt of the joke. Florida was a 122-point, President's Trophy-winning team the season before Maurice arrived. The Panthers managed 92 points in Year 1 of his era. "Coaching," he quipped. The 30-point drop was in large part to the adjustment made by a stylistic change, and that change led them to the Cup final, but Maurice never misses a chance to make fun of how he turned a 122-point club into a 92-point club overnight. Panthers defenseman Seth Jones came to Florida around the trade deadline this season. He had a lot of learning to do — new systems, new expectations, new teammates, all of that. He also had to learn how to get coached differently, which he quickly realized wasn't a bad thing. "It's different than what I've had," Jones said of Maurice's style. "I think he knows how to really take the temperature of the group and the situation of the group. And he can have a meeting where he's very intense, calling guys out or calling the team out. But he's also very good at throwing a joke in there, throwing a funny clip in there when we're doing video. He's very smart. I think he understands what the team needs at any given time. I don't think he gets too high or too low based on certain situations." That, the Panthers have learned, is critical. Consider how the title series went last season. The Panthers won the first three games and were on the brink of the Cup. Then they lost Game 4. And Game 5. And Game 6. The brink of the Cup became the brink of a collapse, real fast. Maurice started talking to his players about freedom and playing with that feeling. Game 7 was flawless. The Panthers won, and at the parade about a week later, Maurice ended his rain-soaked, highly profane remarks by throwing his arms into the air and yelling "Freedom!" at the top of his lungs to his team. "He gets the buy-in from the players and he treats all of us the same, which I think is really important as a coach and not to treat guys differently," Tkachuk said. "He expects us all to work hard and treat each other with respect and everything, but he treats us all the exact same. He's been a great coach and we're super lucky to have him here." ___ AP NHL playoffs:https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cupandhttps://apnews.com/hub/nhl

byAlex Perish

in

June 01, 2025

Florida coach Paul Maurice has Panthers back in Cup final, fueled by his mix of laughs and hard work

Florida coach Paul Maurice has Panthers back in Cup final, fueled by his mix of laughs and hard work FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida co...

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Story knocks in 3 runs and Crochet strikes out 12 in 7 innings to lead Red Sox past Braves 3-1

Story knocks in 3 runs and Crochet strikes out 12 in 7 innings to lead Red Sox past Braves 3-1

ATLANTA (AP) — Trevor Story had a three-run double in the first inning and Garrett Crochet struck out 12 in seven innings of one-run ball, leading the Boston Red Sox to a 3-1 win over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday. Story went 2 for 3 and just missed a grand slam in the first when he hit a 1-0 pitch from Bryce Elder 413 feet off the top of the wall in center, driving in Boston's only runs. Story had a big series in Atlanta, hitting a go-ahead two-run homerin a 5-1 Red Sox winFriday. Crochet (5-4) has pitched at least five innings in all 13 of his starts this season with eight quality outings. The 25-year-old left-hander has a streak of 13 outings with at least five innings pitched. That surpasses his career-best run of 12 straight from April 29, 2024 to June 30, 2024. Crochet is tied with Washington's MacKenzie Gore for the major league lead with 101 strikeouts this season. Aroldis Chapman earned his ninth save for the Red Sox. Marcell Ozuna accounted for Atlanta's only run with a solo homer, his 10th of the season, in the bottom of the first. Elder (2-3) allowed six hits and three earned runs, with four strikeouts and three walks in 5 1/3 innings. Key moment The Braves threatened in the bottom of the fourth when Matt Olson hit a leadoff double and moved to third on Ozzie Albies' single with no outs. Crochet then retired the next three batters in order, shutting down the threat. Key stat Crochet became the first pitcher to have 12 or more strikeouts in a game against Atlanta since Philadelphia's Zack Wheeler struck out 12 on May 7, 2023. Up next The Braves are off on Monday and are scheduled to throw RHP Spencer Strider (0-3, 4.50 ERA) against Arizona RHP Zac Gallen (3-7, 5.54) in their series opener on Tuesday. The Red Sox plan to throw RHP Brayan Bello (2-1, 3.83 ERA) against LHP Yusei Kikuchi (1-5, 3.06) and the visiting Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday. ___ AP MLB:https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

byAlex Perish

in

June 01, 2025

Story knocks in 3 runs and Crochet strikes out 12 in 7 innings to lead Red Sox past Braves 3-1

Story knocks in 3 runs and Crochet strikes out 12 in 7 innings to lead Red Sox past Braves 3-1 ATLANTA (AP) — Trevor Story had a three-run d...

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FBI investigating attack in Boulder, Colorado, as 'act of terror'

FBI investigating attack in Boulder, Colorado, as 'act of terror'

Police in Boulder, Colorado, are responding to a "heinous" attack at a pedestrian mall in the city that they say left several victims, including some that appear to be life-threatening. A suspect was taken into custody without incident, police said. While many of the details were not immediately clear, FBI Director Kash Patel said officials were investigating the incident as a "targeted terror attack." "Our agents and local law enforcement are on the scene already, and we will share updates as more information becomes available," Patel said. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis also called the attack a "heinous act of terror." "Hate-filled acts of any kind are unacceptable. While details emerge, the state works with local and federal law enforcement to support this investigation," Polis wrote on X. Boulder police, while calling the attack a "tragedy" and "unacceptable" were not yet at the point of labeling it terror, Chief Stephen Redfearn said. The incident occurred just before 1:30 p.m. on Sunday at the intersection of 13th Street and Pearl Street. There was a group of people participating in a pro-Israel peaceful demonstration when that attack occurred, Redfearn said. But it was not immediately clear what group was targeted in the attack. Police responded to reports of a man with a weapon and that people were being set on fire. When they arrived, there were multiple victims at the scene with injuries consistent with burns, police said. Police were still investigating how the injuries occurred, according to Redfearn. Police said the scene has been contained but have evacuated the area from Broadway to the west, Pine Street to the north and 16th Street to the east and Walnut Street to the south. The scene was not yet safe, Redfearn said. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. FBI investigating attack in Boulder, Colorado, as 'act of terror'originally appeared onabcnews.go.com

byAlex Perish

in

June 01, 2025

FBI investigating attack in Boulder, Colorado, as 'act of terror'

FBI investigating attack in Boulder, Colorado, as 'act of terror' Police in Boulder, Colorado, are responding to a "heinous...

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Multiple Gaza-hostage-awareness marchers injured in attack in Boulder

Multiple Gaza-hostage-awareness marchers injured in attack in Boulder

Multiple people were injured when an attacker used a weapon to set people on fire during a regular demonstration in Colorado to buoy awareness of hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza. The group Run for Their Lives - Boulder has been holding the demonstrations fairly regularly, sometimes weekly, since Thanksgiving 2023, following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Boulder, Colorado, Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said a suspect was in custody following the afternoon violence and had suffered minor injuries that required hospitalizations. The suspect's name was not released. People were being asked to stay away from downtown Boulder as police check out a vehicle that may have been associated with the attack, Redfearn said. "The area is not safe yet," he said. FBI Director Kash Patelon Xcalled the incident "a targeted terror attack." He said agents were at the scene assisting police with the investigation. Redfearn said it's too early to say if the group supporting the release of hostages was specifically targeted or if it was an act of terror. "It's way too early to speculate motive," the chief said. According to a notice for a February event by the same group, "This is an ongoing event. We will continue to walk until all hostages are released."

byAlex Perish

in

June 01, 2025

Multiple Gaza-hostage-awareness marchers injured in attack in Boulder

Multiple Gaza-hostage-awareness marchers injured in attack in Boulder Multiple people were injured when an attacker used a weapon to set peo...

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