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Alazaus wins Greater Akron-Canton award
AKRON -- West Branch High School graduate Beau Alazaus received the Baseball Player of the Year Award at the Greater Akron-Canton Sports Awards at the Akron Civic Theatre on Friday.
Alazaus, the Eastern Buckeye Conference Player of the Year, led the West Branch baseball team to the Division II state title. He won a school-record 11 games as a starting pitcher, including complete-game victories in the district, regional and state semifinals. He struck out 83 and walked nine in 81 innings this season.
More than 300 athletes were honored. Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb was the guest speaker.
The day before, Alazaus threw for 164 yards and one touchdown in leading the Ohio All-Stars to a 28-10 win in the Penn-Ohio Stateline Classic football game at Geneva College.
Schramm goes to Akron
DUBLIN -- Dublin Coffman High School graduate Matthew Schramm committed last month to play football for the University of Akron.
He is the son of Matt and Jenny Schramm of Dublin and grandson of Harold and Bonnie Schramm of Salem. Matt played football for the Salem Quakers from 1987-90.
Matthew Schramm is a 6-foot, 170-pound kicker who received Division I All-Ohio honorable mention honors as a senior last fall.
He converted 11-of-13 field goals, including a long of 52 yards, and 30-of-31 extra-point kicks. He also had 49 touchbacks in 53 kickoffs.
Dublin Coffman finished with a 10-4 record, including a 21-14 loss to eventual Division I state runner-up Springfield in the regional finals.
Cavaliers pick Tyson in first round
20. Cleveland Cavaliers -- Jaylon Tyson, forward, 6-6, 218, California.Scouting report: Took a big leap offensively after going from Texas to Texas Tech and finally Cal last season. Averaged 19.6 points last season, up from 10.7 the previous year. Made 37.8% of 3s over the past two seasons.
Historic NBA draft for France
NEW YORK (AP) -- The NBA may have to rethink the timing of its annual draft. Not the month, but a tweak to the hour the picks start coming off the board.
Paris is six hours ahead of New York, so French basketball fans eager to see history had to stay up into the wee hours of Thursday morning to see France join the United States as the only countries with three players drafted in the top 10 picks of an NBA draft.
And as the first round was a coming to an end, a total of four Frenchmen had been drafted: Zaccharie Risacher. Alex Sarr. Tidjane Salaun. Pacome Dadiet.
The question going into Wednesday night's draft was whether Risacher or Sarr would hear their name called as the No. 1 pick overall by Commissioner Adam Silver, and become the second straight Frenchman to be take first overall on the heels of last season's eventual Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyana.
Atlanta made Risacher that player.
Washington took 7-footer Sarr at No. 2, making a second straight draft the Wizards selected a player from France. Then the NBA draft really took on a decidedly French flavor with Charlotte helping France make history by selecting Salaun at No. 6 overall.
France made it a quartet when the New York Knicks drafted Dadiet as the 25th pick overall. Dadiet, who turns 19 in July, is a developing player at 6-8 who can finish at the rim. He is also a versatile defender who has been honing his game in Germany.
Risacher (pronounced Ree-zah-shay) said it means a lot for all of France and the country's booming basketball pipeline to the NBA.
"I know that a lot of France stayed up all night to watch this," Risacher said." That's amazing for French basketball, and I'm so happy to be a part of something special for my country. I think it's going to be more players who will be able to get to the NBA and do something great. I'm really proud to be a part of it."
Westwood makes Champions debut
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) -- Lee Westwood wants golf's powers to stop fighting so players like him can get back on the course, where the fans want them.
The two-time Masters runner-up and former No. 1 golfer in the world is at the Newport Country Club this week for the U.S. Senior Open, making his over-50 tour debut today a year late in part because of a PGA Tour ban on LIV Golf defectors.
The 51-year-old Westwood received an invite to the Senior Open, which is run by the USGA, as a recent Ryder Cup participant. Richard Bland has also earned an invitation for winning the Senior PGA Championship. The only other LIV golfer over 50 is Phil Mickelson.
"At the end of the day, we're in the entertainment industry," Westwood said on Tuesday after a practice round at the course on the mouth of the Narragansett Bay.
"No matter what the level of golf is, I think if the best players at every level don't come together and play, there's only one loser, and that's the fans watching," he said. "We need to somehow figure a way that we can get the best players playing against each other more often."
Westwood ascended to the No. 1 ranking in 2010 after finishing in the top three in four of the previous five majors. That ended Tiger Woods' record run of 281 weeks as the world's top-ranked golfer; the Englishman held the No. 1 ranking for 22 weeks.
Although Westwood has never won a major, he has finished in the top five a dozen times.
Seems like the perfect candidate for a tour that was designed to give fans another chance to root on their favorites. But the PGA Tour's policy is that LIV golfers have to wait one year from their last appearance on the Saudi-backed circuit to play in PGA Tour or PGA Tour Champions events.
In addition, the European tour has fined Westwood 850,000 British pounds - more than $1 million - a fine he repeated on Tuesday he has no intention of paying. "We'll have to find a way around that," he said.
"At any level, it's disappointing they can't resolve it," Westwood said. "The Champions Tour for me is important because people have watched myself play and other guys out here play for the last 30, 40 years, and they build relationships with those players and they've seen us grow as players and people.
"Yes, people want to see the youngsters, the new guys on the block coming through and contending," he said. "But they also want to see the guys they've made a bond with over the last 30, 40 years."
Westwood is coming off a tie for third at last week's LIV event outside of Nashville, Tennessee -- his best result of the season. He said he didn't feel like he needed a strong performance in Newport to make his larger point.
"Everybody that I talked to said it's great to see myself and Richard playing here," Westwood said, adding that he thought the victory by LIV's Bryson DeChambeau in the U.S. Open was good for the sport.
"It's basically getting all the best players together in one tournament to compete against each other, and that's what you want at the highest level," Westwood said. "You want all the best players there."
One of five founding members of the USGA, the 7,024-yard, par-70 Newport Country Club was originally supposed to host the Senior Open in 2020 that was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We've been looking forward to this event now for quite a few years," said Ernie Els, a four-time major champion who has five victories on the senior tour.
Olympic contract
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -- The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee announced Wednesday it was giving a five-year contract extension to CEO Sarah Hirshland in a move that will keep the executive in her role through the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
In a letter addressed to the USOPC community, chairman Gene Sykes said Hirshland's "accountability, transparency, and inclusivity has transformed our organization."
Financial terms of the contract, which will run through 2029 when it is finalized, were not disclosed. According to the USOPC's most recent financial disclosures, Hirshland made $1.1 million in "reportable compensation" in 2022.