Clipper Invite on Saturday

COLUMBIANA — The Clipper Invitational will be held Saturday at the Ward Athletic Complex.

Fifteen schools are entered including host Columbiana, Salem, South Range, West Branch and Western Reserve.

Action starts at 10 a.m. with the field events and the 3200-meter relay. The rest of the running events will start at 11:15 a.m. All will be timed finals.

The Ursuline boys and girls are the defending team champions.

Bears get second seed

NEW MANCHESTER, W.Va. — Oak Glen’s softball team received the second seed in the West Virginia Class AA, Region 1 tournament.

The Golden Bears (15-10) will host the winner of No. 3 Doddridge County and No. 6 Tyler Consolidated at a date to be determined in the double-elimination tournament. Oak Glen, the defending Class AA state champion, outscored those opponents 45-1 in three games. The winner of the three team tournament will advance to the state tournament.

Top-seeded Weir will face the winner of No. 4 Ravenswood and No. 5 Williamstown in the other bracket. The winner of that three-team tournament will also advance to state.

YSU softball eliminated

YOUNGSTOWN — The top-seeded Youngstown State softball team had a rough time in the Horizon League tournament.

YSU lost for the second straight day and was eliminated while serving as tournament host.

The Penguins lost to fifth-seeded Green Bay, 2-0, Thursday and to third-seeded Robert Morris, 15-2, in five innings Friday at the YSU Softball Complex.

Robert Morris sophomore third baseman Mary Brant, a Poland High School graduate, singled in the Colonials’ five-run second inning that helped break the game open.

Youngstown State senior center fielder Bree Kohler, a South Range High School graduate, was hit by a pitch in the second inning and walked in the fourth inning in her two plate appearances.

The Penguins finish the season at 31-20.

Since 2021, the host team is 3-12 in the tournament, plus the No. 1 seed has not won the title since 2022.

Slugger ties homer mark

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — UCLA slugger Megan Grant tied the home run record for Division I softball when she launched her 37th of the season on Friday.

The senior matched the record Arizona’s Laura Espinoza set in 1995 when she sent a solo shot over the fence in the second inning of a 19-5 win over Wisconsin in a Big Ten Tournament semifinal.

Grant trailed Oklahoma’s Kendall Wells by one heading into conference tournament play. Wells did not homer in Oklahoma’s loss to Georgia on Thursday in the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Grant hit one Thursday against Penn State and another Friday against Wisconsin.

Grant has a chance to move into sole possession of first place Saturday against Nebraska in the Big Ten championship game.

Grant still has competition for the record, and the race to see who ends up with it could last until the Women’s College World Series. Wells has 36 and Grant’s teammate, Jordan Woolery, has 33.