WILLEY HONORED

NEW MANCHESTER, W.Va. — Oak Glen junior Noah Willey received honorable mention on the All-West Virginia Class AA baseball team selected by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association.

Willey went 5-0 in 12 appearances on the mound with a 1.91 ERA. In 62 1/3 innings, he struck out 92 and walked 19.

He also batted .220 with two doubles, three triples and five stolen bases.

WEAVER STEPS DOWN

WARREN — Champion softball coach Cheryl Weaver is stepping down after 27 years.

She had 559 career victories with six state titles and two other trips to the state semifinals.

The Golden Flashes went 19-6 this season, including two wins over Crestview on the way to the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Grey Tier title.

EMERSON BEAT GUARDIANS

CLEVELAND (AP) — Colt Emerson homered, J.P. Crawford singled in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and the Seattle Mariners beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-1 on Friday night.

Luis Castillo (3-7) allowed a run on four hits in six innings for his first victory since May 31. Andres Muñoz retired the Guardians in order in the ninth for his 15th save in 20 opportunities.

Kahlil Watson had his seventh RBI in eight games for the Guardians, who fell to 3-7 since All-Star third baseman José Ramírez was placed on the injured list after he broke a bone in his left hand June 13 against Detroit.

Cooper Ingle went 0 for 2 with a walk in his debut in the majors.

Emerson, who was the Ohio Gatorade Player of the Year at John Glenn High School, evened it at 1-1 in the third when he connected on a high changeup just inside the strike zone from Cleveland starter Joey Cantillo and drove it into the stands in right field.

Crawford put the Mariners on top in the single when second baseman Travis Bazzana wasn’t able to make a play on the ground ball, allowing Cal Raleigh to score.

Cantillo tied a season high with nine strikeouts and allowed only two hits in six innings.

Cleveland right-hander Slade Cecconi (3-6, 4.48 ERA) will face Seattle right-hander Logan Gilbert (6-4, 3.29 ERA) on Saturday.

MARTE’S HOMER TOPS PIRATES

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pinch-hitter Noelvi Marte hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the eighth inning after Cincinnati scored four runs off Paul Skenes in the second, and the Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-4 on Friday night.

Given a 1-0 lead on Konnor Griffin’s first-inning homer, Skenes allowed RBI singles to Spencer Steer and Tyler Stephenson and sacrifice flies to Blake Dunn and Elly De La Cruz. After the singles put the Reds ahead 2-1, Cincinnati loaded the bases with no outs when a called third strike by umpire Jeremie Rehak against Matt McLain on a full-count pitch was changed to a ball in an ABS appeal.

Skenes, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, gave up four runs, six hits and two walks while striking out seven in five innings. His ERA rose from 2.86 to 3.10.

With the score 4-4, Sal Stewart singled off Mason Montgomery (2-3) with one out in the eighth and Marte followed with a 405-foot homer.

Pirates RHP Jared Jones (1.1, 5.75 ERA) starts Saturday against Reds RHP Chase Burns (9-1, 2.00 ERA).

REBELS’ PAST

THIBODAUX, La. (AP) — Mississippi quarterback Trinidad Chambliss on Friday took issue with first-year LSU coach Lane Kiffin’s recent comments that Ole Miss’ past embrace of Confederate symbols made recruiting Black players more difficult.

“Me, personally, I don’t agree,” said Chambliss, who was coached by Kiffin last season. “I don’t think that what he said was truthful. … The Oxford community is nothing but love and they care about their people no matter what they look like: brown, black, purple, yellow — you know what I mean?”

Kiffin, who is white, coached at Ole Miss from 2020 to 2025. He oversaw the Rebels’ 11-1 regular season in 2025 but left for LSU before the College Football Playoff.

In May, Kiffin was featured in a Vanity Fair magazine article in which he described prospective Ole Miss recruits telling him: “Hey, coach, we really like you. But my grandparents aren’t letting me move to Oxford, Mississippi.”

Kiffin will be back in Ole Miss’ Vaught-Hemingway Stadium — but on the visitor’s sideline — on Sept. 19 when LSU visits the Rebels.

GROUP PLAY ENDING

(AP) — As group play winds down at the World Cup, the biggest intrigue might not be who finishes first in a four-team group.

It’s who finishes third.

Soccer teams that are first and second in their groups move on automatically to the Round of 32. The United States, Canada and Mexico, co-hosts of the tournament, have all advanced, along with France, Germany, Brazil, Norway and others.

The U.S. will face Bosnia-Herzegovina on Wednesday in Santa Clara, California, while Canada heads to Southern California to face South Africa on Sunday. Other marquee matchups are set, including Morocco versus the Netherlands, Japan versus Brazil and Norway versus Ivory Coast.

Third place is no guarantee. The eight best third-place teams also get in, with ties broken by goal differential and goals scored, if necessary.

Teams with four points — a win, a draw and a loss — almost certainly will make the Round of 32. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sweden and Ecuador already advanced that way, and Paraguay is poised to join that group, which would mean four qualifiers left.

That leaves eight other third-place teams for the final four spots, including Senegal, which routed Iraq 5-0. Others with three points are also hoping for the best.

MABREY SETS TEMPO

TORONTO (AP) — Casual sports fans may not know much about Marina Mabrey. She doesn’t garner the national attention of other more well-known WNBA players.

But the feisty and competitive Mabrey created a buzz with one of the best shooting perfomances in WNBA history, matching the league scoring record of 53 points in a win over Los Angeles on Thursday night.

The total points probably raised a few eyebrows, but her 3-point barrage didn’t — the 6-foot-1 guard has been called “Money Mabrey” because of her shooting ability from beyond the arc.

She was 17-of-28 from the field, including matching her own WNBA record of nine 3-pointers.

“I think tonight was just my night from the three-point line, and from honestly everywhere,” Mabrey said while laughing. “And then the fans, to end up chanting MVP, I don’t know that I ever imagined that. But it was really a good feeling.”

Mabrey matched A’ja Wilson and Liz Cambage as the only players to score 53 points in a game.

“I’ve been doing this for quite some time,” Toronto coach Sandy Brondello said. “I’ve never seen that. (Not even from WNBA icon) Diana Taurasi, and she could shoot it really well. I mean, to witness that was amazing.”

The 29-year-old Mabrey is journeywoman playing on her fifth WNBA team since she was drafted in the second round in 2019 by the Los Angeles Sparks.

CLARK SIDELINED

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Caitlin Clark will miss Saturday night’s game against the Los Angeles Sparks while she recovers from a back injury she suffered against Phoenix on Wednesday.

Indiana coach Stephanie White said Friday morning that Clark wouldn’t play. Indiana doesn’t play again after Saturday until visiting the Las Vegas Aces on July 5.

“She’s OK. She’s going to be out on Saturday. She’s doing all right,” White said. “Obviously, it’s a good time as we have all week next week. Take this opportunity to get her treatment, get her healthy and get her back on the floor and see what happens.”

Clark only played in 13 games last season because of a variety of injuries. She’s missed one game this season because of her back. Clark is tied for fourth in the league with 21.2 points a game. She had 19 points in 20 minutes against Phoenix.

Clark is currently second in All-Star fan voting that was released Wednesday behind teammate Aliyah Boston. The All-Star Game is July 25 in Chicago.

SERENA’S OPPONENT

LONDON (AP) — Serena Williams will face an opponent less than half her age when she plays 20-year-old Maya Joint in the first round at Wimbledon for her first singles match in nearly four years.

The seven-time Wimbledon singles champion, who is 44, accepted a wild-card entry to the grass-court Grand Slam, where she’ll also compete in doubles with her older sister Venus, who turned 46 last week.

It’s all part of a tennis comeback that started with two doubles warmup matches but kicked into high gear Sunday when the All England Club announced Serena would play singles. Brackets were set in Friday’s draw.

Joint was born in Michigan — as was Williams — but represents Australia through her father. She is ranked No. 53 and made her Wimbledon debut last year, losing in the first round to Liudmila Samsonova 6-3, 6-2.

“It’s an honor. I always dreamed about playing Serena Williams,” Joint said. “If you told me 10 years ago that I’d be playing her first round at Wimbledon, that’s just crazy.

“I hope it’s on Centre Court, that would be pretty cool. You just have to play the ball. You can’t really think about who you are playing because I’ll just get too nervous. I’ll just take it one ball at a time.”

If Williams beats Joint on Tuesday, she may face rising Filipino star Alexandra Eala, who is seeded 29th, in the second round. She could meet defending champion Iga Swiatek in the third round.

Swiatek opens against Taylor Townsend of the U.S. on Centre Court on Tuesday.