Published:Saturday, May 17, 2008 12:16 PM PDT
Serving the South Coast of Oregon

Sports Briefs: Oregon softball team blanked in NCAA regional
Saturday, May 17, 2008 12:16 PM PDT

NORMAN, Okla. — D.J. Mathis allowed three hits and stuck out six in a complete game as Oklahoma blanked Oregon 6-0 Friday in the first game of their NCAA softball regional.

The host Sooners (44-12) scored twice in the first inning and added four more runs in the fifth.

Alicia Cook allowed six runs on 10 hits in 41⁄3 innings for the Ducks (33-28). She struck out two.

“It was one of those days where everything they did went right,” Cook said. “They had great pitching, hitting and defense, and that’s what we’ll do tomorrow.”

On Saturday, the Ducks will face Tulsa, and the winner will face the loser of the Oklahoma-Arkansas game.

The Razorbacks (37-27) won their opener Friday, 7-5, over Tulsa.

GOLF

Byrd leads at AT&T Classic

DULUTH, Ga. — Jonathan Byrd took advantage of soft fairways and receptive greens at TPC Sugarloaf on Friday, shooting his second straight 6-under 66 to take a three-stroke lead in the AT&T Classic.

Byrd, seeking his fourth PGA Tour victory, shared the lead with Kenny Perry, Ryan Palmer and two others when the second round began.

The course was drenched with over an inch of rain Thursday and, though no precipitation fell in the second round, overcast conditions kept the sun from drying off the fairways and greens and making the course play faster.

Perry and Palmer shot 69s to drop into a tie for second.

Bean and Goodes share lead

HOOVER, Ala. — Andy Bean and Monday qualifier Mike Goodes shot 7-under 65s to share the first-round lead in the Champions Tour’s Regions Charity Classic.

Leading money winner Bernhard Langer was two strokes back on the 7,503-yard Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Ross Bridge course.

Sybase Classic rained out

CLIFTON, N.J. — Second-round play was wiped out in the LPGA Tour’s Sybase Classic after rain created conditions that would have forced players to compete on two very different courses if the round had been suspended until today.

Tournament officials wiped out play, rescheduled the second round to today and reduced the $2 million tournament from 72 holes to 54.

Annika Sorenstam, Rachel Hetherington and Song-Hee Kim shared the lead after shooting 67s on Thursday. Lorena Ochoa was a stroke back.

The washout was the tour’s first since the 2005 Michelob Ultra Open.

AUTORACING

Crafton gets first Truck Series win

CONCORD, N.C. — With Kyle Busch’s dominant car getting crunched, Matt Crafton survived a wild finish to win his first Craftsman Truck Series race.

Crafton avoided the mayhem over the final laps Friday night, pulling away in a green-white-checkered finish to win at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. It was Crafton’s first win in 178 career starts dating to 2000.

“Finally we can shut them up,” Crafton said of his critics. “Now they can say, ’When’s the second one coming?”’

Crafton successfully blocked Chad McCumbee’s pass attempt in turn 3 of the final lap and pulled away. Brendan Gaughan finished third, followed by Erik Darnell and Rick Crawford.

Hot Busch wins All-Star race pole

CONCORD, N.C. — Kyle Busch continued his dominance with a flawless qualifying effort Friday night to capture the pole for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

Busch, the Sprint Cup points leader with three wins and seven top-10 finishes in 11 races, was the last car to hit the track. In a unique format that called for three laps and a four-tire pit stop, Busch was the fastest in and out of pit road and finished in 2 minutes, 1.956 seconds. Busch was more than a half-second faster than Jeff Gordon, who will start on the outside of the front row for today’s non-points race.


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