Author: Sports Radio Service

Gulls beat down Barracuda 7-3

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

The San Jose Barracuda and San Diego Gulls battled it out on the ice at FivePoint Arena in Irvine and it wasn’t even close as the Barracuda lose it 7-3 on Sat Apr 3, 2021 (@ sjbarracuda photo)

by Marko Ukalovic

IRVINE, Calif—The San Diego Gulls scored four goals in the third period to break open a tight game in a 7-3 victory over the San Jose Barracuda on Saturday evening at FivePoint Arena.

The win was the first one in regulation for the Gulls over the Barracuda this season. They have won six games in a row and went undefeated on its four-game homestand. The ‘Cuda have lost four of its past five games.

San Jose (7-7-4-1) drew first blood halfway through the first period. Brinson Pasichnuk’s shot from the left point was initially saved by Gulls goaile Olle Eriksson-Ek but the puck leaked out to the right and Maxim Letunov cleaned up the rebound for his third goal of the season at the 9:26 mark.

It was Pasichnuk’s first assist in his last 11 games.

San Diego (15-10-0-0) tied it at 1-1 late in the opening 20 minutes. ‘Cuda goalie Josef Korenar made a stop on a point blank shot from Matt Lorito. The rebound found its way behind the net where Hunter Drew centered the puck back out front to Lorito, who made good on his second attempt with a wrist shot into an empty net for his third goal of the season at the 17:29 mark.

San Jose regained the lead in the second period while short-handed. Alex True created a two-on-one odd man rush when he stripped the puck off of Kodie Curran at the Gulls blue line. True gave it up to Lean Bergmann who skated in all alone on Eriksson before backhanding a cross ice pass back to True for an easy tap in into the back of the net. True’s seventh goal of the season came at the 7:49 mark.

Bergmann, who has yet to score a goal for San Jose this season, finished with a two-point game.

The Gulls scored the equalizer after a miscue by three ‘Cuda players in its own zone. The puck leaked out to a wide open Sam Carrick who quickly made a deke before sliding the puck underneath Korenar for his 12th goal of the season at the 12:15 mark.

San Diego gained its first lead of the game late in the middle frame on the power play. Vinni Lettieri sent a cross ice pass over to Chase De Leo who buried a one-timer from close range past Korenar for his ninth goal of the season at the 19:38 mark.

The Gulls scored an insurance goal early to start the third period. Benoit-Oliver Groulx sent a pass back up to the point where Keegan Lowe fired a slapshot off the glove of Korenar for his second goal of the season at the 1:39 mark.

San Diego put the game away with two power play goals in under four minutes as San Jose was called for three minor penalties in a six minute span.

Curran redeemed himself when he snapped home a wrist shot top-shelf past Korenar for his fouth goal of the season and second power play goal for San Diego at the 11:54 mark.

Then Jacob Perreault found Andrew Agozzino camped out all alone along the right post with a backdoor pass and Agozzino tapped it home for San Diego’s third power play goal of the game and his seventh of the season at the 15:38 mark.

Perreault finished off the scoring for the Gulls when his backhander from a tough angle hit off the post past Korenar for his second goal of the season at the 18:35 mark.

San Jose scored the game’s final goal with 24 seconds left when Sasha Chmelevski found Joel Kellman backdoor at the left post for an easy tap in goal, Kellman’s third goal of the season.

Eriksson-Ek finished the game with 31 saves on 34 shots to earn the vicotry. Korenar made 21 saves on 28 shots in suffering his first regulation loss of the season.

GAME NOTES: San Jose went 0-for-4 on the power play. San Diego was 3-for-6.

San Diego have scored seven goals in back-to-back games.

De Leo and Andrew Poturalski each had two assists on the night.

The Three Stars of the Game were: 1) De Leo 2) Perreault 3) Lowe

UP NEXT: The Barracuda return home to host the Henderson Silver Knights for a two-games series on Tuesday 4/6 at 5:00pm at Solar4America Ice.

Giants shutout in series finale 4-0; M’s Flexen blanks Giants for five innings

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Seattle Mariners starter Chris Flexen pauses between pitches during the third inning at T Mobile Park in Seattle against the San Francisco Giants on Sat Apr 3, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Jeremy Kahn

After picking up their first win of the season, the San Francisco Giants wanted to leave Seattle with a victory.

Unfortunately, Mitch Hanigar and Ty France thought otherwise, as the two of them each hit solo home runs and the Seattle Mariners defeated the Giants 4-0 in the series finale at T-Mobile Park,

Chris Flexen went the minimum five innings to pick up the win for the Mariners, as he scattered just four hits, walking two and striking out six.

France gave Flexen the only run that he would he need, when he hit his first home run of the season off of Logan Webb in the bottom of the third inning.

Webb went 5.1 innings in his season debut, as he allowed three runs on seven hits, walking three and striking out seven.

Taylor Trammell gave the Mariners their second run of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, as he doubled to right field to score Evan White.

Dylan Moore made it 3-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning, as he doubled to left field to score Trammell.

Hanigar drove in the final run of the game, as he launched his first home run of the season into the seats off of Reyes Moronta in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Donovan Solano went 2-for-4 on the evening, as he is hitting .500 thru the first three games of the season.

Mike Yastrzemski picked up his first hit of the season, as he went 1-for-4 and is now hitting .077 on the season.

Tommy La Stella also picked up his first hit of the season, as he went 1-for-2 as the designated hitter.

Curt Casali made his Giants debut behind the plate, as he went 1-for-3 in giving Buster Posey the night off after Posey started the first two games of the season.

On the evening, the Giants went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base.

NOTES: According to Stats, Inc., the Giants Opening Day roster had an average age of 30 years, 317 days (second-oldest in the Majors), while the Mariners, conversely, had the third youngest (27 years, 285 days).

After opening the season in Seattle, the Giants will take Sunday off before returning to the State of California and will face the San Diego Padres on Monday at Petco Park.

UP NEXT: Anthony DeSclafani makes his Giants debut on Monday night, as the right-hander will face Adrian Morejon.

A’s Irvin can’t fool Astro hitting in 9-1 offensive barrage

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Hit high the Houston Astros Yordan Alvarez says “good bye baseball” with a three run fourth inning home run against the Oakland A’s at the Oakland Coliseum on Sat Apr 3, 2021 (AP News photo)

Houston. 9. 13. 1

Oakland. 1. 3. 0

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–The A’s came into this afternoon’s game still looking for their first win of the season. Slow starts are nothing new for this team; in eight of the last ten seasons, they have been 1-2 after three games. They tried today to join that not particularly prestigious club. (Spoiler alert: they didn’t) in a 9-1 shellacking to the Houston Astros on Saturday.

Last night’s contest threatened to become a prelude to disaster when Ramón Laureano had to leave the game after injuring his hand. It turned out to be merely a contusion, and the A’s centerfielder is listed as day to day.

Cole Irvin, Oakland’s starting pitcher, is a 27 year old lefty with a lifetime won-loss record of 2-2 and an equally unimpressive ERA of 6.75 for the Philadelphia Phillies, but his numbers for the A’s this spring were impressive: 1-1, ERA 1.00 over five games, three of which he started. He gave up ten hits in eighteen innings, surrendered only one home run, and struck out 18 opponents against three walks.

Irvin’s counterpart on the mound was the veteran right hander Lance McCullers, Jr. He brought with him a career record of 32-25, 3.70 against all comers and 5-2, 4.04 against the A’s. For 2020, those figures were 3-3, 3.93 and 5-2, 4.04, respectively.

It didn’t take long for Houston to get to Irvin. A hit batter, Michael Brantley, with one out, followed by Aledmys Díaz’s double off the left center field wall, and an RBI base knock by Kyle Tucker, and Oakland was trailing by a tally with runners at the corners. But Carlos Correa hit into an around the horn double play, and, just like that, Irvin had limited the damage.

McCullers got himsef in trouble in the bottom of the first and then, with a little help frome home plate umpire Dan Bellino, also escaped with minimal damage. Lead off walks to Mark Canha and Matt Olson, followed by a Matt Chapman strike out on a pair of wicked cutters after the count had reached 1-1, and Mitch Moreland´s RBI single to center evened the score with two on and none out. But Chad Pinder went down swinging, and Stephen Piscotty was called out on a 3-2 knuckle curve that seemed too many, including. me, to have missed the plate.

The Astros took the lead back in the second when Jose Altluve’s bases loaded two out single to left brought home Yordán Alvarez, who had opened the frame with a single to center. But, in spite of a walk to Yuri Gurriel and singles by Myles Straw and Altuve, Irvin wriggled out of the jam, striking out Martín Maldonado and Chas McCormiock, pinch hitting for Brantley, who left the game due to right wrist discomfort.

Irvin held the Astros in check until the fifth. He hit McCormick with a pitch and surrendered a single when Díaz´s line drive just barely eluded Chapman’s glove and landed in left for a single. Irvin got the left handed Tucker to pop out to short. This brought Correa to the plate, the righty-lefty match up, calling for a right handed hurler to face Houston’s shortstop.

Bob Melvin brouht in Lou Trevino to relieve his young starter. The tactic worked; Correa struck out. But last year’s rule change meant that Trevino had to pitch to the left handed hitting Alvarez, who blasted the second pitch he saw over the center field fence, just to the right of the 388 foot sign.

This gave Houston a 5-1 lead and Irvin a line of 4-1/3 innings pitched, 7 hits, one walk and 4 runs , all earned allowed, two strike outs. His pitch count was 82, with 55 strikes. Trevino retired all seven of the other batters he faced before being lifted for Burch Smith who took over mound duties to start the eighth.

Ryne Stanek replaced Lance McCullers to open the Oakland sixth. He left with a line of five innings pitched, one run, earned, two hits, and three walks charged to him. He struck out seven. 54 of his 95 pitches counted as strikes

Enoli Paredes, in turn, relieved McCullers at the start of the home eighth. getting Aramis García out on a grounder back to the mound. Then, hope rose eternal, and Oakland loaded the bases on a single Olson, sandwiched between walks to Canha and Chapman. But Brooks Raley came to Houston´s rescue and struck out Jed Lowrie, pinch hitting for Moreland, swinging. Hope rose again when Chad Pinder clouted one out to deep right center, only to die on the warning track in the glove of Myles Straw.

Reymin Guduan couldn´t hold the Astros within what they had, just a few minutes earlier, seemed like striking distance. Maldonado opened the visitors´ninth with a single to right. Altuve walked. McCormick doubled, sending Maldonado home and Altuve to third. He scored and McCormick replaced him on third when Díaz singled to left. McCormick then scored on a wild pitch to Tucker, while Díaz moved up to second. Another wild pitch sent Díaz to third. Correa broke the monotony with a single to center. He went to second on yet another wild pitch. Finally, Guduan got out of the inning by retiring Alvarez and Gurriel.

The As went down 1,2,3 in their half of the ninth.

McCullers got the win; Raley, the save. The loss went to Irvin.

Oh, well, tomorrow is another day, and Sean Manaea will try to save one game of the series before the Dodgers come to town on Monday. José Urquidy will try to extend Houston’s winning streak to four. Game time is 1:07 at the Oakland Coliseum.

San Jose Barracuda podcast with Marko Ukalovic: Barracuda take on Gulls tonight in San Diego

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

The San Jose Barracuda forward Zach Gallant (60) takes a shot against the Bakersfield Condors on Tue Mar 30, 2021 in Bakersfield (@sjbarracuda photo)

#1 Marko, how did the Barracuda (7-6-4-1) come from two goals down to defeat the Bakersfield Condors (11-9-0-1) with four unanswered goals for a 4-3 win?

#2 Barracuda goaltender Josef Korenar saved 30 shots and picked up his fourth win of the season

#3 It’s not often you see the Condors goaltender Stuart Skinner give up four goals for a loss after stopping 31 shots

#4 The Barracuda’s Joachim Blichfeld got two assists it was his first assists in ten games

#5 The Barracuda are in San Diego tonight at 7:00pm to face the Gulls. San Diego has always been a tough place for the Barracuda talk about how you see the match up tonight.

Marko does the Barracuda podcasts each Saturday night at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose Sharks podcast with Matt Harrington: Jones delivers shutting out Kings 3-0

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

San Jose Sharks goaltender Martin Jones (31) stopped 30 shots against the Los Angeles Kings on Fri Apr 2, 2021 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles (AP News photo)

#1 The San Jose Sharks (16-`6-4) goaltender Martin Jones stopped all 30 Los Angeles Kings (14-15-6) shots in a 3-0 shutout at Staples Center to open up the two game series.

#2 Matt it was a game where the Kings just couldn’t get any offense going and they were throwing at the net all night but just couldn’t light the lamp.

#3 Sharks got goals in each of the three periods from Rudolf Balcers, Tomas Hertl, and Timo Meier.

#4 The win got the Sharks closer to a playoff spot in the NHL Western Conference and it’s the Sharks third straight win in a row.

#5 The Sharks and Kings battle again tonight at Staples Center tell us how you see this match and will Jones get the call between the pipes again?

Join Matt for the Sharks podcasts each Saturday night at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

A’s Luzardo coughs up 2 homers and 5 earned runs in 9-5 loss to Astros

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Houston Astros baserunner Jose Altuve (27) reaches down to touch home plate behind Oakland A’s catcher Aramis Garcia (37) on a Michael Brantley double in the top of the fourth inning (AP News photo)

Houston. 9. 14. 0

Oakland. 5. 8. 1

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–Ever since they traded Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson to Washington for Blake Treinen, Sheldon Neuse and Jesús Luzardo July of 2017, the A’s have had high expectations for the Peruvian born, Venezuelan and state-side educated left hander Luzardo.

While he hasn’t yet fulfilled the team’s hopes, it hasn’t been for lack of talent or motivation but because of nagging problems with the shoulder of his pitching arm. Indeed, he underwent Tommy John surgery at 18, while still in high school. That was in 2016. He began last season in the bullpen and ended up starting in game 3 of the division series. In between he threw his first 100 pitch game. His record for the season was 3-2, 4.12.

Today, he left the game trailing 5-2 after five innings, in which he sent 92 balls to the plate, 56 of which were strikes. All five runs were earned, and Luzardo gave up eight hits, two of which were round trippers. He walked one and struck out eight Astros. Burch Smith relieved him to open the sixth. The A’s ended up losing their second straight game to the Astros 9-5 at the Oakland Coliseum.

Luzardo’s opposite number for the visitors was their promising right hander, Cristián Javier, who had finished third in last year´s rookie of the year balloting.

Houston drew first blood in the third, capitalizing on José Altuve’s short stature and the long ball prowess of Michael Brantey and Alex Bregman. The Astros’ second sacker opened the frame by taking a four pitch walk. Brantley followed with a double off the right-center field wall.

He looked out at second, and the A’s shortstop Elvis Andrus thought he was. Second base umpire Sean Barber did not. Alex Bregman then blasted a three and two 96 mph four seam fast ball over both the glove of a leaping Mark Canha and the left field wall, Luzardo settled down to retire the next three batters in order.

But the Astros added a couple of runs to their 3-0 lead in the very next inning. Yuli Gurriel led off with a homer to left. Two outs later, Altuve beat out a grounder to Chapman. He scored on Brantley’s resounding double to center.

Oakland finally got on the board in their half of the fourth. Canha led off with a single to third and scored on Laureano’s powerful triple. Olson was hit by a pitch, and, after Chapman fanned, Laureano came home on Mitch Moreland’s sacrifice fly to medium right field.

You can chalk that run up to Laureano’speed. After Lowrie lined a single to center, Astro manager Dusty Baker decided that Javier had pitched enough for the day and replaced him on the mound with Bryan Abreu, who closed out the inning by getting Andrus to hit into a force out at second.

Houston’s young starter left with no decision, having yielded two runs, both earned, on three hits over three and two-thirds innings. He gave up three hits and got four strike outs while hitting one batter. 46 of his 73 offerings were strikes.

With Smith on the mound for Oakland in the top of the seventh, Houston managed to tack on another to their lead when Altuve walked and advanced to third on single by Bregman. The speedy Altuve then managed to score on Kyle Tucker’s sacrifice pop up to Andrus in shallow right field.

The Athletics came roaring back in the bottom half of that inning, Chad Pinder, pinch hitting for Ka’ai Tom with Jed Lowrie, who had walked, on first, blasted a Brooks Raley 90 mph cut fast ball into the left center field seats to cut the Astros’ advantage to 6-4. They narrowed their deficit to a single tally on Olson’s two base hit, a productive ground out to second by Chapman, and a pinch hit ground out to short by a pinch hitting Stephen Piscotty off of Blake Taylor.

The deficit increased, however, in the Astros’ ninth. Jake Diekman made an inauspcious season debut by giving up a single to right by the pesky Altuve, who stopped at third on Brantley’s subsequent double to right. Diekman then loaded the bases with an intentional pass to Bregman.

Left handed hitter Kyle Tucker, with the shift on and the infield drawn in, slapped a hard bounder to Andrus, playing to the right of second base. The ball bounced off the shortstop’s glove and into center field for a two run single and an 8-4 Houston lead.

Althogh Diekman struck out the next two batters, the wheels continued to fall off Oakland’s wagon, JB Windelkin walked Gurriel, moving Bregman and Tucker up a base each. Myles Straw hit what looked like an inning ending grounder to Olson. But the Gold Glove winning first baseman bobbled the ball, and Straw beat his throw to Windelken at first. That was the final score, Houston winning 9-5.

Ryan Pressly closed out the game for the ‘stros with a scoreless ninth. Abreu got the win for his two and a third innings of one hit ball.

The A’s used five pitchers, Luzardo, Smith, Romo, Diekman, and Wendelken, in a losing cause.

The teams will go at it again tomorrow at 1:07. Lance McCullers, Jr. will take the mound for Houston. Col Irvin will make his debut for Oakland.

The A’s are now two games down with, let us hope, 160 to go.

Giant Veterans come through in 6-3 win

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

San Francisco Giants hitter Buster Posey goes deep with a third inning home run against the Seattle Mariners at T Mobile Field on Fri Apr 2, 2021

By Jeremy Kahn

After a tough loss on Opening Night, the San Francisco Giants turned to their veteran right-hander in the second game of the season.

Johnny Cueto went 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on six hits, while walking three and striking out seven; however, it was another veteran who came up big.

Evan Longoria went 2-for-3 with three runs batted in, as the Giants defeated the Seattle Mariners 6-3 at T-Mobile Park.

It was the second big game in a row for the veteran, as Longoria went 2-for-4 with a home run and a run batted in and is now hitting .571 on the season.

Another Giants veteran continues to have a hot start, and this one is surprise to anyone who is a part of the Giants organization.

Buster Posey, who opted out of last season to help his wife Kristen raise the twins that they adopted during the pandemic is also off to a hot start.

Posey went 1-for-4 in the opener, and that one hit was Poseys third career Opening Day home run.

Once again, Posey went 1-for-4 and like in the opener, that one hit was a home run, his second on the season.

Following seeing his bullpen blow a lead and lose in extra innings, Gabe Kapler turned to them after he pulled Cueto with two outs in the sixth inning and throwing 105 pitches.

The trio of Wandy Peralta, Tyler Rogers and Jake McGee pitched the final 3.1 innings, allowing one walk and striking out five on their way to evening their record on the season.

McGee, the new closer in 2021, pitched a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts to pick up his first save of the season.

Yusei Kikuchi went 6.0 innings, allowing three runs on six hits, walking one and striking out 10 in his season debut.

Kikuchi turned the ball to Drew Steckenrider, but the left-hander gave up three runs on two hits in just 0.2 innings of work and lost for the first time in the early season.

Donovan Solano went three-for-five with two runs scored and drove in two runs, and is hitting .500 in the first two games of the season.

NOTES: Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey each started their 10th Opener for the Giants on Thursday night, and tied Juan Marichal for the fifth-most Opening Day starts since the Giants moved to California in 1958.

The four home runs by the Giants in the Opener marked the fourth time that they hit four home runs, tying the second most in team history. Longoria, Posey, Austin Slater and Alex Dickerson. The Giants also hit four home runs on Opening Day in 1963, 1983 and 2016, just one shy of the team record of five, when they turned the trick in 1964, when Willie Mays (2), Orlando Cepeda, Jim Ray Hart and Tom Haller all hit home runs.

This is the 12th year in a row that the Giants have opened their season on the road that dates back to 2010, and is the third longest streak in the major leagues since 1961.

UP NEXT: Logan Webb will make his season debut, while the Mariners will send right-hander Chris Flexen to the mound.

Kings lose to shorthanded Lakers 115-94

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Photo credit: sportsbookwire.usatoday.com

By Ana Kieu

The Sacramento Kings looked to avoid a two-game losing skid with a win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night. But the Kings lost to the shorthanded Lakers 115-94 at the Golden 1 Center.

The Kings got on the board first. Richaun Holmes threw down a dunk off an assist by Harrison Barnes. The score was 2-0 Kings just 14 seconds into the first quarter. De’Aaron Fox made a step back jumpshot to give the Kings a 12-9 lead with 6:39 left in the first quarter. Harrison Barnes made a pair of free throws and the Kings led by one, 28-27, with 28.1 seconds left in the first quarter. Montrezl Harrell wrapped up the quarter with a free throw. The Lakers were on top 29-27.

The Lakers took a 31-27 lead to start the second quarter. Talen Horton-Tucker made a driving layup just 15 seconds into the second quarter. Horton-Tucker added a two-point shot off an assist by Markieff Morris for a 33-27 lead at 11:15. LA, however, went in a scoring frenzy. Morris made a jumper with 28.2 seconds left in the second quarter. The Lakers took a 65-53 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Kings made it a 10-point game on Harrison Barnes’ dunk off an assist by Buddy Hield at 11:17 of the third quarter. Although Sacramento picked up the pace, LA maintained a double-digit lead throughout the third quarter. Talen Horton-Tucker made a driving layup with 3.7 seconds left in the third quarter. The Lakers wrapped up the third quarter with a 91-76 lead.

Talen Horton-Tucker made a pair of free throws to give the Lakers a 93-76 lead at 11:16 of the fourth quarter. Alex Caruso hit a three-pointer to help the Lakers to a 20-point lead at 10:20 of the fourth quarter. The Lakers reached the 100-point mark with 9:04 left in the fourth quarter when Caruso threw down a dunk. Devontae Cacok made a driving layup for a 115-94 lead with 25.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Lakers won 115-94.

LA improved to 31-18, while Sacramento fell to 22-27.

The Kings welcome the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday, April 3 at 7 pm PST.

Stanford Holds On To Defeat South Carolina 66-65

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Stanford Cardinal women celebrate winning the Final Four against the South Carolina Gamecocks in San Antonio to advance to the Women’s Championship on Sunday Apr 4, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

Friday afternoon the Stanford Cardinal Ladies took on the South Carolina Gamecocks in the Final Four. One team had a far easier time advancing while the other had to make quite a comeback. South Carolina was able to get past sixth-seeded Texas who went cold as ice at the worst possible time.

On the other end of the spectrum Louisville had a great shot at beating Stanford but the Cardinal Ladies had a different scenario in mind. Struggling the start the game, Stanford mounted a comeback that Louisville was unable to squelch. Stanford had an amazing second half in that game that cemented the trip to the Final Four. The final score was 78-63.

Now it was on to the Final Four for Stanford in search of a berth in the National Finals against a very tough South Carolina team that is well-balance offensively and defensively. After the first quarter Stanford again had a bit of a slow start when South Carolina went on a 11-2 run. The Cardinal turned that slow start around real quick and by the end of the quarter Stanford and South Carolina were locked at 15. This game would be a fight to the end with two extraordinary offenses and defenses.

South Carolina has some very tough shot blocking which did give Stanford some problems although with two minutes left in the half Stanford led by a slim margin 26-25. As the half came to an end Stanford had extended their lead 31-25. The slow start by Stanford to start the game was long forgotten. Haley Jones had the high score in the half with nine points followed by Lexie Hull with eight, and Ashton Prechtel had seven points off the bench.

South Carolina’s Zia Cooke had double digits with twelve points. She shot two three-pointers in the half and she was proving to be a handful for the Stanford defense. Through the first half the Cardinal defense were holding their own against Cooke, proving that they were up for the task.

Stanford’s Haley Jones picked up where she left off in the second half as the Cardinal ladies continued to lead in the third quarter. South Carolina was having none of it as Cooke continued her rampage. With three minutes left in the third quarter the score was tied at 43. As the third quarter came to an end, Stanford led 52-49. Stanford’s Haley Jones had shot twenty points while South Carolina’s Zia Cooke led her team with twenty-three points.

It was a wild fourth quarter with a heart-breaking conclusion for South Carolina. With 6 seconds left on the clock Carolina had a clear shot that simply failed giving Stanford the win 66-65. It could not have been a closer or well-played game by either teams. Haley Jones would finish with 24 points followed by Hull with 18 points. Lexie Hull had an amazing 13 rebounds. South Dakota’s Zia Cooke scored 25 points in the loss.

Sunday the Stanford Cardinal will play for the National title. They have achieved their goal for a berth in the finals and now await their opponent. They will either play Arizona or UConn. The time for this game is still to be determined.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: One game makes a season not; M’s come back on Giants in opener

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

San Francisco Giants starter Kevin Gausman pitches into the sixth inning at T Mobile Field in Seattle against the Mariners on Thu Apr 1, 2021 (AP News photo)

#1 Michael you’ve said it dozens a times throughout the years one game doesn’t make a season but a comeback loss is a tough one to start the season?

#2 San Francisco Giant starter Kevin Gausman showed he had good stuff going six plus innings surrendering two hits, one earned run and striking out six hitters.

#3 Michael talk about Giant relievers Mike Wisler who gave up two hits and three runs and Jarlin Garcia pitched one third and gave up two earned runs and two walks for five more runs after relieving Gausman.

#4 Michael, talk about Buster Posey getting his first homer of 2021 and after taking all of last season off he looks like he’s ready.

#5 For tonight’s game at T Mobile Park for the Giants Johnny Cueto gets the call and for the Mariners Yusei Kikuchi makes his first start of the season. Cueto has had his battle with injuries since last season how ready does he look going into tonight’s game against Kikuchi?

Join Michael Duca for the Giants podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com