Sports

May 2—BOSTON — The 76ers have enough confidence in their roster to produce without Joel Embiid. The Sixers’ zone defense is king.

Apr. 30—LOS ANGELES — The Cardinals finally reached the end of their long, disastrous trip to find themselves in a hole from which few teams ever have resurfaced again to call themselves contenders, and some of the digging they did all on their own.

ARLINGTON, Texas— Here’s a history lesson for the Yankees, who need to realize how dire their situation is after finishing April in last place in the American League East. They’re practically in a zip code from the first-place Tampa Bay Rays.

The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association Class 6A soccer playoffs are scheduled to get underway on Tuesday. Both Ponca City teams didn’t qualify, although the boys team tied for fourth place in its district but lost out to Bixby due to the points differential tiebreaker.

LOS ANGELES — You can be forgiven if your mind goes to a specific place when you first start thinking about the Lakers’ upcoming playoff series with the Golden State Warriors. Yeah, it’s regional, L.A.

JENKS -- The Ponca City Wildcats closed out their district baseball schedule on Friday with an 11-2 defeat at the hands of the Jenks Trojans. The game actually started on Tuesday, but rain interrupted play after the score was 2-2 in the third inning.

Apr. 30—It had nearly been a month since the last time Oklahoma had allowed a run in a conference game. In Saturday’s series finale against Kansas, the Sooners made a first-inning error to help allow their first run across in 57 innings of conference action. The last team to put up a run on the top-ranked Sooners was Texas on April 2. Olivia Bruno hit an RBI single to give the Jayhawks a 1-0 lead, their first lead of the series. The Sooners loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the inning and Haley Lee drew a sevenpitch walk to tie the game. The Sooners went on to score seven runs in the first three innings to take a comfortable lead on the final day of senior weekend. Senior Alex Storako got the start in the circle and pitched into the sixth inning before being replaced by Jordy Bahl. Storako received a standing ovation from the home crowd after allowing four hits and one earned run with six strikeouts and no walks. WIth an 8-2 win, Oklahoma secures the Big 12 championship title outright with one week remaining in the regular season. “It was exciting, the whole day you could feel the energy,” OU head coach Patty Gasso. “You knew what was at stake and the team played hard, not just for the title, but more for their seniors. Those seniors want to walk off the field with a win, they want to play well, there’s just so many things going on around us. There’s a lot of distractions and they did a good job of staying focused and finishing.” Rylie Boone laid down a bunt single to lead off the bottom of the second inning and Jayda Coleman was walked, setting up a three-run blast from Tiare Jennings. Jennings’ 12th home run of the season extended the Sooners’ lead to 5-1. Bruno answered back in the top of the third, hitting a solo home run to put the Jayhawks’ second run on the board. Coleman put another run across in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single to right center field and Cydney Sanders was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 7-1. Coleman put the Sooners’ last run on the board with a double into centerfield in the sixth inning. Oklahoma had 12 hits in the game with half of those coming from Jennings and Coleman. Jennings went four for five at the plate with three RBI and Coleman was two for three with two RBI. Bahl allowed just one hit over the final two innings with no runs and three strikeouts. It was the program’s 60th straight win at home and secures a third straight season with a perfect home record. The Sooners have won 37 straight and are 15-0 in conference play. They’ll face Tulsa on the road on Tuesday at 5 p.m., before facing Oklahoma State for Bedlam next weekend.

Apr. 29—The Oklahoma State football program’s already extensive list of professional alumni grew longer on Saturday afternoon, when the Jacksonville Jaguars selected Cowboys defensive end Tyler Lacy with the 130th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Wednesday, 5-3-23 COLLEGE BASEBALL.................................................................... TIME ET.... TV Florida State vs Florida................................................................... 6:00pm........ ESPNU MLB REGULAR SEASON GAMES.............................................. TIME ET.... TV Arizona at Texas................................................................................. 2:05pm........ Bally Sports San Francisco at Houston............................................................... 2:10pm........ MLBN Philadelphia at LA Dodgers.......................................................... 4:10pm........ NBCS-PHI Cincinnati at San Diego.................................................................. 4:10pm........ Bally Sports Atlanta at Miami................................................................................ 6:40pm........ Bally Sports NY Mets at Detroit............................................................................ 6:40pm........ SNY Pittsburgh at Tampa Bay................................................................ 6:40pm........ ATTSN-PIT Chi. Cubs at Washington................................................................. 7:05pm........ MARQ Cleveland at NY Yankees................................................................ 7:05pm........ MLBN Toronto at Boston............................................................................... 7:10pm........ MLBN Minnesota at Chi. White Sox.......................................................... 7:10pm........ Bally Sports Baltimore at Kansas City................................................................ 7:40pm........ Bally Sports LA Angels at St. Louis..................................................................... 7:45pm........ Bally Sports Milwaukee at Colorado..................................................................... 8:40pm........ MLBN Seattle at Oakland.............................................................................. 9:40pm........ MLBN NBA PLAYOFFS................................................................................ TIME ET.... TV East Semifinals Game 2: Philadelphia at Boston................... 8:00pm........ TNT SOCCER................................................................................................. TIME ET.... TV Serie A: Juventus vs Lecce............................................................ 12:00pm...... CBSSN Serie A: Salernitana vs Fiorentina.............................................. 12:00pm...... Paramount+ Serie A: Atalanta vs Spezia............................................................. 12:00pm...... Paramount+ Serie A: Sampdoria vs Torino........................................................ 12:00pm...... Paramount+ La Liga: Valencia vs Villarreal..................................................... 1:30pm........ ESPN+ Serie A: Milan vs Cremonese......................................................... 3:00pm........ CBSSN Serie A: Monza vs Roma................................................................... 3:00pm........ Paramount+ Serie A: Milan vs Cremonese......................................................... 3:00pm........ Paramount+ Serie A: Lazio vs Sassuolo............................................................... 3:00pm........ Paramount+ DFB Pokal: Stuttgart vs Eintracht Frankfurt......................... 2:45pm........ ESPN+ Ligue 1: Brest vs Nantes................................................................. 3:00pm........ beIN Sports English Premier: Manchester City vs West Ham United... 3:00pm........ USA English Premier League: Liverpool vs Fulham..................... 3:00pm........ Peacock La Liga: Getafe vs Celta de Vigo................................................... 4:00pm........ ESPN+ La Liga: Atlético Madrid vs Cádiz............................................... 4:00pm........ ESPN+ NWSL Challenge Cup: North Carolina Courage vs NJ/NY Gotham FC...................... 7:00pm........ Paramount+ NWSL Challenge Cup: Houston Dash vs Chicago Red Stars... 8:00pm........ Paramount+ NWSL Challenge Cup: OL Reign vs Angel City..................... 10:00pm...... Paramount+ CONCACAF Champions League: León vs Tigres UANL.... 10:00pm...... FS1 Schedule courtesy of sportsgamestoday.com

Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino is having quite the season at the plate. It’s the kind of season where — even when the Royals seemingly couldn’t get a hit off Minnesota starter Tyler Mahle in an eventual 7-1 loss — Pasquantino found a way to smash a solo home run, his fifth long ball of the season.