After 130 games broadcast on Ticket TV over the fall, winter and spring seasons, it’s now time to settle the debate. What is the best highlight captured by Ticket TV cameras while broadcasting local high school sports in the 2024-25 season? That’s what we’re all here to find out.

Here’s a link to highlight playlist: Ticket TV 2024-25 Plays of the Year.

We’ve gathered 12 highlight-reel plays spanning six different sports. The nominees are:

Bangor’s Abby Colson (softball), Phillip Moscone (boys hockey), and Teagan Atherley (girls soccer).

Brewer’s Oli Higgins (boys basketball).

Foxcroft Academy’s Lucas Sands (football).

Hampden Academy’s Gabe Thornwall (lacrosse).

John Bapst’s Claire Gaetani (girls basketball), Oscar Martinez (boys soccer), and Zack Babcock (football).

Old Town’s Emmitt Byther (boys basketball) and Nate Baker (baseball).

Orono’s Calum Bryant (baseball).

Follow this link to watch the playlist of the 12 Ticket TV highlights, then make sure to come back and cast a vote for your favorite!

NEW YORK (AP) — Even the ushers at Radio City Music Hall seemed thrilled to be in the room where it happened.

A few of them could be seen grooving, like everyone else at Sunday’s Tony Awards, to the “Hamilton” reunion performance — a medley of some of that blockbuster musical’s biggest songs, performed by the original cast. The occasion was the 10th Broadway anniversary of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s juggernaut that spawned multiple touring companies, a West End production and a live-capture film — and is still going strong.

But while the theater was buzzing to songs like “My Shot,” “The Schuyler Sisters,” “History Has Its Eyes on You” and “The Room Where It Happens,” some people were unfortunately NOT in the room where, er, it was happening. They were the ones who’d taken a trip to the bar or a stroll around the lobby, and were then held from entering until the next commercial break — missing perhaps the night’s most anticipated highlight.

They also missed the entire audience singing along with Jonathan Groff, aka King George, “Da-da-da, dat-da, dat, da-da-da, da-ya-da, Da-da, dat, dat, da-ya-da.” Note for next year: Exit at your own peril!

Some other notable moments from Tony night:

Lin-Manuel Miranda, center, performs a medley from “Hamilton” during the 78th Tony Awards on Sunday, June 8, 2025, at Radio City Music Hall in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Photo:

Cole Escola plans a call to Mom, thanks a Grindr date

Most award winners thank Mom, their agents, their co-stars and their spouses.

Cole Escola, one of the major stars of this Tony night, promised Mom a call, but also decided to thank “Teebo from Grindr” — the dating app — when accepting the award for lead actor in a play.

Escola is star and writer of the riotous “Oh, Mary!” — a reimagining of the life of Mary Todd Lincoln (and her beleaguered husband, Abe) that addresses the question: What if the Lincoln assassination wasn’t such a bad thing for Mary? (Mary wants to be a cabaret star, you see.) The show is seeing audiences collapse in laughter for 80 minutes every night on Broadway.

Escola, a downtown cabaret star, beat out high-wattage competitors like George Clooney and Daniel Dae Kim for the acting award. They mentioned their co-nominees in their speech, saying they had enjoyed sharing “warm salads” at pre-awards lunches.

Escola is the first nonbinary actor to win a Tony in the category.

And this guy’s still single

When “Maybe Happy Ending” writers Hue Park and Will Aronson accepted the award for best book of a musical, the first handed out, Park felt it necessary to point out that they weren’t an actual couple. “I am very much single,” he clarified, for anyone wondering.

Then later, when the duo won for best score, Park deemed a reminder necessary: “By the way, I’m still single.”

And then at the end of the night, “Maybe Happy Ending,” the charming and quirky romance between decommissioned robots in a futuristic Korea, won the big prize: best musical. Park did not get the mic. But producer Jeffrey Richards did, and he reminded the crowd: “Hue is still single.”

Broadway as home, sweet home

Cynthia Erivo, the “Wicked” star and powerhouse vocalist hosting the evening, said it first: “As they apparently say in a very fertile piece of intellectual property,” she said with a wink, “there’s no place like home. And Broadway has always been mine.”

It’s a familiar theme on Tony night: the theater community as a welcoming haven for those who may feel different or unseen. It was echoed by Harvey Fierstein, winner of a lifetime achievement award, describing how he joined the theater after being welcomed by a company in Brooklyn. And it was expressed very emotionally by Nicole Scherzinger, winning best actress in a musical for “Sunset Blvd.”

“Growing up, I always felt like I didn’t belong,” said Scherzinger, former lead singer of the pop group Pussycat Dolls who plays Norma Desmond in the minimalist version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber show. “But you all have made me feel like I belong, and I have come home at last.” Those last words echo the lyrics of one of Desmond’s big numbers, “As If We Never Said Goodbye.”

“So if there’s anyone out there who feels like they don’t belong, or your time hasn’t come, don’t give up,” Scherzinger continued. “Just keep on giving and giving because the world needs your love and your light now more than ever.”

You really COULD have heard a pin drop

There’s always lots of chatter going on during an awards show. But the way the crowd quieted down during Audra McDonald’s powerful, agonized performance of “Rose’s Turn” from “Gypsy” was striking. In the song’s quiet moments, you heard utter silence in the vast room.

McDonald, the Tonys’ most awarded actor, is clearly revered by the theater community, who cheered her with standing ovations. But the award she was up for went to Scherzinger.

‘Succession,’ succeeding again

It’s been two years since HBO’s “Succession” ended, but its stars keep turning up at awards shows — and often winning. Jeremy Strong won a Tony last year and was nominated for an Oscar this year. Kieran Culkin won an Oscar this year and is appearing on Broadway this season, though he wasn’t nominated. And now it was the turn of Sarah Snook — Emmy and Golden Globe winner — to win a Tony.

Snook, who played mercurial sibling Shiv Roy in the series, took the Tony for best actress in a play for “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” in which she plays all 26 roles.

Remembering a friend

Tony winner and musical theater regular Gavin Creel, who died last year of cancer, was a friend to many in the theater community, and was remembered more than once on Tony evening.

During the early pre-show, actor Celia Keenan-Bolger was honored with the Isabelle Stevenson award, for her advocacy work in the arts. She spoke movingly of her deep friendship with Creel and their advocacy work together.

Later, singer and actor Sara Bareilles performed a soulful duet of “Tomorrow” from “Annie,” harmonizing with Erivo, during the memorial segment. That segment ended with a photo of Creel, also a dear friend to Bareilles, who teared up.

Both Bareilles and Keenan-Bolger are involved with the Gavin Creel Fellowship, an initiative that plans to provide $25,000 grants to five emerging theater actors each year.

And she is telling you she’s not going

The final award had been announced by presenter Miranda — best musical to “Maybe Happy Ending” — and the audience started to disperse. But Erivo had another idea.

Riffing on the concept of leaving, she launched into the famous “Dreamgirls” ballad “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” — with rewritten lyrics.

It was a yet another powerhouse performance from someone who has one of the best voices on the planet. The audience stopped dispersing — and started cheering.

___

For more coverage of the 2025 Tony Awards, visit https://apnews.com/hub/tony-awards.

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

SUNDAY, JUNE 8

BASEBALL

Class L quarterfinals

Cheshire 3, Avon 1

Class M quarterfinals

Suffield 2, Ansonia 0

Class S quarterfinals

Shepaug 6, Coventry 5 (9)

Holy Cross 4, North Branford 0

St. Paul 4, Woodland 3

SOFTBALL

Class LL quarterfinals

Cheshire 8, NFA 0

BASEBALL

Shepaug 6, Coventry 5 (9)

Coventry   000 200 201  —  5 13 1

Shepaug   010 300 00 2 — 6 8 1

Batteries: C — Kevin Johnson, Kyle Hecht (3, L) and Jack Siena. S — Peyton Thomas, Sam Granata (7, W) and Miles Wilson.

Highlights: Rocco Smith’s bunt drove in Domenick Zottola with the winning run as Shepaug rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to down Coventry in the Class S quarterfinals. Zottola’s double scored Peyton Thomas with the tying run. Smith had three hits and two RBIs. Sam Granata had a two-run single and earned the win in relief. Zottola had two hits. Thomas struck out four. Shepaug will play Holy Cross in the semifinals Tuesday and a time and location to be announced. Dustin Menzel and

Mather Spear (two RBIs) had three hits apiece. Jack Siena added two hits.

SOFTBALL

Cheshire 8 NFA 0 

NFA 000 000 0  — 0 1 0 

Cheshire 042 110 x  — 8 7 0

Batteries: C — Jenica Matos and Erin Hersh. NFA — Bourdon and Martin. 

WP: Matos LP: Bourdon 

Highlights: Avery Radford, Tai Byrd and Molly Fleming homered for the Rams to back the one-hit pitching of Matos, who struck out 10. Cheshire will face Southington in the Class LL semifinals Tuesday at West Haven at 4 p.m.

MONDAY, JUNE 9

SOFTBALL

Class M semifinals

at West Haven

Woodland vs. Oxford, 4

Nonnewaug vs. Foran, 7

Class S semifinals

at ECSU

St. Paul vs. Hale Ray, 7

GIRLS LACROSSE

Class L semifinals

at Sheehan

Cheshire vs. Amity, 6:30

TUESDAY, JUNE 10

BASEBALL

Class S semifinals

Holy Cross vs. Shepaug, TBA

St. Paul vs. East Catholic. TBA

SOFTBALL

Class LL semifinals

at West Haven

Cheshire vs. Southington, 4

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11

BOYS LACROSSE

Class L semifinals

at Guilford

Cheshire vs. St. Joseph, 4

AI-assisted summaryThe Providence Journal’s High School All-States Awards Show will be held on June 18 at the Providence Performing Arts Center.Over 300 athletes will be recognized, with Player of the Year awards given in various sports.Rhode Island FC midfielder Clay Holstad will be the guest speaker at the event.PROVIDENCE — The Providence Journal is excited to announce that the annual High School All-States Awards Show will be held on Wednesday, June 18, at the Providence Performing Arts Center. This year’s show will feature Rhode Island FC midfielder Clay Holstad as its guest speaker.The show will recognize more than 300 Providence Journal first-team All-State athletes, and award Player of the Year honors to more than 30 high school athletes. In each of the three high school sports seasons, The Providence Journal names All-State teams to recognize the top student-athletes in each sport. All first-team All-Staters are also nominees for that sport’s Player of the Year award, which will be announced during the June 18 show. Several premier awards also will be given out, including overall boys and girls athletes of the year, coaches of the year and the annual courage award.”No one covers high school sports in Rhode Island better than The Providence Journal, and our sports staff has been honoring All-State athletes for more than 80 years,” said Journal sports editor Bill Corey. “We are so very much looking forward to sharing the PPAC stage with Rhode Island’s top high school athletes!”Past featured guests in the annual show have included Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, Rob Gronkowski, Paul Pierce and others.This year, student-athletes will hear about Holstad’s journey. He grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, where he played youth and high school soccer before playing for the University of Kentucky, where is also earned a degree in chemical engineering. A second-round selection of the Columbus Crew in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft, Holstad, 25, joined Rhode Island FC in 2024. Last season, he played in 33 RIFC games, scoring four goals.Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

The show would not be possible without the support of our sponsors, which this year include Tasca Automotive Group, Dave’s Fresh Marketplace, Tommy’s Clam Shack and R1 Indoor Karting Entertainment Center.

There is no admission charge to this year’s show, but all All-State first-team athletes must register to attend the event, and can bring up to six guests (also for free). High school athletic directors have forwarded the registration link to the All-State athletes. We also ask that athletes indicate how many people will be attending in their party.

Doors to the PPAC will open at 6 pm, and will feature a red-carpet experience for athletes and their families. The show starts at 7 p.m.

Braden Herrington and Davie Portman host a special edition of upNXT as they review WWE x AAA Lucha Libre: Worlds Collide! Review starts at 15 mins:

• El Hijo Del Vikingo vs Chad Gable (AAA Mega Championship)
• Lince Dorado, Cruz Del Toro & Dragon Lee vs Octagon Jr, Aerostar & Mr Iguana
• Stephanie Vaquer & Lola Vice vs Dalys & Chik Tormenta
• Legado Del Fantasma vs El Hijo De Dr Wagner Jr, Pagano & Psycho Clown
• Ethan Page vs Je’Von Evans vs Rey Fenix vs Laredo Kid (NXT North American Championship)

The lads review the show in full and also discuss all the call backs to AAA x WCW “When Worlds Collide” from 1994, Mr. Iguana stealing the show (and our hearts), Konnan on commentary, plus MITB and more! 

Hear the second half of this show featuring thoughts on WWE Money in the Bank & more in the video below, or by following/subscribing to POISONRANA in your podcast app or on YouTube!

Join our live NXT POST Shows every Tuesday night at YouTube.com/POSTWrestling

Follow more of Davie and Braden’s work at Poisonrana.ca, with a weekly show covering everything in the world of wrestling, Shot in the Dark, Eagles Don’t Hunt Flies, and more!

This week on the POISONRANA Patreon and Free Feed:

• Detox w/ Braden Herrington & Jordan Goodman (Poisonrana Free Feed)
• Reviews From The 6ix: AAA When Worlds Collide (Poisonrana Patreon)
• POISONRANA LIVE: Worlds Collide & Money In The Bank Review (Poisonrana YouTube & Free Feed)

Last week on the POISONRANA Patreon and Free Feed:

• The Champ Is Here #9 w/ Benno & Hamflett: WrestleMania XXVI (Poisonrana Patreon)
• POISONRANA LIVE: Weekly News Show (Poisonrana YouTube & Free Feed)

Only $5 for “Friend” tier to access all these shows and everything in the back catalogue! Movie reviews, PPV reviews and so much more!!! Patreon.com/Poisonrana

Photo Courtesy: WWE

upNXT Theme by: Warren-D, PXCH and Shaheen Abdi

Poisonrana Merch: https://www.chopped-tees.com/Poisonrana
Subscribe: https://www.postwrestling.com/subscribe
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/702343790308154
Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/Poisonrana
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PoisonranaPod
Discuss: https://forum.postwrestling.com

The high school baseball season in California is complete.

The records weren’t so sparkling among the final 20 teams left standing in the California (CIF) regional baseball finals, but wow, were the games competitive.

Eight of the 10 championship games were decided by a single tally. The other two were 4-0 and 3-1. The final day of the 2024-25 CIF season was indeed tight.

De La Salle (North) and St. John Bosco (South) won the highest levels, taking Division 1 championships. Check the roundup below with all the results from Saturday title games.

South — No. 1 St. John Bosco 4, No. 7 Patrick Henry 0: Freshman Brayden Krakowski and Jack Champlin combined on a three-hitter with four strikeouts as the host Braves finished the season 30-4. James Clark had a double, triple and an RBI, while Jaden Jackson, Noah Everly and Miles Clark also drove in runs. After Bosco struck for four runs in the first two frames, Jimmy Gunn pitched four scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out three.

North — No. 1 De La Salle 5, No. 3 Serra 4: Host De La Salle (29-4) scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to win its third NorCal D1 title in four years. Nico Baumgartner walked it off with an infield single, scoring Antonio Castro with the winning run. Stanford-bound junior shortstop Tyler Spangler had a pair of run-scoring doubles and Castro and Ethan Sullivan also had two hits. Serra (28-7), which fell behind 2-0 in the first, scored four unanswered runs in the middle innings, half of those on a two-run double by Davis Minton and another on a run scoring double by Evan Bradshaw, who went 3-for-4. READ STORY

South — No. 8 Rancho Bernardo 2, No. 6 Point Loma 1: Freshman Brayden Kotera and senior Chris Bayne combined on a four hitter with three strikeouts to lead the Broncos (21-13) to the surprising championship. Along the way, Rancho Bernardo upset No. 1 Fountain Valley (4-2) and No. 4 Eastlake (8-5). Hugo Gonzalez had three hits and Brady Strachan and Nathan Bembenek each drove in runs. Druw Frost had an RBI double for Point Loma (22-13-1), which beat the Broncos twice earlier in the year, 10-2 and 3-1.

North — No. 1 Yuba City 3, No. 2 Saint Francis 2: After both teams scored twice in the first, the host Honkers scored in the bottom of the seventh to win their 14th straight game to finish 31-5. Max Guth, Ashton Decker and Brandon Pelechowicz each drove in runs and Julian Garcia and Cesar Guzar had two hits each. Guth’s single in the seventh won it. Saint Francis, which got RBIs from Gino Cappellazzo and Henry Dommer, finished 22-11.

South — No. 5 University City 3, No. 2 Mt. Carmel 1: Jayden Parker had a two-run double and AJ Curry doubled in a run, keying the victory for University City (23-12) in another all San Diego Section final. Curry pitched four innings and struck out nine, while sophomore Thiago Quillin fired three scoreless innings. Carson Weber had two hits and an RBI for Mt. Carmel (23-13).

North — No. 3 Rancho Cotate 2, No. 1 Roseville 1: Camden Henington and Jeff Derammelaere combined on a two-hitter with seven strikeouts for the Cougars (19-13), who advanced out of the North Coast Section as the 15th seed. They got RBI signles from Luke Morie and Derammelaere. Austin Chang drove home Roseville’s only run and pitchers Cyrus Young, Colton Wolfe and Dustin Holcomb combined to give up just five hits and two earned runs. Roseville finished 23-11.

South — No. 2 Ridgeview 1, No. 1 Banning 0: Adrian Bravo drove home the only run of the game with a double in the top of the seventh and winning pitcher Joel Guitierrez did the rest, allowing three hits, walking none and strike out five. Losing pitcher Matthew Gonzalez allowed just hits and one run while going the distance.

North — No. 5 Menlo School 2, No. 3 Santa Clara 1: Ben Salama and Fletcher Cahill, a freshman, drove in rush in the fourth inning and pitchers Jackson Flanagan, Liam Widner, Salma and Jack Freehill made it stand up for the Knights (24-8), who finished the season winning 21 of their last 22. They also snapped a 20-game win streak for Santa Clara (29-4), which scored in the sixth on an RBI single by Drew Diffenderfer. Jaxton Chao and John Kepner combined to allow five hits and struck out five, but came up short.

South — No. 3 Pioneer 4, No. 1 Corcoran 3: The host Panthers (27-5) trailed 4-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth and scored three unanswered runs over the next two frames, but it wasn’t enough for Pioneer of Whittier which finished 20-14. The Titans won the regional title despite finishing 4-6 in league play.

North — No. 1 Etna 6, No. 2 Stevenson 5: The host Lions (21-7) put up five runs in the bottom of the first, then held on for dear life while winning their first NorCal title. Stevenson actually outhit Etna 9-4 but couldn’t quite get over the hump while scoring three in the fifth and single tallies in sixth and seventh. Tono Borgomini and Phinn Thomas each had two hits for Stevenson (21-9), which made the mammoth 440-mile drive only to come up a run short.