COPYRIGHT 2025 BY NEWS 8 NOW/NEWS 8000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED. As featured on The Holmen Vikings girls soccer team hosted the Marshfield Tigers for their season opener. 9
Castle Rock Pitching — Jerry Neighbors 6.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 7 K, 6 BB; Owen Erickson 0.2 IP, 0 R, 1 K, 2 BB; Highlights — Jacob Lafever 1-3, R, 2B, SB; Jack Kerker 1-2, R, RBI; Noxx Worrell 1-3, R; Stuart Teter 1-3; Tristan Honey 1-1, R, RBI, SB. SOFTBALL […]
Castle Rock
Pitching — Jerry Neighbors 6.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 7 K, 6 BB; Owen Erickson 0.2 IP, 0 R, 1 K, 2 BB; Highlights — Jacob Lafever 1-3, R, 2B, SB; Jack Kerker 1-2, R, RBI; Noxx Worrell 1-3, R; Stuart Teter 1-3; Tristan Honey 1-1, R, RBI, SB.
3A GREATER ST. HELENS LEAGUE
Third-place tiebreaker
Heritage 9, Mountain View 3
HERITAGE 9, MOUNTAIN VIEW 3
Heritage 103 301 1—9 13 1
Mt. View 002 010 0—3 6 4
Heritage
Pitching — Jaila Ellis 7 IP, 2 ER, 8 K, 0 BB, win. Highlights — Skyler Jones 2-4, run, 2B, RBI, BB; Jaila Ellis 1-4, 2 runs, 2B, 2 RBI, BB; Kylie Thomas 3-3, 2 runs, RBI, BB; Lillie Stroup 2-3, run, 2B, RBI, BB; Gracie Peterson 2-4, run, 2 RBI; Emma Messing 2-4, 2 RBI; Veronica Ayala 1-4.
Mountain View
Pitching — Peyton Lalande 7 IP, , 4 ER, 5 K, 3 BB, loss. Highlights — Izzi West 2-4, 2 runs, 2B; Peytonb Lalande 3-3, run, 2 RBI; Amaya Paschal 1-3.
2A DISTRICT PLAY-IN GAMES
Tuesday’s Games
Black Hills 14, R.A. Long 0
W.F. West 21, Hockinson 0
W.F. WEST 21, HOCKINSON 0
Hockinson 000 00 —-0 2 6
WF West 700 (14)x —21 7 0
Hockinson
Highlights — Samantha McDonald 1-2; Cassidy Barrows 1-2.
BLACK HILLS 14, R.A. LONG 2
Black Hills 126 05 —14 8 2
RA Long 000 20 —2 2 7
R.A. Long
Highlights — Stevie Jones 1-2, run, 3B, RBI; Kace Prindle 1-2.
4A BI-DISTRICT TOURNAMENT
Tuesday’s matches
Semifinals
at Sumner HS
Union 5, Puyallup 4, OT
Tahoma 6, Olympia 0
Loser-out
Sumner 2, Auburn Riverside 1
Camas 3, Mount Rainier 0
Kentridge 2, Emerald Ridge 0
Curtis 1, Stadium 0
Thursday’s matches
Championship
Union vs. Tahoma, 7:30 p.m. at Federal Way Memorial Stadium
Winner-to-state matches
At Art Crate Field, Spanaway
Camas vs. Sumner, 5:30 p.m.
Kentridge vs. Curtis, 7:30 p.m.
3A BI-DISTRICT TOURNAMENT
Tuesday’s matches
Semifinals
at Federal Way Memorial Stadium
Central Kitsap 1, Bellarmine Prep 0
Heritage 1, Silas 0
Loser-out
Kent Meridian 2, Federal Way 1
Auburn Mountainview 5, Decatur 1
Gig Harbor 5, Enumclaw 1
Mountain View 3, White River 1
Thursday’s matches
Championship
Heritage vs. Central Kitsap, 5:30 p.m. at Federal Way Memorial Stadium
Winner-to-state matches at Auburn HS
Kent Meridian vs. Auburn Mountain View, 5:30 p.m.
Gig Harbor vs. Mountain View, 7:30 p.m.
2A DISTRICT TOURNAMENT
Tuesday’s matches
Semifinals
W.F. West 2, Tumwater 1
Columbia River 3, R.A. Long 1
Loser-out matches
Hockinson 6, Hudson’s Bay 1
Ridgefield 4, Aberdeen 3, OT-PKs
Thursday’s matches
Championship
W.F. West at Columbia River, 6 p.m.
Winner-to-state games
R.A. Long at Hockinson, 6 p.m.
Ridgefield at Tumwater, 5:30 p.m.
COLUMBIA RIVER 3, R.A. LONG 1
Columbia River
Goals (assists) — Beckham Young (JP Guzman), Tyler Brown (Johnny Avalos), Brown (Mason Renner). Goalkeeper saves: Eli Smith, 3
SPOKANE, Wash. — The Western Hockey League Championship series returned to Spokane for the first time since 2008 on Tuesday, as the Chiefs hosted the Medicine Hat Tigers for Game 3 with the series tied at one apiece. Chiefs head coach Brad Lauer said his team would be ready to play in front of the […]
SPOKANE, Wash. — The Western Hockey League Championship series returned to Spokane for the first time since 2008 on Tuesday, as the Chiefs hosted the Medicine Hat Tigers for Game 3 with the series tied at one apiece.
Chiefs head coach Brad Lauer said his team would be ready to play in front of the home crowd for the first time this series, but Spokane looked anything but prepared.
The Tigers came out aggressive, even without WHL Player of the Year Gavin McKenna, who took warmups but left the ice early and was scratched from the lineup.
With about eight minutes left in the first, Medicine Hat killed off a Chiefs power play and immediately capitalized, beating Dawson Cowan with a laser from the dot.
Riding that momentum, the Tigers tacked on another goal with less than two minutes remaining in the period as Hunter St. Martin found the back of the net.
After one, the Chiefs were outshot 15-5 in a frame where they struggled to establish anything in the offensive zone.
The second period brought more of the same. Just 93 seconds in, Kadon McCann buried a wraparound to make it 3-0. Spokane didn’t register a shot on goal until 11:45 remained in the period, as Medicine Hat’s defense clamped down and their offense kept pushing.
Liam Ruck extended the lead to 4-0 before the intermission. By the end of the second, the Chiefs had managed just eight shots to the Tigers’ 17, with the total reaching 32-13 in favor of the visitors.
Cowan was replaced by backup Carter Esler to start the third, but the change did little to stem the tide. Esler surrendered the second shot he faced, giving the Tigers a 5-0 advantage just 30 seconds into the period.
Medicine Hat defender Bryce Pickford added another midway through the third — his sixth goal in as many games — sealing a 6-0 shutout. It was Spokane’s first scoreless outing since Oct. 28, 2024, and first at home since Nov. 29, 2023.
“To be pretty honest, we weren’t very good as a group,” Lauer said. “It’s one of those things. I thought Medicine Hat had probably their best game so far in the series. I thought they came and had a lot of jump and were skating. You know, for us, we were on our heels.”
Spokane showed a bit more urgency in the final frame, firing 15 shots, but still couldn’t solve Tigers goalie Ethan McCallum. The Chiefs finished with 28 shots to Medicine Hat’s 45.
“We haven’t given up that many shots or had that less of shot all year, I don’t think,” Lauer said. “It’s 11 shots after two periods. We weren’t playing as a group. It was all individual hockey. A lot of stuff that was uncharacteristic of us as a group tonight. For some reason, I don’t know why. We’ll dissect it here tonight and tomorrow morning to figure things out and make sure we’re ready tomorrow.”
The WHL doesn’t keep track of time of possession in the offensive zone, but if it did, it wouldn’t have looked good for the Chiefs, who struggled mightily to get anything going on offense with several turnovers in the o-zone and sloppy play most of the night.
“It’s one of those things that you don’t know what, as a coach, you don’t know what to put your finger on, what it was, or what it is, but you gotta have a short memory,” Lauer said.
“I think we know that we weren’t very good as a group, especially coming back to home ice. You thought you have an opportunity to take advantage of the team, but you know, it’s one of those things. That’s why you’ve got to play the game. It doesn’t happen automatically and we’ve got to learn from tonight.”
There’s little time for the Chiefs to dwell on the loss, with Game 4 set for Wednesday at Spokane Arena. The Tigers will look to take a commanding 3-1 series lead, while Spokane aims to even the series.
“We get to come back tomorrow, so that’s the beauty of playoff hockey, and that’s what we’re looking at it,” Chiefs captain Berkly Catton said. “Learning from tonight, but also flushing it and coming out ready to play tomorrow.”
“Brad and Berks kind of said it, I think a big thing for us is just have a short memory,” a Chiefs left winger added. “That’s all we can really do. Learn from our mistakes tonight and just be eager to have a better start tomorrow.”
Puck drop for Game 4 of the WHL Final is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday at Spokane Arena.
As for McKenna’s status, Medicine Hat head coach Willie Desjardins wasn’t optimistic following the game.
“I’m not gonna talk about what the injury was. He was out,” Desjardins said. “I thought he might be able to go but just wasn’t tonight and the nice thing for us is he’s been such a big part of our team all year, it was really nice to rally behind and get one for him because he’s gotten quite a few for us. The boys are playing for him.”
SPOKANE, Wash. — The Gonzaga Bulldogs sealed the season series win 3-1 over Washington State after collecting 11 hits and allowing just four in a 9-0 win over WSU. The Bulldogs got on the board in the second inning, when Rece Schuerman connected on a ball to left field for a two-run homer, bringing in […]
SPOKANE, Wash. — The Gonzaga Bulldogs sealed the season series win 3-1 over Washington State after collecting 11 hits and allowing just four in a 9-0 win over WSU.
The Bulldogs got on the board in the second inning, when Rece Schuerman connected on a ball to left field for a two-run homer, bringing in Max Coupe as well to make it 2-0 Gonzaga.
Just two innings later, a bases-loaded hit by pitch scored another run for the Bulldogs, and the next batter, Ty Yukumoto, got one through the right side to score another run, but WSU second baseman Luke Thiele made a diving stop and threw out Schuerman at home to keep it a 4-0 Bulldog lead.
Washington State couldn’t get anything going on offense, as Gonzaga starting pitcher Michael Cunneely went six innings, allowing no runs on just three hits and striking out six. The Cougs tallied just four hits in the game and were unable to string together any offensive rhythm. A double in the sixth inning from Logan Johnstone was the only extra-base hit the Cougars had in the game.
Gonzaga added another run in the fifth inning on a Sam Stem double, and Stem came up again in the seventh and drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in another RBI, making it 7-0. Rece Schuerman singled, and Yukumoto had a sacrifice fly to score the last two runs as Gonzaga went on to the 9-0 win.
Washington State falls to 18-32 and 11-16 in the Mountain West, and will need to make up a one-game deficit to either Air Force or sweep San Diego State in order to make the top six and make the Mountain West Conference tournament. Their first game of the final series starts May 15 at 6 p.m. in San Diego.
Gonzaga improves to 24-24 on the season and 14-7 in WCC play, good for second place in the league as they enter the final series of the year against Portland on the road. The Zags have already qualified for the conference tournament, which begins May 21.
SOFTBALL FIRST ROUND (games begin at 10AM) Onsted vs Quincy (at Parkside Middle School, Field #2) Jackson vs Columbia Central (at Parkside Middle School, Field #1) Reading at Lumen Christi Concord vs Hudson (at Lumen Christi, OLD Softball Field) SEMIFINALS/CONSOLATION GAMES (games at approx. 12pm) Onsted/Quincy winner vs Jackson/Columbia Central winner (Parkside, Field #1) Reading/Lumen […]
FIRST ROUND (games begin at 10AM)
Onsted vs Quincy (at Parkside Middle School, Field #2)
Jackson vs Columbia Central (at Parkside Middle School, Field #1)
Reading at Lumen Christi
Concord vs Hudson (at Lumen Christi, OLD Softball Field)
SEMIFINALS/CONSOLATION GAMES (games at approx. 12pm)
Onsted/Quincy winner vs Jackson/Columbia Central winner (Parkside, Field #1)
Reading/Lumen Christi winner vs Concord/Hudson winner (at Lumen Christi)
CONSOLATION GAMES
Onsted/Quincy loser vs Jackson/Columbia Central loser (at Parkside, Field #2)
Reading/Lumen Christi loser vs Concord/Hudson loser (at Lumen Christi, OLD Softball Field)
The two winners will play in the Championship game, at approximately 3:30pm at Parkside Middle School (Field #1).
Visit JTV.TV on Saturday following the tournaments for complete game and photo coverage.
Women’s sports gain traction as new survey highlights increased viewership and fan engagement, with over 30% of U.S. adults following closely. WASHINGTON — When Meghan Sells heads to Providence Park to watch Oregon’s professional women’s soccer team, she finds herself among a fairly mixed crowd — groups of young women, dads bringing their children, youth […]
Women’s sports gain traction as new survey highlights increased viewership and fan engagement, with over 30% of U.S. adults following closely.
WASHINGTON — When Meghan Sells heads to Providence Park to watch Oregon’s professional women’s soccer team, she finds herself among a fairly mixed crowd — groups of young women, dads bringing their children, youth players checking out the Thorns’ latest match.
The physician’s assistant is a self-described lifelong sports fan and former softball player who “will watch any sport.” That includes both collegiate and professional sports for women, putting Sells squarely in a fan base that suddenly has more options than ever before and is seen as fertile ground for teams and advertisers eager to ride the rising interest in the women’s game.
About 3 in 10 U.S. adults follow women’s professional or college sports “extremely,” “very” or “somewhat” closely, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That’s lower than the share who follow men’s sports by the same measurements — about half — but it also shows that Sells is far from alone.
As interest and investment in women’s sports have picked up in recent years, so have the entry points for fans. The meteoric rise of Caitlin Clark, the University of Iowa phenom-turned-WNBA star, helped bring wider attention to women’s basketball, and increased streaming availability, international success and name, image and likeness deals have elevated the value and viewership of women’s sports.
“Growing up, I feel like the only sports I was able to really see on TV were men’s — which is fine, I like men’s sports,” Sells said. “But I enjoy watching women’s sports more. … I think the more that you see it on TV, the more you’re going to have younger people interested in it.”
The poll found that women’s sports fans — those who follow women’s sports at least “somewhat” closely — are different from men’s sports fans. Fans of women’s sports, while not a majority-female group, are more gender balanced than men’s sports fans. Those who follow women’s pro sports also are more casual in their fandom than men’s pro sports fans, tending to say they attend or watch games occasionally rather than frequently. People who follow men’s sports, by contrast, are more likely to identify attachments to teams as opposed to players.
The survey was conducted just before the start of the 2025 WNBA season, an expansion year for the league. Coming off a season in which attendance records were set (and reset ), the league will debut a new franchise — the Golden State Valkyries — and up the number of regular season games from 40 to 44.
In 2026, two additional teams will join the league, including one in Portland, Oregon. Sells, who’s been in the city for about a decade, said she is prepared to get season tickets.
Men’s sports at both the collegiate and professional levels remain more popular than women’s sports, the poll found. About one-third of U.S. adults said they watch, listen to or read about men’s collegiate sports at least “somewhat” closely, and more than 4 in 10 say they follow men’s pro sports. By contrast, about 2 in 10 say they follow women’s collegiate sports at least “somewhat” closely, and a similar share say they follow women’s pro sports.
A greater share of men than women say they follow professional or collegiate sports overall, but the gender balance was more even among women’s sports fans. Around half of fans of women’s sports are male, the survey found, compared with about two-thirds of fans of men’s sports.
This could be in part due to the overlap between the fandoms: About 90% of U.S. adults who follow women’s sports at least “somewhat” closely also say the same about men’s sports, though about half of people who follow men’s sports said they also followed women’s sports.
As women’s sports increase in popularity and accessibility, a relatively large share are casual fans. While close to 9 in 10 of both men’s and women’s pro sports fans say they frequently or occasionally watch, listen to or read about their respective professional sports, a higher percentage of women’s sports fans say they are only occasional consumers.
That includes people like Matthew Behr, 58, a lifelong fan of the Green Bay Packers and Milwaukee Brewers in his home state of Wisconsin. He doesn’t watch a lot of basketball, he said, but when the sport crosses into news coverage, he will read up on it.
That’s how he started following Clark, whose final seasons at Iowa were credited with bringing new viewers to the sport and who now plays for the Indiana Fever.
“I was seeing it on MSNBC,” he said. “I don’t watch a lot of basketball. It’s not a men’s and women’s thing. If she was playing in a women’s football league, I’d probably watch that.”
Men’s sports — with larger leagues, bigger TV deals and a more expansive media ecosystem — have a more fervent audience. About two-thirds of men’s sports fans said they “frequently” or “occasionally” attend a professional sporting event in person, compared with roughly half of women’s sports fans.
One possible reason women’s sports fans aren’t showing up at sporting events is they’re less likely to be attached to a specific team. Only about one-third of women’s sports fans said the teams they support or follow are “extremely” or “very” important to why they follow the sport. For men’s fans, the figure was around 50%.
However, nearly identical shares of men’s and women’s sports fans said that certain athletes they support were at least “very” important to why they follow women’s sports.
Bernard Seltzer, a high school administrator and math and science teacher in Tampa, Florida, considers himself a general sports fan and said he enjoys watching the most skillful athletes, regardless of their gender. Even at the high school level, he is impressed by the finesse he sees female athletes demonstrate.
“Sometimes it’s more impressive than watching masculine people banging their heads against the wall,” he said.
The AP-NORC poll of 1,260 adults was conducted April 17-21, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
Copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Gators’ roster reload has gotten off to a hot start as they aim to repeat as national champions this upcoming season. Of course, the Gators lost three star contributors from their backcourt as Consensus First-Team All-American Walter Clayton Jr. and fellow guards, Alijah Martin and Will Richard, exhausted their college eligibility and are actively […]
The Gators’ roster reload has gotten off to a hot start as they aim to repeat as national champions this upcoming season.
Of course, the Gators lost three star contributors from their backcourt as Consensus First-Team All-American Walter Clayton Jr. and fellow guards, Alijah Martin and Will Richard, exhausted their college eligibility and are actively contending to be picked in the 2025 NBA Draft.
But Florida appears poised to hold onto its key frontcourt members, as forward Thomas Haugh has returned to the team for his junior season, and fellow juniors, forward Alex Condon and center Rueben Chinyelu, have maintained their college eligibility while testing the NBA Draft waters this offseason; neither player has consistently garnered first-round projections.
UF also made a pair of transfer portal splashes in April, securing commitments from four-star guards, Xaivian Lee of Princeton and AJ Brown of Ohio. The Gators also welcomed two top-50 recruits from the high school level this offseason in CJ Ingram and Alex Lloyd.
The Gators’ offseason roster churn has left Florida head coach Todd Golden pleased, he shared on The Sideline with Andy Katz, comparing this approach to the one UF took to building its championship roster a year ago.
“This year, I don’t think it’s that much different,” Golden expressed. “We’ve done a great job retaining our frontcourt – knock on wood, we should get all of those guys back. We’ll see how Alex’s pro prospects go over the next couple of weeks.
“But the backcourt is going to be new. Getting Xaivian was huge, Xaivian Lee from Princeton is a huge addition. Him and Tommy Haugh were teammates back in prep school, so he has a really good understanding of how we operate and what we do.”
Lee averaged 16.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.2 steals per game during the 2024-25 campaign, while shooting 43.9 percent from the floor and 36.6 percent from three-point range.
Before addressing Brown’s addition, Golden made note of his brother, Gators rising sophomore guard Isaiah Brown, as someone who could step into a meaningful role as Florida’s new backcourt takes shape.
A class of 2024 three-star recruit, Brown flashed throughout his limited freshman usage in Florida’s deep guard rotation, averaging half a point for every minute he played while shooting 52 percent, including a three-of-eight mark from three-point range. He added 18 rebounds and 11 assists while committing three turnovers.
“We have some really good young ones in the program,” Golden noted. “I think of Isaiah Brown as a guy that should be a really impactful riser from freshman to sophomore year. AJ Brown, his brother, is a really good shooter-scorer from Ohio that’s coming in.”
The older Brown averaged 13.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.1 assists per game over 29 contests last season with Ohio.
Still, Golden believes the Gators would benefit from making one more backcourt move in the transfer portal to fortify the roster.
Notably, Swamp247 previously reported that Florida has been linked to Arkansas’ Boogie Fland, who entered the portal and the NBA Draft pool last month.
“Our goal is to add one more guy,” said Golden. “I think if we can do that over the next couple weeks – and we’re not trying to rush, we want to be picky – but if we can add another impact guard, I think this team has a chance to be really good next year.”
| April 27, 2025
(via @noseyone4/X)
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