A man was sent to a psychiatric hospital after saying he wanted to be a “mass murderer,” and “go out in a blaze of glory.” Six months later, police say he repeatedly stabbed a random woman in a park. New charges show he told police he did it — because he wanted to kill someone.

Auburn returned to the football field on Wednesday with its first preseason practice of the season. It marked the beginning of Year 3 of the Hugh Freeze era as the Tigers look to take a step up and embrace expectations. 

The first practice on Wednesday was open to the media, including a window with video and pictures allowed. Auburn Undercover compiled video highlights from the window, which can be seen above and with separate position videos below, too.

Be sure to subscribe to the Auburn Undercover YouTube channel for more FREE videos throughout camp!

NOTE: Practice video audio is muted due to background music and and copyright issues on YouTube.

HERKIMER, N.Y. –The New York State Sportswriters and Coaches Organization for Girls Sports (NYSSCOGS) announced that Marissa Rizzi will be a part of the 2026 Hall of Fame Class for softball. 

The St. John’s softball assistant coach and former player will be inducted for her time as a superb student-athlete at East Southport Manor High School on Long Island, the organization announced in a press release earlier this week.

The Manorville, N.Y., native was a five-year standout at the varsity level, amassing 158 hits and 145 RBI with a .537 batting average as a pitcher. 
 
Inside the circle Rizzi finished her high school career with a 0.69 ERA, an 83-16 overall record, 722 strikeouts, 31 shutouts and six no hitters to boot. During her senior year, the fireballer would toss 206 strikeouts accompanied by an astonishing 0.35 ERA. 

From 2012-2016, Rizzi would be named a four-time All- County, three-time All-Long Island and three-time All-State honors, as well as a two-time Suffolk County Player of the Year. Long after her playing days, Newsday named her a Top-100 High School Athletes of the 2010’s, as she solidified herself as one of the best softball players from Long Island.

During her time at St. John’s, Rizzi demonstrated consistent excellence and growth over five seasons. As a freshman in 2017, she made an early impact hitting three home runs in a five-game span as the Johnnies went onto win the BIG EAST Regular Season. The first basemen followed that with a sophomore season where she collected 35 hits, six home runs, and delivered several clutch performances. 

Rizzi’s junior year in 2019 marked a breakout season, earning All-BIG EAST First Team honors. She led the Red Storm with a .403 average, 12 home runs, and 14 multi-hit games, while twice being named BIG EAST Player of the Week. 

After redshirting in 2020, she returned the following season for a remarkable final season. Starting all 30 games, Rizzi once again led the team in nearly every offensive category, including batting average (.402), slugging (.707), and runs scored (29). She reached base in 17 straight games and earned All-BIG EAST First Team recognition for the second time, along with a spot on the NFCA All-Region Second Team. She was also named BIG EAST Player of the Week and earned multiple weekly honor roll nods.

Shortly after her playing days concluded, Rizzi joined as a student-assistant and was elevated to assistant coach in 2021. As part of Head Coach Michelle DePolo‘s staff, the future hall of famer has helped guide the Red Storm to the BIG EAST Tournament over the last three seasons and most recently 2024 BIG EAST Regular Season Champions. 

The 2026 Hall of Fame class will be inducted on June 20, 2026. The ceremony will be held at the Mudville Ballfields in Herkimer, N.Y. For more information about the 2026 NYSSCOGS Hall of Fame class, visit their website here.
 

Editor’s note: This is the fifth and final part of a summer series revisiting the best of “The Prep Zone” sports show at locally owned Sonic Drive-In of Gainesville, featuring interviews with area coaches and players with host Mike Ridaught from the 2024-25 seasons.

The Trenton softball team, along with first-year head coach Kevin Benson, the Bosshardt Realty Small School Girls Coach of the Year, joined Mainstreet Daily News Sports Director Mike Ridaught on his weekly high school sports show on Wednesday, May 28, 2025.

The defending champions outscored their two opponents in the new FHSAA Rural state tournament in Longwood by a combined 20-3. The Tigers (19-6) defeated Liberty County (Bristol), 9-2, in the Rural State Semifinals, followed by an 11-1 win in five innings against Northview (Bratt) in the state title game to win their second straight state title.

Below are excerpts from the May 28 interview — edited for length and clarity — of The Prep Zone’s interview. You can listen to the full conversation, which is archived online.

Q: Coach, what a run. What a ride, I’m sure, a lot of fun this year. First of all, just talk about winning the state title this season.

Coach Kevin Benson: It’s been a long season, to say the least, just navigating the new roles of being a head coach and the administrative side of things that you don’t necessarily always see, the behind the scenes stuff that goes into to being the head coach when you’re out there just working with the girls on a daily basis as an assistant coach. Coming in right on the heels of the beginning of the season as the new head coach, not a lot of time to shift gears and regroup there. But, it’s all worth it when you finish the season as a state champion and the girls on a daily basis working as hard as you can ask them to work, and putting in the time and effort, many of them putting in extra time and asking to stay late to get in extra reps, and whether it be on the field, taking fly balls, ground balls, extra reps in the cages. When you have a roster like we’ve been fortunate to have this year. Going into it, we knew we were going to have an extremely talented roster. It’s just a matter of navigating the ship and keeping the ship heading in the right direction.

Q: There’s some challenges there as a first-year head coach, but how much did it help being a part of the staff last year, and even in the past, to take over that role as head coach?

Coach Kevin Benson: It definitely helped knowing the girls, knowing the parts of the team. We had a couple of new girls on the team this year, but for the majority of the roster, you know the girls, you know their parents, you know their background. You kind of know what they can and can’t do on the field, things to work on, to help them improve their game individually…I think having those relationships definitely made things easier, because there’s a lot of trust and respect built up from those relationships through the years.

Q: Talk about your schedule overall, because I would imagine that helped prepare you for the postseason.

Coach Kevin Benson: Oh, absolutely. I was a part of the conversations with Coach Clint (Anderson) and Bryant Frye putting the schedule together for this year, and we wanted to put an emphasis on playing some high competition and preparing for postseason play. We knew with this schedule, we had the chance to look really, really good against some really good competition, or we could take some bumps and bruises, because we did lose five seniors from last year’s team.

Q: Makenna, tell me how it felt to win it all.

Makenna Young (FR): It was amazing. We won last year, and being that was my first year, that was incredible, but going back-to-back that was insane to me. And being on this team and being with these girls is amazing, and I love every single one of them to death, and it was amazing. I mean, no other feeling. It’s just amazing. If we do it again, that’s great, but I’m so glad to be a part of this team and I can’t wait for what the future holds for me and for the rest of the team. 

Q: With only four seniors, what do you think about the chance to come back and win it again?

Makenna Young (FR): I think there’s a huge possibility. Our seniors will definitely be a huge loss, but knowing us, we have the talent and the skill, and the coaching to help us do it again. Hopefully, in more years to come, and I have a lot of years to go, and our team is very talented. I think with our talent, we can do that for sure if we keep working hard and fill in those positions.

Q: Olivia, you didn’t even know at the beginning of the year if you were even going to be able to play because of your injury. Kind of take us through that and what that moment was like.

Olivia Weaver (SR): I had a stress fracture in my lower back, and initially, when I went to the doctor, he had said this generally takes about 12 weeks to heal, which would have put me out for the whole season. He was able to work with me, and I was able to come back at around six or seven weeks, so I’m very grateful that I was able to come back out here and win a state championship for my senior year.

Q: Charleigh had not hit a home run since her sophomore year, and she hit one against Northview. Talk about that moment and what it felt like to do it in a state championship game.

Charleigh Philmon (SR): So, it felt really good. I really didn’t think it was going to happen. I was just going up there trying to hit the ball, just trying to have fun, and it just happened.

Q: What does it mean to win a state championship, knowing this was your last go at it?

Payton Campbell (SR): It was really good. I mean, that was our goal at the beginning of the season. We knew that we could. We lost seniors last year, but we filled their positions, and we thought that we could do it again, and just going down there and doing it, it was just, it was just really good.

Q: Kind of sum up this season, because it’s another state championship for you. Congratulations.

Addison Allaire (SR): I’m just really proud of us. We started off a little rough, but we really came together as a team there at the end and really just learned to play for each other. We knew we wanted to win it all, and we just did it together.

Q: No walks and 12 strikeouts. Talk about your performance in the state title game.

Addison Allaire (SR): I knew they were going to be a team that swung the bat really well. I just tried to really pound the zone. Obviously, I didn’t want to walk anybody; just wanted to really go at them and make them hit it hard, and that’s what we did.

Hulk Hogan’s longtime friend Eric Bischoff could tell the wrestling legend had grown “weak” due to his recent neck surgery before he died.

“He sounded tired but he still had that, ‘What are we going to do next?’ underlying current of energy in his voice,” the wrestling promoter, 70, said on Tuesday’s episode of “83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff.”

Despite Hogan’s health struggles, Bischoff said he still “really” wanted to see his pal, and so he went down to Clearwater, Fla., to visit the former WWE pro while he recovered.

Bischoff noted Hogan was “kind of embarrassed” about being seen because he had been “pretty sick.”

However, the “Rocky III” star, who was born Terry Bollea, made sure their chat quickly turned to business, including Real American Freestyle, a professional freestyle wrestling promotion Hogan founded.

“All he wanted to talk about was business, but in a fun, energetic way, even though he was struggling,” Bischoff said.

“He was so anxious to get back to work,” the former World Championship Wrestling announcer added. “I just know since I’ve known him [that] he loves the hunt, he loves the thrill of the hunt.”

Bischoff said he could tell it would be “quite a while” before Hogan was back to his old self, but he told him he’d set up a few interviews to “give him something to look forward to.”

On July 24, paramedics were called to Hogan’s house after he went into a cardiac arrest. He died shortly after being transported to Morton Plant Hospital. He was 71.

“Unfortunately, we must confirm that Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, passed away this morning,” his reps confirmed to Page Six at the time.

“We are heartbroken. He was such a great human being and friend.”

Although Hogan was recovering from surgery, many in his inner circle did not think that the end was near for the wrestling superstar — as Bischoff pointed out.

The “Hogan Knows Best” alum’s wife, Sky Daily, reportedly told a social media user on July 12, “No, he’s definitely not in a coma! His heart is strong, and there was never any lack of oxygen or brain damage. None of those rumors are true.”

She then explained that Hogan had been “recovering from a major four-level Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusin (ACDF), which is an intense surgery with a long and layered healing process.”

The fitness trainer concluded at the time, “He’s healing and we’re taking it one day at a time with love, strength, and patience.”

Hogan’s manager, Jimmy Hart, also addressed the speculation via X on June 22, writing in a since-deleted post, “Hulk is doing great, doing phenomenal! Last night at karaoke with Nick [Hogan] was absolutely fantastic, baby!!!”

The Wrestlemania champ’s official cause of death has not yet been revealed.