Correction

Jonathan Stokes’ volleyball teaching file at Wellsville was 54-3 over two seasons. The mark was incorrect in Friday’s editions.

South Range makes state

CANTON — South Range’s softball staff earned a state event berth with an 8-4 win in eight innings over Champion within the Div. III regional ultimate on Friday at Willig Park.

Gretchen Bartels had two doubles and an RBI for the winners. Juli Stachowicz was the profitable pitcher with 10 strikeouts, one stroll and two earned runs.

Gabby Gradishar took the loss for champion with 10 strikeouts, a stroll and 4 earned runs.

South Range (26-3) will meet Wheelersburg at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at Firestone Stadium in Akron within the state semifinal.

Hiram fall in opener

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — No. 21 Coe College scored 4 runs within the fifth inning and Ellie Thurow took over from there in beating Hiram, 5-0, within the opening recreation of an NCAA Division III Super Regional on Friday.

The two groups will meet once more at Clark Field at 2 p.m. right now within the best-of-three sequence.

Thurow gave up solely a single to Angel Santellan main off the fourth inning. Thurow improved to 14-4 on the season with a 1.13 ERA

Coe (36-9) is coming off its first NCAA Regional championship since 2009.

Hiram (27-15), enjoying in its first tremendous regional, misplaced for the second time in its final 12 video games.

The sequence winner advances to the NCAA Championships in Marshall, Texas.

SEC debates schedule

(AP) — Southeastern Conference leaders have been debating what to do with their soccer schedule for greater than a yr.

Play eight convention video games every season together with one rival or go to 9 league video games with three?

Whether ESPN is prepared to pay to broadcast extra SEC video games will issue into the choice, although it’s unclear how a lot. As SEC officers head to the Florida Panhandle for spring conferences subsequent week, there may be nonetheless no deadline to make a name on a format that goes into impact subsequent yr.

“We have to make a decision and if we don’t make a decision is that the be all, end all? No,” Commissioner Greg Sankey stated in an interview. “But at some point we have to land the proverbial airplane. I think we’re ready to do that.”

Among the opposite agenda gadgets for the conferences in Destin, Florida: playing, approaching the heels of Alabama firing its baseball coach amid an investigation of suspicious bets on a Crimson Tide recreation; easy methods to higher stop — or at the very least discourage — discipline and court docket storming by followers after video games; and, in fact, identify, picture and likeness compensation for athletes.

The soccer schedule is the headliner.

The SEC presently performs an eight-game convention schedule with 14 members in two divisions. Each staff has one annual cross-division rival. In 2024, Texas and Oklahoma arrive to make the SEC a 16-team convention, and there will probably be no extra divisions.

Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Texas A&M and Florida, colleges that anticipate to perennially contend for playoff spots and compete for nationwide championships, favor 9 league video games every season.

“We want nine for sure at A&M,” Aggies athletic director Ross Bjork stated. “We expanded for a reason. And people want more SEC content, right? Clearly, there’s a demand for it, especially football.”

For some colleges with extra modest objectives, the place nationwide titles are aspirational however not anticipated, enjoying an additional recreation contained in the nation’s hardest soccer convention isn’t ultimate.

Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart has publicly supported eight. Auburn AD John Cohen signaled assist for eight whereas he was at Mississippi State; it’s unclear if switching jobs has modified his opinion.

There are considerations within the convention about enjoying 5 highway league video games each different season as a substitute of the present 4 yearly. Home video games are value tens of millions in income.

ESPN might conceivably assist make up for that. The SEC’s newest media rights take care of ESPN/ABC begins in 2024 and makes the community the unique house of the convention. Replacing nonconference video games with SEC vs. SEC video games ought to present the community extra worth.

Sankey stated the choice doesn’t come right down to how a lot the community may spend to make it worthwhile for SEC colleges to play extra recreation towards each other: “That’s way, way oversimplifying the matter.”

One of Sankey’s bosses had a bit completely different message this week.

“I may be saying more than Commissioner Sankey would want me to say, but obviously if you go to a nine-game schedule, you have to be compensated for going to a nine-game schedule,” Georgia President Jere Morehead informed The Athletic this week. “There’s still some dynamics that have to play out with our media partners.”

The SEC does have extra readability on the schedule than it did a yr in the past, when it was working below the belief Texas and Oklahoma could be becoming a member of in 2025. Texas and Oklahoma officers will attend subsequent week’s conferences, however they don’t but have voting privileges.

College Football Playoff growth was additionally up within the air a yr in the past. That’s now settled: The CFP will develop from 4 to 12 groups in 2024.

How to decide on annual rivals received’t be a straightforward dialogue with a nine-team format, both.

“I’ve always been an advocate for playing more (conference) games,” Alabama coach Nick Saban informed Sports Illustrated earlier this yr. “But if you play more games, I think you have to get the three fixed (opponents), right? They’re giving us Tennessee, Auburn and LSU. I don’t know how they come to that?”

There is not any assure a vote on a brand new schedule mannequin will probably be taken in Destin, Sankey stated. A majority vote is all that’s wanted to determine on a mannequin, however, ideally, the SEC want to have everyone on board with the ultimate resolution.

Sankey recalled former Tennessee AD Doug Dickey as soon as telling Sankey’s predecessor, the late Mike Slive, that within the SEC even shut votes wanted to be unanimous after they left the room.

“People are going to air their perspective, share their points of difference and then we’re going to take a vote and life’s going to move on and we’re going to schedule football games and play them,” Sankey stated.