D2 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, JUNE 12 , 2022
COLLEGE BASEBALL
Homer-happy Hokies
force decisive Game 3
Nick Biddison hit two of No. 4
overall seed Virginia Tech’s five
home runs, including one to lead
off the game, and the host Hokies
stayed alive in the Blacksburg
super regional with a 14-8 victory
over Oklahoma on Saturday.
The win by Virginia Tech
( 45-12) forces a winner-take-all
Game 3 with Oklahoma (40-22)
on Sunday for a berth in the
College World Series. The Hokies
have never been to the CWS....
N o. 5 overall seed Texas A&M
beat visiting Louisville, 4-3, to
win the College Station super
regional and become the first
team to earn a berth in the CWS.
Texas A&M (42-18) is heading
to its seventh CWS looking for its
first championship....
No. 1 overall seed Tennessee
rolled to a 12-4 victory over Notre
Dame t o stay alive in the
Knoxville super regional. The
Volunteers (57-8) and Fighting
Irish (39-15) will play a third game
Sunday....
No. 9 overall seed Texas
overcame a five-run deficit to beat
No. 8 seed East Carolina, 9-8, and
force a Game 3 in the Greenville,
N.C., super regional. The
Longhorns (46-20) and Pirates
(46-20) will meet again
Sunday....
Visiting Arkansas (42-19)
earned a 4-1 win over N o. 10
overall seed North Carolina
( 42-21) i n the opener of the
Chapel Hill super regional....
Visiting Mississippi (36-22)
cruised to a 10-0 victory over
No. 11 overall seed Southern
Mississippi (47-18) in the first
game of the Hattiesburg super
regional.
TENNIS
Nick Kyrgios said he faced
racist abuse from the crowd
during a semifinal defeat to Andy
Murray at the Stuttgart Open in
Germany.
The Australian posted on
Instagram after the 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
loss t hat he had heard abusive
comments from the stands.
“When is this going to stop?
Dealing with racial slurs from the
crowd?” he wrote. “I understand
that my behavior isn’t the best all
the time — but ‘you little black
sheep’ ‘shut up and play’ little
comments like this are not
acceptable. When I retaliate to
the crowd I get penalised. This is
messed up.”
Kyrgios was given a point
penalty for breaking his racket at
the end of the first-set tiebreaker
and then a game penalty for
unsportsmanlike conduct in the
second set after he approached
the crowd and appeared to ask:
“What did you say?”
Kyrgios then sat down and did
not continue the match until he
had spoken with the tournament
supervisor.
Murray will play his first grass-
court singles final since he won
Wimbledon in 2016 when he faces
second-seeded Italian Matteo
Berrettini in Sunday’s final.
Berrettini prevailed, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6
(7-5), over Oscar Otte in a tight
match with no breaks of serve....
Alison Riske and Beatriz
Haddad Maia will meet for the
Nottingham Open title in
England on Sunday.
Riske, the sixth-seeded
American, beat Viktorija
Golubic , 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, in a rain-
delayed semifinal match and will
look to capture the fourth title of
her career in t he grass-court
tournament.
Haddad Maia, the seventh-
seeded Brazilian, advanced when
Tereza Martincova was forced to
retire in the second set. Haddad
Maia was leading 6-3, 4-1.
In the men’s event, top-seeded
Dan Evans of Britain beat Jack
Sock of the United States, 7-5, 6-3,
to advance to a final against
Jordan Thompson , who won an
all-Australian semifinal match,
6 -4, 6-2, against Alexei Popyrin.AUTO RACING
Kyle Larson w ill start on the
pole for the fifth straight time in
the NASCAR Cup Series race at
Sonoma Raceway a fter edging
Hendrick Motorsports teammate
Chase Elliott in qualifying on the
road course in California’s wine
country with a 92.11 mph lap....
Kyle Busch won the NASCAR
Truck Series race at Sonoma to
extend his decade-long streak of
annual victories on the circuit....
C harles Leclerc took the pole
position for the fourth Formula
One race in a row a head of the
Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.
The Ferrari driver set a time of
1 minute 41.359 seconds with his
last run to beat Red Bull’s Sergio
Pérez by 0.282 seconds.MISC.
Penny Taylor used her
induction into the Women’s
Basketball Hall of Fame in
Knoxville, Tenn., to call for the
release of f ormer P hoenix Mercury
teammate Brittney Griner , noting
it had been 114 days since the
seven-time WNBA all-star was
detained in Russia.
“BG is our family,” Taylor said
in asking President Biden ’s help
in freeing Griner. “She’s yours,
too. The entire global sport
community needs to come
together to insist that she be a
priority.”
Griner has been detained since
Feb. 17 after vape cartridges
containing c annabis oil were
allegedly found in her luggage at
an airport near Moscow.
Also inducted were Debbie
Antonelli , Alice “Cookie”
Barron , Doug Bruno , Becky
Hammon , DeLisha Milton-
Jones , Paul Sanderford and Bob
Schneider....
A’ja Wilson scored a season-
high 35 points on 13-for-23
shooting and grabbed
11 rebounds as the visiting Las
Vegas Aces beat the Los Angeles
Sparks, 89-72, in the WNBA.
Dearica Hamby added
20 points for Las Vegas (11-2).
Nneka Ogwumike led Los
Angeles (5-8) with 16....
K entucky’s Abby Steiner set a
collegiate record with a time of
21.80 seconds in the 200 meters at
the NCAA track and field
championships a t Hayward Field
in Eugene, Ore.
Florida won the women’s team
title with 54 points.
— From news servicesDIGESTTELEVISION AND RADIO
MLB
1:30 p.m. Milwaukee at Washington » MASN2, WJFK (106.7 FM)
1:30 p.m. Chicago Cubs at New York Yankees » MLB Network
2 p.m. Baltimore at Kansas City » MASN, WIYY (97.9 FM)
4:30 p.m. Los Angeles Dodgers at San Francisco » MLB Network (joined in progress)
7 p.m. New York Mets at Los Angeles Angels » ESPN
WNBA
6 p.m. Phoenix at Washington » NBC Sports Washington
AUTO RACING
7 a.m. Formula One: Azerbaijan Grand Prix » ESPN
12:45 p.m. IndyCar Series: Sonsio Grand Prix » WRC (Ch. 4), WBAL (Ch. 11)
4 p.m. NASCAR Cup Series: Toyota/Save Mart 350 » Fox Sports 1
GOLF
7:30 a.m. DP World Tour/Ladies European Tour: Scandinavian Mixed, final round »
Golf Channel
Noon LPGA Tour: LPGA Classic, final round » Golf Channel
1 p.m. LPGA Tour: LPGA Classic, final round » WUSA (Ch. 9), WJZ (Ch. 13)
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3 p.m. PGA Tour Champions: American Family Insurance Championship,
final round » Golf Channel
5 p.m. Curtis Cup: United States vs. Great Britain and Ireland, final round »
Golf Channel
SOCCER
9 a.m. UEFA Nations League, League C: Cyprus at Northern Ireland » Fox Sports 1
Noon UEFA Nations League, League B: Sweden at Norway » Fox Sports 1
2:45 p.m. UEFA Nations League, League A: Czech Republic at Spain » Fox Sports 2
3 p.m. MLS: New England at Sporting Kansas City » WJLA (Ch. 7), WMAR (Ch. 2)
TENNIS
6 a.m. ATP/WTA: Libéma Open, finals; WTA: Nottingham Open, finals »
Tennis Channel
TRACK AND FIELD
4 p.m. USA Track & Field: NYC Grand Prix » WRC (Ch. 4), WBAL (Ch. 11)
PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL
4 p.m. USFL: Tampa Bay vs. New Orleans » WTTG (Ch. 5), WBFF (Ch. 45)
7:30 p.m. USFL: Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh » Fox Sports 1
PROFESSIONAL RUGBY
10 p.m. Major League Rugby, quarterfinal: San Diego at Seattle » Fox Sports 2
NCAA BASEBALL TOURNAMENT — SUPER REGIONALS
1 p.m. Game 3: Oklahoma at Virginia Tech » ESPNU
1 p.m. Game 3: Notre Dame at Tennessee » ESPN
1 p.m. Game 2: Arkansas at North Carolina » ESPN2
4 p.m. Game 3: Texas at East Carolina » ESPN2
4 p.m. Game 2: Mississippi at Southern Mississippi » ESPNU
7 p.m. Game 2: Connecticut at Stanford » ESPN2
10 p.m. Game 2: Auburn at Oregon State » ESPN2
BY JAKE SEINERnew york — Triple Crown vet-
eran Todd Pletcher had simple
advice Saturday for jockey Irad
Ortiz Jr. before the Belmont
Stakes.
“Be patient,” Pletcher said. “I
think you have the best last quar-
ter of any horse in the race.”
Sometimes, less is Mo.
Mo Donegal pulled away down
the home stretch and held off filly
Nest to win the Belmont Stakes,
giving Pletcher a 1-2 finish and his
sixth Triple Crown victory, in-
cluding four at this track on the
outskirts of New York City.
“To be honest with you, we
were a little confident going into
the race today,” Donegal Racing
CEO and co-owner Jerry Craw-
ford said. “When he turned for
home, I was like, forget about it. I
know Todd thought he could get a
strong last quarter mile, and he
sure did.”
Mo Donegal rounded the 1^1 / 2 -
mile track in 2 minutes 28.28 sec-
onds, ahead of Nest and Skippy-
longstocking. Pletcher, who lives
on Long Island, adds another
Belmont title following wins with
Rags to Riches in 2007, Palace
Malice in 2013 and Tapwrit in
2017.
Rich Strike, a stunning Ken-
tucky Derby winner at 80-1 odds,
was sixth.
Mo Donegal beat a wide-open,
eight-horse field without a clear
favorite — We the People, a mon-
ster in the mud, opened at 2-1
amid a rainy forecast but reached
7-2 by race time as showers held
off.Mo Donegal entered the gate
the betting favorite at 5-2. We the
People led for much of the race,
but Mo Donegal and Ortiz took
charge coming out of the final
turn.
The 3-year-old colt paid $7.20,
$3.80 and $3. Nest — who nearly
became Pletcher’s second filly to
win Belmont after Rags to Riches
— paid $5.30 and $4.10. Skippy-
longstocking returned $5.60 to
show. We the People finished
fourth.
Rich Striker owner Rick Daw-
son and trainer Eric Reed held the
Kentucky Derby winner out of the
Preakness with an eye on Bel-
mont, the first healthy horse to
skip Pimlico after winning the
Triple Crown’s first event since
1985.
Reed said the team encouraged
jockey Sonny Leon to try pushing
Rich Strike from the outside, but
the horse kept trying to get back
inside — where he made a late
charge past 19 horses to win at
Churchill Downs. Rich Strike
spent much of the race in last
place and couldn’t recover.“I think we just made a tactical
error,” Reed said.
Just like Rich Strike, Mo Done-
gal was at the back of the pack at
the Derby, but the colt didn’t have
enough kick at Churchill Downs.
He found it Saturday, winning the
154th running of the $1.5 million
race.
Mo Donegal made a winner out
of co-owner Mike Repole, a local
entrepreneur known around the
track as “Mike from Queens.” Re-
pole also co-owns Nest.
“This has been a dream I’ve
had for 40 years,” Repole said.
“This is New York’s race.”
It’s the fourth straight year the
Triple Crown races were won by
three different horses, a first for
the sport since 1926-29.
The race marked a return to
form for Belmont itself after the
2020 Stakes were closed to the
public because of the pandemic
and the 2021 event was limited to
11,238 spectators by virus restric-
tions.
Capacity was capped again,
this time at 50,000, because of
congestion concerns stemmingfrom the newly built arena next
door for the NHL’s New York
Islanders. Still, fans crammed
into cars on the Long Island Rail
Road and breathed life into the
117-year-old track with floral
headwear, pastel suits and the
unmistakable musk of booze and
cigars.
The reported attendance of
46,103 fell far short of the
grounds record 120,139 set in- Not much of a surprise,
given the shaky weather forecast
and the lack of a Triple Crown
contender.
The field was sparse, too. No
horse ran all three Triple Crown
legs this year, heightening con-
cern that three races in five weeks
may be too tight a schedule to
keep the horses healthy.
Preakness winner Early Voting
was sidelined, probably to pre-
pare for the $1.25 million Travers
Stakes at Saratoga Race Course
on Aug. 27. Epicenter, the runner-
up at the Kentucky Derby and
Preakness, also skipped.
In the $500,000 Acorn for
3 -year-old fillies, Matareya
romped to a 6^1 / 4 -length victory.
Favorite Echo Zulu scratched at
the post on the advice of the track
veterinarian.
Trained by Brad Cox and rid-
den by Flavien Prat, Matareya
($2.60) ran the mile in 1:35.77,
winning for the fifth time in eight
career starts.
Heavily favored Flightline got
off a step slow, overcame an early
traffic issue and cruised to a six-
length victory in the $1 million
Hill ‘N’ Dale Metropolitan Mile.
The victory kept the 4-year-old
Tapit colt undefeated in four ca-
reer starts. This was the first one
he did not win by double-digit
lengths.
Flightline ($2.90) was also rid-
den by Prat and trained by John
Sadler.
— Associated Press
Mo Donegal takes charge at BelmontKentucky Derby winner
Rich Strike struggles
to a sixth-place finishFRANK FRANKLIN II/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mo Donegal and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., above, pulled away down the
stretch and held off Nest to give trainer Todd Pletcher a 1-2 finish.BY PJ MORALESThe post-title hangover for the
Washington Spirit hit upon an-
other sobering chapter Saturday
night at Segra Field in Leesburg.
In a rematch of last month’s
NWSL Challenge Cup final, the
North Carolina Courage scored a
stoppage-time goal to hand the
host a 3-2 loss that extended the
Spirit’s winless run to 10 games.
The winner came from the
Courage’s Kaleigh Kurtz, who
scored from point-blank range.
The Spirit’s drought has included
five games in 16 days.
“We need to be able to figurethe game out a little bit sooner
and grow into it a little bit faster,”
Spirit forward Ashley Hatch said.
“This long stretch of games has
been hard, but I think that’s why
we need to come out and figure
out how we’re going to win the
game.”
While officially a preseason
tournament, the Challenge Cup
final bled into the regular season
and was a charged affair, with
Courage forward Kerolin exiting
early after a hard challenge from
Spirit defender Sam Staab. In her
second start since recovering
from that injury, Kerolin exacted
some revenge, breaking past the
defense early off a threaded pass
from Brianna Pinto to slot home
the opening goal in the sixth
minute.
The Spirit had its chances therest of the second half but could
not find an equalizer.
Trinity Rodman and rookie for-
ward Maddie Elwell, making just
her second start, were threats
throughout the first 45 minutes.
Courage defender Abby Erceg
then doubled the lead five min-
utes into the second half with a
header.
The defending champion final-
ly found its stride shortly thereaf-
ter, and when Bayley Feist put a
pass onto the foot of Ashley San-
chez in the middle of the box,
Sanchez found the lower left cor-
ner to cut the lead in half.
The Spirit kept the momentum
and earned a corner in the
78th minute. The resulting scrum
led to a penalty on Kurtz in the
box. Ashley Hatch converted to
draw Washington even.Then came a set piece in stop-
page time, with Kurtz finding
daylight past Aubrey Kingsbury
to seal the win and send Washing-
ton to a spiraling 1-3-5. The Cour-
age improved to 2-3-1.
The Spirit has six days to recov-
er and reflect — and get healthy.
Rodman is just returning fully to
the team since going into the
covid-19 protocols, captain Andi
Sullivan is still out with a calf
injury, and Kelley O’Hara (ham-
string) just returned to the bench.
“It’s positive that we’ll have
some people back for next week,”
Coach Kris Ward said. “But I
think the biggest thing is going to
be how they recover and how they
approach the next game.”Washington’s winless streak reaches 10 matchesCOURAGE 3,
SPIRIT 2Racing Louisville at Spirit
Friday, 7:30 p.m., Paramount PlusASSOCIATED PRESSIt was a night of stalemates for
the big teams in the Nations
League on Saturday, including a
drab scoreless draw in the re-
match of last year’s European
Championship final.
England was held, 0-0, by Italy
to leave Gareth Southgate’s side
without a win in three matches in
the top-tier Group 3 this month as
it prepares for the World Cup.
Just a couple thousand school-
children were allowed into the
Wolverhampton stadium as part
of England’s punishment for its
fans’ disorder ahead of the Euro
2020 final at Wembley, which
Italy won in a penalty shootout.
Mason Mount hit the crossbar
early on for England, and home
goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale de-
nied Sandro Tonali before a sec-
ond half disrupted by substitu-
tions as both coaches rotated
their squad after a grueling sea-
son.
While last-place England is
headed to Qatar in November,
being top of the group will be no
consolation for the Italians, who
did not qualify for a second
straight World Cup.
Hungary, which beat England
last weekend, is a point behind
Italy after it drew, 1-1, with Ger-
many in Budapest. The goals
came in the opening nine min-
utes, with Jonas Hofmann slot-
ting in Germany’s equalizer to
cancel out Zsolt Nagy’s strike.
There were also two draws in
Group 4. The Netherlands had to
come from two goals down
against Turkey to draw, 2-2, afterDavy Klaassen and Denzel
Dumfries scored inside three
minutes early in the second half.
The Dutch had a chance to seal a
third straight win, but Memphis
Depay’s penalty hit the post to
leave Louis van Gaal’s side with
seven points.
Belgium has four points in
second place after Youri Tiele-
mans’s low finish from the edge of
the area was canceled out by
Brennan Johnson’s first Wales
goal in the 86th minute. It was
the first point for Wales in its
three games, but the priority is
preparing for the World Cup.
Ukraine, which lost to Wales in
the World Cup playoff, earned itssecond straight Nations League
win by beating Armenia, 3-0, with
goals from Ruslan Malinovskyi,
Oleksandr Karavaev and Vitaliy
Mykolenko. The game was played
on neutral territory in Lodz, Po-
land, because Ukraine cannot
play at home in the wake of the
Russian invasion.
Ireland beat Scotland, 3-0, in
the other second-tier group
game.
l MLS: Ben Bender scored a
deflected goal from outside the
box in the fourth minute of first-
half stoppage time to spark Char-
lotte FC to a 2-0 home win over
the New York Red Bulls.
Charlotte’s second goal didn’tcome until the first minute of
second-half stoppage time when
Derrick Jones found the net for
the first time this season. Sergio
Ruiz and Andre Shinyashiki had
assists....
Nashville SC extended its un-
beaten streak to five games with a
0-0 home draw against the San
Jose Earthquakes.
l NWSL: Savannah McCaskill
scored twice for Angel City, in-
cluding the go-ahead goal in the
third minute of stoppage time, in
a 3-2 win over host Racing Louis-
ville.Suit against Ronaldo is tossed
A Nevada woman lost her bid
in a U.S. court to force interna-
tional soccer star Cristiano Ron-
aldo to pay millions of dollars
more than the $375,000 in hush
money she received after claim-
ing he raped her in Las Vegas in
2009.
U.S. District Judge Jennifer
Dorsey in Las Vegas kicked the
case out of court to punish the
woman’s attorney, Leslie Mark
Stovall, for “bad-faith conduct”
and the use of leaked and stolen
documents detailing attorney-cli-
ent discussions between Ronaldo
and his lawyers. Dorsey said that
tainted the case beyond redemp-
tion.
l SPAIN: Real Madrid is sign-
ing another young, highly rated
French midfielder after reaching
agreement with Monaco for the
transfer of Aurélien Tchouaméni.
The 22-year-old will join for six
seasons, Madrid said.
l GERMANY: Bundesliga club
Stuttgart said midfielder Atakan
Karazor, 25, was arrested in Ibiza
after an 18-year-old woman told
police she was raped by two
German men on the Spanish is-
land.SOCCER ROUNDUPRematch of European Championship final is a dudENGLAND 0,
ITALY 0HANNAH MCKAY/REUTERS
Just a couple thousand schoolchildren were allowed into the
Wolverhampton stadium for England’s draw Saturday with Italy.