TIMBER SPORTS
Saturday on the 24th Street Stage along Virginia Beach’s boardwalk, elite lumberjack athletes from the U.S. and Canada will compete in the inaugural North American Trophy event.
The trials are set for 11 a.m., with the main event at 5 p.m. Three axe disciplines and three sawing disciplines will be included. Matt Cogar and Jason Lentz are among the American stars, while Ben Cumberland and Stirling Hart are among the Canadian standouts.
TRIPLE-A BASEBALL
Tides’ Kjerstad, Povich capture monthly IL awards
The Norfolk Tides’ Heston Kjerstad was named the International League Player of the Month, and teammate Cade Povich was named the IL Pitcher of the Month for April.
Kjerstad hit .324 (24 for 74) with 10 home runs, 26 RBIS and three doubles, and he scored 21 runs and walked 12 times. His OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) was 1.190.
Povich was 2-1 with a 1.03 earned-run average in 26 1/3 innings. He struck out 40 and gave up just a .116 batting average.
It was the first time any team swept such honors since July 2021, when Toledo outfielder Aderlin Rodriguez and pitcher Mark Leiter Jr. gained those awards.
COLLEGE SOFTBALL
Va. Wesleyan opens tourney with win
Top-seeded Virginia Wesleyan (32-7) began play in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Tournament with a 5-1 home victory over eighth-seeded Shenandoah, improving the Marlins’ winning streak to 12 games. Emma Adams pitched 5 1/3 shutout innings, Julia Piotrowski was 3 for 3 with a run and two RBIs, and Joslyn Woodard scored twice.
Fourth-seeded Lynchburg then beat fifth-seeded Bridgewater 2-0 as Hickory High alumna Kailey Dorcsis pitched a two-hit shutout.
The eight-team field is split into two double-elimination pods — the other is at second-seeded Randolph-Macon. The teams that emerge from this weekend will start a best-of-three championship series Thursday.
Shenandoah will face Bridgewater in an elimination game at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, and VWU — ranked 11th in Division III — will meet Lynchburg at 1:30 p.m. Another elimination game will follow Saturday.
In Ashland, Randolph-Macon edged seventh-seeded Averett 3-2 in nine innings as Olivia Owens scored the winning run on Amanda Lanyon’s sacrifice fly. Third-seeded Roanoke routed sixth-seeded Guilford 10-0 in the other first-round game as Maggie McCray pitched a five-inning no-hitter. Maroons catcher Kate Houle, a Grafton High graduate, was 2 for 3 with a run and two RBIs.
Towson defeats Hampton
Towson (22-31, 10-16 Coastal Athletic Association) edged host Hampton 5-3 behind Isabella Canesi’s two hits and three RBIs, taking a 2-0 lead in their series. For the Pirates (16-35, 6-20), Angelina Branch homered in the fifth and Taylor Ivey and Brooke Williams hit RBI doubles in the sixth. Neither team qualified for the CAA Tournament, and they will close the season with Saturday’s noon game.
Bryant & Stratton stays alive in region
Bryant & Stratton extended its stay in the National Junior College Athletic Association Region 10 Division II Tournament by rallying from a seven-run deficit for a 9-7 victory over Pitt Community College in Louisburg, North Carolina.
The Bobcats (34-12) then defeated Cleveland CC 5-2 to advance to Saturday’s competition.
Against Pitt CC, the Bobcats scored all nine of their runs in the bottom of the sixth. Kiara Selby hit a grand slam, Anaya Jones drove in two runs, homered and scored twice, and Chloe Gust was 3 for 3 before pitching the seventh to save a victory for reliever Emma Cardenas (5-1).
COLLEGE MEN’S LACROSSE
No. 1 Notre Dame rolls past UVA in ACC semis despite two Cavs’ records
Top-seeded Notre Dame (11-1), the nation’s No. 1 team, scored the first four goals of the game and cruised to an 18-9 victory over No. 4 seed Virginia (10-5) in the ACC Tournament semifinals in Charlotte, North Carolina.
UVA’s Payton Cormier (three goals, one assist) and Connor Shellenberger (two assists) finished Friday’s contest as the ACC’s all-time leaders in goals and assists, respectively, breaking records held by former Duke stars.
Now with 214 goals, Cormier shattered Justin Guterding’s ACC record of 212. Shellenberger, who now has 185 assists, broke Matt Danowski’s record of 183, which stood since 2008.
Notre Dame goalie Liam Entenmann, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, posted a season-high 18 saves. Irish midfielder Devon McLane notched a game-high four goals, while Chris Kavanagh, Pat Kavanagh and Jordan Faison each had a goal and three assists.
The Irish advanced to Sunday’s championship game in Charlotte against third-seeded Duke, which beat second-seeded Syracuse 18-13. Like their conference brethren, the Cavaliers are considered virtual locks to make the NCAA Tournament at large, but they are far from certain to be at home in the first round.
COLLEGE MEN’S TENNIS
ODU falls in NCAA opener
South Carolina ousted 54th-ranked Old Dominion 4-1 in the NCAA Tournament’s first round in Raleigh, North Carolina, marking ODU’s second consecutive first-round defeat after winning the Sun Belt championship.
No. 6 player Aryan Saleh registered the Monarchs’ victory, 6-0, 6-3. No. 3 player Yanis Moundir led 6-4, 1-6, 5-2 when his match was abandoned.
The Gamecocks, ranked 16th nationally by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association but unseeded, will face 15th-seeded N.C. State on Saturday for a berth in the round of 16. ODU finished 20-8.
No. 2 UVA, VCU move into second-round meeting
At Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, two-time defending champion Virginia, the No. 3 seed, rolled past the New Jersey Institute of Technology 4-0.
Alexander Kiefer (6-3, 6-0 at line 5), Dylan Dietrich (6-4, 6-3 at 3) and Inaki Montes (6-2, 6-1 at 2) followed the Cavaliers’ doubles point with singles victories, though the Highlanders won first-set tiebreakers on lines 1 and 6 in matches that were suspended. Kiefer has won 14 consecutive matches.
That advanced the Cavaliers into a round-of-32 match at 4 p.m. Saturday against Atlantic 10 champion VCU, which lost the doubles point but bounced back to defeat Princeton 4-2. The Rams entered the match ranked 40th, while Princeton was 32nd.
COLLEGE WOMEN’S TENNIS
Wisconsin ousts W&M
No. 29 Wisconsin eliminated William & Mary 4-0 in the NCAA Tournament first-round match in Chapel Hill. The Tribe (18-6) had won 14 consecutive matches, including three in the Coastal Athletic Association Tournament.
No Tribe players won a set, though Mila Mejic and Francesca Davis led 6-5 at No. 3 before Wisconsin (19-6) clinched the doubles point and Ine Stange was in a first-set tiebreaker at No. 5 singles when the Badgers ensured their victory.
The Badgers earned the right to face defending champion North Carolina, the No. 4 seed, on Saturday in the round of 32. UNC eliminated Patriot League champion Navy 4-0.
COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD
Bethel grad earns Southern Conference award
VMI’s Eleyah Armstrong, a junior from Bethel High, was named the Southern Conference Female Field Athlete of the Month. At the Penn Relays last weekend, she was 11th in the 100-meter dash at 11.69 seconds and fifth in the long jump at 19 feet, 1.25 inches.
At the Virginia Challenge the previous weekend, she came in 10th in the 100 at 11.94 seconds and long-jumped 5.68 meters.
She began April at the George Mason Ebanks Invite, helping the Keydets’ 4×100 relay to third place in 48.64 seconds and finishing second in the long jump at 6.01 meters.
