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HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL
Texarkana Texas 4, CC Moody 3: ROUND ROCK -- Nathan Sorenson singled in the winning run in the top of the seventh and Texarkana Texas defeated Corpus Christi Moody 4-3 for the Class 4A state championship.
Texas High (30-7) had only four hits in the game, but three came in the seventh. Levi Saxby came in to pinch run after Hunter Allday led off the inning with a single. Saxby advanced to third on a single by Logan Preston then scored on Sorenson's single.
Randall Fant (10-2) struck out six and gave up three runs and three hits in six innings for the win. Slade Heathcott struck out one and got two groundball outs to earn the save.
Christian Gallegos, Marcus Villanueva and A.J. Longoria each scored one run for Corpus Christi Moody (37-4) in the third inning. Justin Meza (17-2) gave up three hits and one run in two innings in the loss.
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Miles 4, Windthorst 3: ROUND ROCK -- Tyler Krueger's one-out single in the bottom of seventh capped a three-run rally and Miles beat Windthorst 4-3 Thursday for the Class A state championship.
Down 3-1, Miles (19-9-1) rallied behind an RBI double from Brian Schwertner and a run-scoring single by Austin Gillis. The bases were loaded when Krueger rapped the ball down the left field line to drive in Schwertner with the winning run. Miles had five hits in the inning.
Miles pitcher Isaac Rodriguez overcame a shaky start to get the win, settling down after allowing three runs in the first two innings.
Abel Vasquez pitched into the seventh for Windthorst (33-9) before he was pulled for Travis Wolf with one out and two runners on base.
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Danbury 8, Ponder 2: AUSTIN -- Undefeated Scott Zimmerle struck out 11 in six innings to help Danbury defeat Ponder 8-2 in a state Class 2A semifinal Thursday.
Zimmerle (17-0) scattered six hits and walked two with Matt Dees retiring Ponder (22-8) in the bottom of the seventh.
Danbury (31-5) had 15 hits. Garrett Zimmerle had three hits and scored two runs. Dillon Peltier, Scott Zimmerle, Matt Dees and Dakota Sebesta each had two hits for Danbury, which used a four-run third inning to break open a 2-0 lead.
Ponder (22-8) was led by Aaron Esterer and Micah Easterling, who had two hits each. The Lions committed five errors in the contest.
Danbury will play Holliday in the class 2A championship at noon Friday.
COLLEGE SPORTS
HOUSTON -- The University of Houston has hired Mack Rhoades to be the school's athletics director, the school announced Thursday.
Rhoades had been the athletics director at the University of Akron since 2006, and takes over for Dave Maggard.
The 43-year-old Rhoades recently was a finalist for the Rutgers athletics director's vacancy. Before the Akron job, he was an assistant athletics director at Texas-El Paso.
Maggard retired last month after seven years as Houston's AD.
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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The NCAA placed Alabama's football program and 15 other of the school's athletic teams on three years' probation for major violations due to misuse of free textbooks.
The NCAA said 201 athletes in 16 sports obtained "impermissible benefits" by using their scholarships to obtain free textbooks for other students. Alabama identified 22 athletes, including seven football players, as "intentional wrongdoers" who knew they were receiving improper benefits.
As a result, the NCAA ruled the football team must vacate any wins in which any of those seven players took part during 2005-2007. Alabama did not say how many victories would be affected.
Neither the football team nor any other sport lost postseason eligibility or scholarships.
The other 15 "wrongdoers" were members of the men's tennis, and men's and women's track and field programs. They acquired textbooks and materials of value greater than $100 for friends and other student-athletes. The four biggest offenders in dollar value were the seven football players, who received from $2,714 to $3,947 in improper benefits.
The other sports hit with probation were softball, baseball, gymnastics, women's basketball, soccer, volleyball and both the men's and women's teams in basketball, golf, swimming, tennis and track and field.
The university was ordered to pay a $43,900 fine.
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COLUMBIA, Mo. -- University of Missouri athletes will face mandatory sickle cell tests in a change spurred by the 2005 preseason death of a 19-year-old football player.
The change comes less than three months after the school agreed to pay $2 million to the family of reserve linebacker Aaron O'Neal. The redshirt freshman collapsed and later died during a voluntary summer workout.
The Boone County medical examiner ruled O'Neal's official cause of death as viral meningitis. But several outside experts cited sickle cell trait.
At least 13 college football players with the inherited blood disorder have died from exercise-induced trauma. Seven of those deaths occurred in the past decade.
Nearly two-thirds of NCAA Division 1-A schools test their athletes for sickle cell trait.
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The dispute between the NCAA and Florida State University over sanctions that could force the school to forfeit wins in 10 sports and a national track championship is drawing scrutiny from some of the state's elected officials.
The NCAA cannot privately respond to a Florida State appeal -- which it's attempting to do in violation of the state's open government laws, the attorney general's office said Thursday.
Longtime football coach Bobby Bowden could possibly lose as many as 14 of his career if the penalty from an academic cheating case sticks. That would make it difficult for Bowden to compete with Penn State's Joe Paterno in their race for most victories among major college coaches. Paterno begins the 2009 season with 383, one more than Bowden.
Alexis Lambert, the sunshine and public records lawyer for Attorney General Bill McCollum, said Florida statutes are clear that a third party -- the NCAA in this case -- that generates a document cannot designate it to be private.
"Florida law trumps what the NCAA wants and Florida State is obligated to provide access to that document," she said. "Everything about this to me looks like it was a document received in connection with official business, The maker or sender of the document is not allowed to determine the circumstances."
GOLF
HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. -- Nicole Castrale birdied six of the first nine holes and finished with a 7-under 65 to take a one-shot lead over rookie Anna Nordqvist after the opening round of the LPGA Championship.
China's Shanshan Feng was third at 67.
Michelle Wie shot a 70, Lorena Ochoa had a 72, defending champion Yani Tseng was at 73, and Brittany Lincicome, seeking to win a second straight major, had five bogeys and a double bogey en route to a 75.
SOCCER
LONDON -- Manchester United accepted a world-record transfer offer for Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid on Thursday, clearing the FIFA player of the year to negotiate terms with the Spanish club.
The Premier League champions said it received an unconditional offer of 80 million pounds, or $131 million, for the 24-year-old midfielder. Unlike last offseason, Manchester United is willing to allow the Portuguese star to join a major European rival seeking to build a new era of "Galacticos."
It was the second major move for Real Madrid this week, following the acquisition of Brazilian star Kaka from AC Milan, which sold the 27-year-old midfielder for a transfer fee said to be 65 million euros, or $92 million.
And Real Madrid may not be done. It was said to be negotiating to obtain 27-year-old forward David Villa from Valencia.
Kaka's deal eclipsed the $65 million Madrid paid Juventus in 2001 for French forward Zinedine Zidane, and the agreement for Ronaldo will smash that.
TRACK & FIELD
TORONTO -- Usain Bolt was plenty good enough to win, even if he didn't flash his world-record breaking form.
Bolt beat three Americans Thursday night to win the 100 meters at the Festival of Excellence meet.
The Olympic champion from Jamaica finished in 10.00 seconds under a dark sky and in a steady downpour at University of Toronto's Varsity Stadium.
American Shawn Crawford was second in 10.25, while Ivory Williams finished third in 10.28. Bernard Williams was fourth, crossing the line in 10.47.
-- Wire reports
