HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER PLAYOFFS
Silt—The Coal Ridge Lady Titans are seeded 6th in the State 3A Soccer Tournament and will host the first round this weekend. Coal Ridge earned a bye and will play the winner of tomorrow’s match between number 11 Lutheran and number 22 Pagosa Springs. Coal Ridge will be in action Saturday afternoon at 1. The Aspen Lady Skiers are the other local team in the playoffs. Aspen, seeded 13th will take on number 20 Saint Mary’s tomorrow at 5 o’clock at Jefferson Academy.
HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
The Rifle Bears and Coal Ridge Titans are both heading south for the opening round of the playoffs. In the 4A District 5 Tournament, the 15th seeded Bears will take on number 18 Thompson Valley Saturday afternoon 1 at Pueblo West High School. If the Bears advance, they’ll play the winner of the Pueblo West / Montrose game at 4 o’clock. The Titans, who took second place in the 3A Western Slope and earned a 22nd seed are in La Junta this Saturday and will take on the number 11 Manitou Springs Mustangs at 12:30. The winner will play for the district title at 3 against either number 6 La Junta or number 27 Liberty Common.
MLB / ROCKIES WIN
DENVER (AP) – Nolan Arenado hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning, and the Colorado Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-7 Wednesday to end a seven-game home losing streak. Charlie Blackmon homered among his three hits and drove in three runs for Colorado. The Rockies had tied the franchise record for consecutive defeats at Coors Field and were within two of the mark for home losses in Denver set in 1993 at Mile High Stadium. Arenado rescued Colorado after starter Chad Bettis and the bullpen blew a six-run lead. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Arenado hit Tyler Clippard’s 2-2 pitch just inside the foul pole in left field for his NL-leading 13th homer of the season. The Rockies threatened for more but Clippard (2-1) worked out of a jam. Gonzalez German (1-0) got the win and Jake McGee pitched the ninth for his ninth save.
MLS-SPORTING KC-RAPIDS
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (AP) – Dillon Serna scored two minutes after entering as a second-half substitute and the Colorado Rapids beat 10-man Sporting Kansas City 1-0 on Wednesday night.
ELSEWHERE IN SPORTS…
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – With a win tonight the Oklahoma City Thunder would advance to the NBA’s Western Conference final. They enter this evening’s home game with San Antonio with a 3-2 series lead. If the Spurs win tonight the seventh and deciding game would be Sunday in San Antonio.
UNDATED (AP) – Golden State is back in the NBA’s Western Conference final. The Warriors advanced last night when they eliminated the Blazers 125-121 in the fifth game of that series. And the Raptors now top the Heat 3-2 in their Eastern Conference semifinal after winning last night at home 99-91.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – The Sharks and Predators are squaring off tonight in the seventh game of their Stanley Cup Western Conference semifinal. To the winner goes a shot to face St. Louis, who eliminated the Stars last night. The Predators stayed alive with a 4-3 win at home three nights ago.
DALLAS (AP) – The Blues have advanced to the NHL’s Western Conference final. Playing in Dallas they beat the Stars last night 6-1 in the seventh game of that series. This marks the Blues’ first appearance in the conference finals in 15 years.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) – The opening round of the annual Players Championship is under way in Ponte Vedra (PAHN’-teh VEE’-druh) Beach, Florida. The defending champion is Rickie Fowler and he is facing a strong field that includes World No. 1 Jason Day and former No. 1 Jordan Spieth (SPEETH). This is Spieth’s first event since blowing a big lead in the Masters.
