It’s the opening weekend for AGR Fastpitch. After a 12-year absence, the Arisaig Blues return to the league to face Guysborough and Pomquet as part of a trio of games scheduled to start at 11 am in Arisaig. There will be a BBQ and 50-50 on site for today’s games. Along with the three games in Arisaig, the U17 Chiefs will play a double header in Heatherton starting at 1 pm.
This year marks 100 years of the Inverness Raceway. The season kicks off today with a celebration as part of their opening card at 1 pm. Manager Megan MacQuarrie says much is are planned over the course of the season, including a Father’s Day event, a mini-three part racing series in September featuring Cape Breton horses, and a storytellers event in October with old drivers and trainers and how they got involved, and milestones reached by current drivers.
NATIONAL SPORTS
Pete Alonso singled in the winning run with the bases loaded in a five-run ninth inning to give the Baltimore Orioles a 6-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. The Orioles had four hits in the ninth inning after managing only three and hitting into a season-high four double plays in the first eight. Vladimir Guerrero Junior had his first four-hit game since September 5th for the Blue Jays, whose winning streak was halted at four.
Wade Meckler hit his first grand slam in the majors for the first of Los Angeles’ four homers in the Angels’ 14-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Mike Trout hit his 14th homer of the season in the fifth and Jo Adell and Oswald Peraza had back-to-back shots in a seven-run ninth. Tampa Bay lost for just the second time in its last 18 home games.
Team Canada and Norway will play for bronze this morning at the world men’s hockey championship in Switzerland. Canada dropped a 4-2 decision to Finland in one semifinal: Norway was beaten 6-0 by host Switzerland in the other. Switzerland and Finland play for gold today.
For the eighth consecutive season, the N-B-A will have a new champion. Victor Wembanyama had 22 points and seven rebounds, and Julian Champagnie added 20 points as the visiting San Antonio Spurs beat the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder 111-103 in the deciding game of the Western Conference Finals. Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 35 points and 9 assists for the Thunder. The Spurs will face the New York Knicks in the Finals.
Montreal’s Félix Auger-Aliassime advanced to the fourth round of men’s singles at the French Open with a four-set victory over Brandon Nakashima of the U-S on Saturday. The match lasted three hours and 48 minutes and ended well after midnight in Paris. The fourth-seeded Auger-Aliassime won the final two sets in tiebreakers.
C-F-L teams have begun whittling down their rosters for the regular season that starts Thursday when the Hamilton Tiger-Cats host the Montreal Alouettes. Teams need to get their active roster down to 44 or 45 players, including a minimum of 21 Canadians, by the end of today.
Dennis Hull, the two-way N-H-L forward who starred alongside superstar brother Bobby Hull with the Chicago Blackhawks and helped Canada win the 1972 Summit Series, has died at age 81. Hull played 13 of 14 seasons in the league with Chicago before one final year with the Detroit Red Wings. He appeared in five All-Star Games and was voted a second-team NHL All-Star in 1972-73.
Claude Lemieux’s brain is being donated to the Boston University CTE Center to research the long-term effects of repetitive brain injuries, his family said in a statement released by daughter Claudia Lemieux Bishop. Lemieux died of suicide at age 60 on Thursday, according to authorities, after earlier in the week serving as the Montreal Canadiens’ torchbearer before a playoff game. He played nearly 1,500 NHL games with six teams from 1983-2009 and was known for his hard-hitting style and ability to perform in big games on the way to winning the Stanley Cup four times. The family said it gave the CTE Center permission to publicly share any findings with Lemieux’s name, adding that no conclusions should be drawn regarding any diagnosis.
The Minnesota Vikings have agreed to terms on a contract with Seattle Seahawks assistant Nolan Teasley to be their general manager. A person with direct knowledge of the decision confirmed the hire to The Associated Press today, speaking on condition of anonymity. Teasley has spent his entire 13-year N-F-L career with Seattle. The Seahawks made the playoffs nine times, reached three Super Bowls, and won two of them during that span.
Saturday’s Games
World Men’s Hockey Championship Semifinals
Finland 4 Canada 2
Switzerland 6 Norway 0
NBA Playoffs Western Conference Finals
San Antonio 111 Oklahoma City 103 (San Antonio wins series 4-3)
WNBA
Toronto 93 Seattle 72
Connecticut 84 Los Angeles 81
Portland 100 Indiana 84
MLB
American League
Baltimore 6 Toronto 5
L.A. Angels 14 Tampa Bay 3
Athletics 6 N.Y. Yankees 4
Chicago White Sox 7 Detroit 1
Texas 7 Kansas City 6
Boston 9 Cleveland 1
National League
Atlanta 5 Cincinnati 2
Philadelphia 4 L.A. Dodgers 3
Washington 9 San Diego 4
N.Y. Mets 6 Miami 1
Chicago Cubs 6 St. Louis 1
Colorado 8 San Francisco 3
Interleague
Pittsburgh 10 Minnesota 9
Houston 9 Milwaukee 2
Seattle 5 Arizona 1
Northern Super League
Vancouver 3 Montreal 2
Canadian Premier League
Halifax 1 Vancouver 0
Victoria 2 Ottawa 2
Sunday’s Games (All times Eastern)
World Men’s Hockey Championship at Zurich, Switzerland
Bronze Medal Final – Canada vs. Norway, 9:30 a.m.
Gold Medal Final – Finland vs. Switzerland, 2:20 p.m.
MLB
American League
Toronto (Miles 2-0) at Baltimore (Bradish 2-6), 12:15 p.m.
Boston (Suarez 2-3) at Cleveland (Bibee 0-7), 1:40 p.m.
L.A. Angels (Kochanowicz 2-3) at Tampa Bay (McClanahan 5-2), 1:40 p.m.
Detroit (Montero 2-3) at Chicago White Sox (Burke 2-3), 2:10 p.m.
Kansas City (Wacha 4-2) at Texas (Leiter 2-4), 2:35 p.m.
N.Y. Yankees (Warren 6-1) at Athletics (Lopez 4-2), 4:05 p.m.
National League
San Diego (Canning 0-3) at Washington (Littell 4-4), 1:35 p.m.
Atlanta (Strider 3-0) at Cincinnati (Lodolo 1-1), 1:40 p.m.
Miami (Junk 3-5) at N.Y. Mets (McLean 2-4), 1:40 p.m.
San Francisco (Ray 3-6) at Colorado (Gordon 0-0), 3:10 p.m.
Philadelphia (Painter 1-5) at L.A. Dodgers (Yamamoto 4-4), 4:10 p.m.
Chicago Cubs (Wicks 0-1) at St. Louis (Liberatore 2-3), 7:20 p.m.
Interleague
Minnesota (Matthews 1-2) at Pittsburgh (Ashcraft 4-2), 1:35 p.m.
Milwaukee (Misiorowski 5-2) at Houston (Imai 2-2), 2:10 p.m.
Arizona (Kelly 5-3) at Seattle (Miller 1-0), 4:10 p.m.
WNBA
Las Vegas at Golden State, 3:30 p.m.
CPL
Calgary at Hamilton, 4 p.m.
Ottawa at Vancouver, 6 p.m.
