Yesterday was the season opener for Marquette softball and the Lady Crusaders lost on the road to Lexington 11-1. For the Lady Crusaders Lindsey Kaufman suffered the pitching loss with 3 innings pitched 5 earned runs and 3 strikeouts. Today the Lady Cru will be looking for a road win against Kewanee.
Also today the Marquette Crusader open their baseball season taking on St Bede at Masinelli Field.
The Newark girls softball team had their season opener at home and won big over Lisle in three innings 19-0. Kaitlyn Schofield pitched 8 strikeouts in the shortened game. Schofield and Ryan Williams homered for the Lady Norsemen.
Ottawa high school begins their spring sports with Pirate baseball at Seneca high school tomorrow and the Lady Pirates will host Kankakee Thursday in softball.
The Illinois Basketball Coaches Association formally released its all-state teams for the 2021-22 season. In Class 3A, both Ottawa Pirates’ Luke Cushing and Streator Bulldog Jack Haynes were named to the Special Mention list. In Class 2A, the Seneca Irish’s Zach Pfeifer was also given Special Mention and In Class 1A, Paul Hart from the St Bede Bruins was selected to the IBCA Second Team.
Tonight begins the NCAA men’s basketball tournament with the “First Four” round in Dayton Ohio. The round starts with Texas AM facing Texas Southern and then Indiana will face Wyoming.
The Chicago Bulls suffered a road loss to the Kings 112-103 in Sacramento. Zach LaVine led the Bulls with 27 points and Nikola Vucevic chipped in with 23 points and 10 rebounds. The Bulls are now 41-27 and will play the Jazz in Salt Lake City tomorrow night
It’s an Original Six matchup in Chicago when the Blackhawks host the Boston Bruins tonight. The Hawks enter at 22-30-and-8 after splitting its last four games. The Bruins come in at 36-18-and-5.
The Cubs will be without one of their best young pitchers to start the season. Adbert Alzolay will start the season on the injured list with shoulder tightness. Cubs GM Jed Hoyer said it will not be a minimum IL stint for Alzolay. The 27 year old right hander went 5 and 13 with a 4.58 ERA last season.
Over in the PGA, Cameron Smith won The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass with a 13 under par.
The Pittsburgh Steelers signed quarterback Mitch Trubisky to a two year contract. After four seasons as the Bears starting QB, Trubisky spent last season as a backup to Josh Allen in Buffalo. Trubisky joins the Steelers’ roster as the franchise transitions from Ben Roethlisberger.