PROVIDENCE, RI (WPRI) — This week’s Cardi’s Furniture & Mattresses Hometown Sports Hero is Mia Crudale.

The Rhode Island College Freshman’s debut Softball season has been special, with a 12-1 record and a 2.86 ERA helping the Anchorwomen to a 22-10 mark.      

“Well, honestly, I knew Mia as a formidable pitcher; I knew she was going to come in and do a job,” said RIC Head Softball Coach Lauren Hatfield. “I didn’t expect her to do as well as she’s doing. I mean sometimes there’s a Freshman transition when they go from High School to College, but she’s been really you know, holding it down for us. She gets the job done and we’ve been able to support her with runs, but she’s really done an awesome job this year.”

Her transition eased by her older sister, Sophia, a Senior Outfielder.

“I think it definitely has; she’s been my captain for the whole season, and she really just does the best she can do to inspire me and help me grow,” Crudale said. “Just looking up to her.”

Mia success on the mound has her ranked 1st in the Little East Conference in wins and ninth in ERA, making her an excellent candidate for the League’s Rookie of the Year award. A strong finish to her debut campaign would be an important building block for her future.  

“It’s been great. Everyone is so supportive of each other, and we have our backs for anything,” Crudale said. “And just playing how we have been playing, has been really exciting because I love seeing everyone succeed.”  

“The skies the limit, I mean I think she could probably, if she continues on this path, be one of the best pitchers to ever come here,” Hatfield said. “I really hope she stays focused with it, buys into the workout aspect of it, and really just focus on what she does well and not worry too much about what’s going on around her and just does her job.”   

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Leanne Walker said that what quickly came out of thin air and started as a curiosity-grabber turned slightly chaotic.

“People near it didn’t know how to react, with some running away and others running right into it, and some not reacting at all!” said Walker, who captured the dust devil on video. “What struck me most was how fast it was moving and how much debris it picked up.”

At one point, the spout picks up what appears to be a rectangular object, which Walker later discovered was a piece of sheet metal dancing in the dust devil’s swirling winds. Others mentioned seeing cars with minor damage. There were no reported injuries.

Stunned spectators can be heard asking, “Is that dangerous?”

The soccer players played on, and “the referees and players seemed almost completely unfazed,” Walker said.

“The video only captures part of it — the dust devil was actually on the ground for 1–2 minutes in total.“

“Dust devils are pretty common and most occur under calm and sunny conditions,” Globe meteorologist Ken Mahan said, adding that they form when “the high sun angle warms up one part of the ground faster than the surrounding area. Think of a large parking lot surrounded by grass, covered by trees.”

The resulting pockets of air rise rapidly, leaving a low-pressure area in the center, which “pulls in surrounding air that can spiral inward and create a vortex in the right environment,” according to Bryce Williams, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Norton. “They are quite common, especially in open, flat areas during the warmer months.”

Most dust devils, he said, usually end up around 50 feet wide or less, but some can double that,” he said, and are on average 500 to 1,000 feet tall. “The winds are exceptionally localized and, while mostly harmless, can get as strong as 70 or 80 mph at times, lasting for a few minutes to about 10 minutes.” But those more powerful winds are rare, especially in the Northeast, Mahan said.

Although most of the time dust devils are more spectacle than threat, Williams said people should still steer clear of one if they do see one nearby.

“Although smaller than tornadoes and forming in a completely different way, dust devils can still be destructive, sometimes lifting debris into the air, creating dangerous projectiles,“ he said.

Mahan said they look dramatic, but they “can’t be warned” because they’re too small to be detected by weather radar. Mahan likened them to the “cousin to the spinning leaf mini-tornadoes we see in the fall.”

“Oftentimes, these remain invisible, but when they pass over a source of dust or dirt, like a ballfield, they become visible,” Williams noted.

It’s safe to say no red card was issued to the dust devil as it tried to stop Sunday’s soccer game.

Carlos Muñoz can be reached at carlos.munoz@globe.com. Follow him @ReadCarlos and on Instagram @Carlosbrknews.

PROVIDENCE – A Dominican national and Rhode Island resident has been sentenced in federal court in Rhode Island for his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy that involved shipping 10 parcels of cocaine and fentanyl to Rhode Island through two different private commercial mail carriers, announced United States Attorney Charles Calenda.

Nelson Reyes Luciano, 41, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy to 78 months of imprisonment to be followed by 5 years of supervised release and a $300 special assessment.

“Trafficking fentanyl and cocaine is a dangerous and deliberate act that claims lives within Rhode Island and communities throughout our country,” said United States Attorney Calenda. “This sentence should send a clear message to those who chose to engage in this type of criminal conduct that we will investigate, prosecute, and hold them accountable. I commend the dedicated prosecutors in our office, along with our law enforcement partners, for their relentless efforts in this case and their continued work in removing dangerous criminals from our streets and bringing them to justice.”

According to court documents, over a six-week period beginning in February 2022, Reyes Luciano shipped multiple packages containing cocaine and fentanyl from California to the Providence, Rhode Island home of co-conspirator Rosangeles Bueno.  Bueno was charged and convicted in a separate case in the District of Rhode Island, No. 22-cr-00090-WES-PAS.

The defendant and co-conspirator Bueno regularly communicated about the shipments of the drugs sent to her home and her receipt and storage of the drugs. During execution of a court-authorized search warrant at Bueno’s home, law enforcement found cocaine and fentanyl as well as scales, baggies, presses, molds, and respirators that are used for packaging drugs for distribution. Reyes Luciano is responsible for the receipt of approximately eight kilograms of cocaine and 2.2 kilograms of fentanyl.

Reyes Luciano pleaded guilty on December 9, 2025 to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and cocaine, and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and cocaine.

“This sentence puts Reyes Luciano’s drug trafficking aspirations to an end. Reyes Luciano and his co-conspirator attempted to use commercial mail carriers to bring dangerous drugs into Rhode Island, but through the vigilance of these companies, their scheme was exposed. HSI is partnering with local, federal, and private sector partners to take on the challenge of drug trafficking on all fronts,” said Homeland Security Investigations New England Acting Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Grimming.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Denise Barton and Stacey Erickson.

The matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, with the assistance of the DEA, and Warwick, Newport, Central Falls, and Providence Police Departments.