CENTERVILLE – The Liberty Union softball team held a 9-1 advantage and looked to be cruising in their Division III regional final game against Casstown Miami East on Friday.
However, things got a little tense when Miami East scored six runs in the top of the seventh inning, but the Lions were able to hold on for a 9-7 victory at Centerville High School and punch their ticket to state final four.
Liberty Union, which has won 11 consecutive games, improved to 22-6 and will face Oak Harbor in a state semifinal game at 3 p.m. Thursday at Firestone Stadium in Akron. Friday’s win was the Lions’ first regional title since 2011 and second all-time.
More: Liberty Union rallies late to win Division III district title; Bloom-Carroll falls short
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Liberty Union dodged several bullets in the game as Miami East loaded the bases in the first inning and only got one run, and also had the bases load two more times, but the Lions were able to escape both times without allowing a run. In all, Miami East stranded 13 base runners.
Liberty Union, on the other hand, was able to string hits together, especially in the first and second innings where they plated three runs in the bottom of the first inning and four more in the second to take a 7-1 lead. They added two more runs in the fourth and were on the cusp of ending it by run rule before Miami East scored its six runs in the seventh.
Liberty Union finished with 10 hits and was led by multiple players with two hits each. Alexis McCoy had two hits, including a home run, two RBIs and two runs. Suzie Shultz went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, while Payton Hochradel and Haeden Brunty contributed two hits and scored two runs each. Addi Osterman and Macie Wollenberg chipped in one hit each.
Shultz picked up the win in the circle. She went the distance, giving up nine hits, seven runs, only four were earned and seven strikeouts.
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — Dorian Gonzalez Jr. hit a grand slam, a three-run home run and finished with eight RBIs, Griffin Hugus pitched a complete game and No. 3 seed Miami beat Columbia 14-1 at the Hattiesburg Regional on Saturday night.
Hugus (6-7) allowed a run on eight hits with a walk and nine strikeouts.
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Miami (33-24) advanced to the championship round and awaits the winner of a loser-out game between Columbia and host Southern Miss, which the fourth-seeded Tigers beat 11-4 in the opening round on Friday. Both the No. 4 national seed Golden Eagles and Columbia would have to beat the Hurricanes twice to win the double-elimination regional.
Daniel Cuvet opened the scoring with a two-RBI double off Columbia starter Thomas Santana (5-4) in the first inning. The sophomore has 81 RBIs this season, just the sixth player in program history with at least 80 in a single season.
Max Galvin had three hits, including a double and a home run, two RBIs and scored three runs for the Hurricanes.
Anton Lazits hit a solo homer in the fourth for Columbia (30-18).
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Official dates and times are still missing, but the breakdown of Miami Dolphins joint practices is now set.
As suggested here once the Dolphins’ 2025 preseason schedule was finalized, the Dolphins will work with/against the Detroit Lions twice, and once each with/against the Chicago Bears and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The final confirmation came Friday from Lions head coach Dan Campbell, who said his team would have two practices with/against the Dolphins ahead of their preseason game at Ford Field on Saturday, August 16.
That game will come six days after the Dolphins open their preseason schedule against the Bears at Soldier Field on Sunday, August 10 and a week before the preseason finale against the Jaguars at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday, August 23.
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Since teams do joint practices right before the day off before the game, logic suggests the Dolphins will work with the Bears on Friday, August 8; with the Lions on Wednesday, August 13 and Thursday, August 14; and with the Jaguars on Thursday, August 21.
It’s difficult to envision the Dolphins flying back to South Florida between the game at Chicago and the first joint practice at Detroit, so you can expect the Dolphins to simply stay in the Midwest and either have two days off after the game against the Bears (they’ve done this before) or practice once on their own.
As a reminder, NFL rules limit teams to four joint practices per year, meaning that like last year the Dolphins will work twice with/against one of their preseason opponents and once against the other two.
The Dolphins have never had a joint practice with Jacksonville or Detroit; they worked two days with the Bears in 2021 when Brian Flores was head coach.
The Dolphins last year conducted two joint practices with/against the Atlanta Falcons and one each with/against the Washington Commanders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
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The Dolphins are 4-10-1 all-time against the Bears in the preseason, with the teams’ last meeting in 2021 — the Dolphins lost that game 20-13. This will be the first NFL action for new Bears coach Ben Johnson, who they hired after a successful tenure as the Lions’ offensive coordinator. Johnson also spent seven seasons on the Dolphins staff from 2012 to 2018.
Speaking of the Lions, the Dolphins will face another former coach in Week 2 of the preseason. Lions head coach Dan Campbell was on the Dolphins staff from 2010 through 2015, including a stint as the interim head coach in 2015.
Miami is 6-1 all-time against the Lions in the preseason, but the teams haven’t met since 1999.
Lastly, the Dolphins will play the Jaguars at Hard Rock Stadium. Miami is 6-5 all-time in the preseason against the Jaguars. The teams played in the preseason finale before the 2023 season, with the Dolphins dropping that game 31-18. However, the Dolphins did beat the Jaguars in the 2024 season opener.
Like the Bears, the Jaguars are coming into the 2025 season with a new coach. The team hired Liam Coen after his successful tenure as the Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator. It could also be an opportunity for the Dolphins fans to get a look at two-way phenom Travis Hunter.
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Although he likely won’t play because front-line players typically sit out the preseason finale, there’s a small chance Hunter sees the field after the Jaguars traded up to second overall to select the Colorado star.
Alabama baseball turned to ace pitcher Riley Quick in game one of the Southern Miss regional in Hattiesburg on Friday afternoon. Things did not go to plan for the Tide, and Miami jumped on the pitcher for three runs in the first inning, digging a hole the Tide couldn’t hit their way out of in a 5-3 loss. Alabama will face the loser of the Southern Miss-Columbia game on Saturday at 2 pm CT in an elimination game. Number two-seed Alabama fell to 41-17 on the season with the loss to 3-seed Miami.
Despite a rough start, Alabama had a chance to win the game in the ninth inning against Miami closer Brian Walters when Bryce Fowler reached on an error and star shortstop Justin Lebron was hit by a pitch by Walters. Outfielder Kade Snell came up with two on and two out and hit a ball that hung up in the air and was caught on the warning track at the wall just short of a walk-off home run on a 1-0 pitch.
Quick bounced back from his rough start, going six innings, throwing a career-high 108 pitches, but he also gave up a career-high five earned runs in the loss. Matthew Heiberger was excellent in relief, throwing three scoreless innings for the Tide.
Daniel Cuvet crushed a three-run home run in the first to put Miami on the scoreboard, and the Canes added another run in the third on an RBI single by Renzo Gonzalez, putting Miami up 4-0
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The Tide answered back with three runs in the bottom of the fourth, thanks to a two-run double by Brennan Norton to make it 4-3 Miami.
Max Galvin added a solo home run in the top of the 5th to put the Canes up 5-3. AJ Ciscar walked only one batter over seven innings while striking out eight Alabama players.
The Tide stranded nine runners on base in the loss, while Miami only left six on. Quick’s five walks loomed large as well as Miami had only eight hits in the game. Miami’s pitching allowed only seven hits and only two walks.
Alabama fell to 1-13 this season when trailing after seven innings. Miami improved to 26-1 when leading after eight innings this season.
