Utah
6th inning home run lifts UCLA to Pac-12 championship win over Utah
Sixth-ranked UCLA won the final Pac-12 softball tournament as Sharlize Palacios hit a go-ahead home run in the sixth inning to defeat Utah 2-1 on Saturday night.
It was a defensive battle for the majority of the night, with every run coming on a solo home run.
Utah pitcher Mariah Lopez pitched a complete game, allowing just four hits and two runs — both of which were solo shots.
Lopez navigated her way out of a couple of tough situations throughout the night. In the third inning, she left two stranded and in the fourth inning, with a runner on third and one out, she struck out Ramsey Suarez, then induced a ground out from Thessa Malau’ulu to get out of the inning unscathed.
“She was incredible. I wish we could have put some hits together and scored some more runs for her because she threw one of the best games I’ve seen her throw in her career,” Utah coach Amy Hogue said.
UCLA pitchers Kaitlyn Terry and Taylor Tinsley were masterful, allowing just three hits and a solo home run.
“They were getting us to swing at balls. We’ve shot ourselves in the foot one too many times in the season with that same issue, and she did a nice job,” Hogue said.
“If she doesn’t have to throw strikes to get us out then she won’t, and so she kept getting us to chase balls and we weren’t disciplined enough to adjust and so we got three hits and that’s just not going to be enough.”
The Bruins struck first in the bottom of the second inning after Jordan Woolery got all of an off-speed Lopez pitch, smacking a home run over the center-field wall.
The Utes broke through in the top of the fifth inning on a two-out solo home run from pinch-hitter Karlie Davison, who took Terry deep to left-centerfield to knot the game at 1-1.
“I was really proud of Karlie to let go a real tough pitch in the first pitch in that at-bat with something that a lot of us were swinging at. She let it go and worked her way into a count that was a real good count to get a good pitch to hit and she hit it, so she did a nice job just earning that pitch and then obviously hitting it,” Hogue said.
After holding the Bruins scoreless in the bottom of the fifth inning — after the leadoff batter reached on an error, Lopez retired the next three batters — the Utes went down one-two-three in the top of the sixth.
Facing a 3-2 count, Palacios sent Lopez’s payoff pitch over the left field wall as the Bruins regained the lead.
“I think that she is a hitter that you have to throw every pitch, a full mix of pitches to her. She adjusted on a pitch that I think hit a good spot, so you just have to tip your cap to that hitter in that situation,” Hogue said.
Down to their last three outs, Utah’s Sophie Jacquez, Julia Jimenez and Shonty Passi were retired in order by Tinsley as the Bruins piled onto the circle to celebrate winning the final Pac-12 softball tournament.
With an RPI of 40 entering Sunday’s NCAA tournament selection show (5 p.m. MDT, ESPN2), a series win against then-No. 9 Washington to close out the regular season and wins over No. 22 Oregon and No. 8 Stanford in the Pac-12 tournament bolstered Utah’s resume.
“We needed every bit of those to position ourselves and yeah, we’ll be ready to travel somewhere and hopefully make a nice run into the postseason,” Hogue said.
The Utes should be comfortably in the NCAA tournament, which would be their second consecutive appearance. Last year, the Utes went to the College World Series for the first time since 1994 after defeating San Diego State in the super regional.
SANDY, Utah — Rodrigo De Paul and Luis Suárez scored one minute apart late in the second half, and Dayne St. Clair earned his second clean sheet of the season as Inter Miami beat Real Salt Lake 2-0 on Wednesday night.
Soccer legend Lionel Messi played the entire 90(+7) minutes of the game in his Utah debut, but failed to score despite late opportunities.
Miami (5-1-3) is unbeaten in its last eight regular-season games to sit in second in the Eastern Conference standings.
Salt Lake (5-1-2) had a six-game unbeaten run come to an end. RSL had secured multi-goal wins in its previous two games.
De Paul took a short corner from Telasco Segovia and curled a shot into the upper-right corner of the goal in the 82nd minute.
Suárez, who entered in the 75th, volleyed a left-footed shot past goalkeeper Rafael Cabral for his second goal of the season.
The only other meeting between the teams resulted in a 2-0 victory for Miami at home in the 2024 season opener.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Utah transfer Terrence Brown gives UNC a dynamic scoring guard with playmaking upside.
Utah transfer Terrence Brown, one of the top combo guards in the portal, has committed to North Carolina, giving the Tar Heels a high-scoring backcourt addition for next season.
Brown chose UNC over Kansas, Kentucky, Oregon, Ole Miss and USC. He is ranked the No. 8 combo guard and No. 38 overall transfer by 247Sports.
The 6-foot-3 rising senior averaged 19.9 points, 3.8 assists and 2.4 rebounds for Utah last season while shootingt 45.3% from the field and 32.7% from 3-point range. He earned All-Big 12 honorable mention.
His ability to both score and create for others makes him a natural candidate to replace former Tar Heels combo guard Seth Trimble.
Here is a full breakdown of what Brown brings to the tables.
What to be excited about
For starters, Brown is a high-level scorer. He scored 20 or more points 18 times and 25 or more points nine times last season. North Carolina’s backcourt had a player score 20 or more points only five times last season. Trimble accounted for four of those games, and Bogavac had one in UNC’s regular-season finale against Clemson.
Brown has shown he can be an effective passer as well. He posted a 27.7 assist percentage, an increase of 6.4 points from the previous season. That number rose to 28.1 percent in conference play, eighth-best in the Big 12.
He has shown he can be a capable defender, averaging 1.7 steals per game throughout his career. His career best was 2.2 steals per game in 2024-25 with Fairleigh Dickinson, which led the Northeast Conference.
What to be concerned about
The only concern UNC should have with Brown is his ability to play with players just as good as, and possibly better than, he is. The worry should not be that he may intentionally ballhog. In fact, he may simply try to do too much.
Because he was on two mediocre programs such as FDU and Utah, Brown had free rein to shoot himself out of slumps as he was the No. 1 scorer and the primary ballhandler. The last two seasons, Brown has ranked in the top 15 in usage rate and has averaged 16.4 and 15.4 shots per game. While his offensive rating improved at Utah, going from 96.8 to 108.1, his effective field-goal percentage was still below 50 percent at 48.6.
He will have to learn not to put too much pressure on himself as he plays alongside teammates such as Neoklis Avdalas, Jarin Stevenson and possibly Henri Veesaar, if Veesaar returns to Chapel Hill.
How He Fits at UNC
Brown should fit in just nicely in Chapel Hill and will provide a much-needed boost to its backcourt.
With UNC’s stronger supporting cast and a coach with a championship pedigree in Michael Malone, Brown will be pushed to process the game faster. He will need to read the floor quickly, use his first step to collapse the defense or kick out to shooters, and he could form an intriguing pick-and-roll duo with both Avdalas and Veesaar.
Brown’s athleticism could be a difference-maker at UNC. All he has to do is improve his shot selection and overall efficiency.
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SALT LAKE CITY — A California man in Utah, as part of his duties with the National Guard, is accused of trying to solicit sex from a young teenager.
Joshua Ruben Rodriguez, 29, of Fresno, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with attempted rape of a child, a first-degree felony, and enticement of a minor, a second-degree felony.
The investigation began when an agent with the Utah State Bureau of Investigation posed as a 13-year-old girl on a “popular social media site … in an attempt to locate and apprehend adults attempting to have sexual contact with children,” according to charging documents.
On April 16, Rodriguez sent the agent a message — believing he was talking to a teen girl — that stated, “I’ll be direct with you, I would like to get to know you and (have sex with) your mind into a daze to where you feel like a woman,” according to charging documents.
When the “girl” asked if he had a problem with her age, Rodriguez replied, “I don’t have a problem with your age,” the charges state.
The agent told Rodriguez to meet at an apartment complex in Salt Lake County where the girl lived, claiming her mother would be gone. When Rodriguez arrived, he was taken into custody, the charges state.
“(Rodriguez) does not have ties to Utah. He is a resident of Fresno, California. (He) was in town as part of his military service with the California National Guard,” prosecutors stated in charging documents while requesting he be held without bail pending trial.
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