USC loses in heartbreaking fashion
From Alan Cole: USC’s 2026 baseball season will be defined by two words — progress and pain.
Just two outs away from reaching the College World Series for the first time since 2001, USC suffered a devastating 4-3 loss in game three of the Chapel Hill Super Regional, as North Carolina rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth and snatched the trip to Omaha away from the Trojans on Owen Hull’s walk-off RBI double into the left-center gap.
“I’m proud of our boys,” USC coach Andy Stankiewicz said. “I’m disappointed in the results, but I’m never disappointed in our guys. They did something pretty special this year.”
Andrew Johnson did everything possible and then some to get USC (48-18) across the finish line. After already throwing 3 ⅔ innings of shutout baseball to close Game 1, Johnson went a season-high 7 ⅔ innings with two earned runs surrendered to get the Trojans to the doorstep of victory. He glided through North Carolina’s lineup for most of the day, at one point retiring 15 out of 17 batters.
He ended the super regional with 133 pitches thrown in a little over 48 hours, on top of the 145 pitches he threw across two appearances in the College Station Regional for a total of 278 tosses in 22 ⅓ innings with five earned runs given up in a heroic postseason stretch.
“The goal from the beginning of the season is Omaha,” Johnson said. “We’re definitely not just happy that we made it to supers and moved past the regional, but for it was a great season and we can be proud of what we accomplished.”
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Big win for Nelly Korda
From Sam Farmer: Nelly Korda watched someone else lift the trophy at last year’s U.S. Women’s Open.
This time, it was Korda — the 2025 runner-up — who did the heavy lifting.
The world’s No. 1 women’s golfer won for the fourth time in 2026 on Sunday and checked off the biggest item on her to-do list.
“To be hoisting this trophy, to hold it high and at such an iconic venue, is just a dream come true,” said Korda, the first American to win back-to-back majors since Juli Inkster in 1999.
Korda claimed her first U.S. Open title, pulling ahead on the back nine at Riviera Country Club, which was playing host to the major championship for the first time.
It was anything but a wire-to-wire win for Korda, who struggled on the tee and limped through the opening round at two over par. But she shot a pair of 67s on Friday and Saturday, then closed out the victory Sunday with a 69 on a postcard afternoon.
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U.S. Women’s Open leaderboard
Angels rout the Dodgers
From Liana Handler: The Angels flipped the script on the Dodgers, preventing a Freeway Series season sweep with a 13-5 win Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.
Emmet Sheehan’s start only lasted 1 ⅓ innings, as he struggled to keep his pitch count low. He threw 35 of his 49 pitches in the second inning alone. Many of those went to Nick Madrigal, who battled Sheehan in a 14-pitch at-bat in which Madrigal won two ABS challenges.
“I thought the stuff was good coming in,” said manager Dave Roberts about Sheehan. “After the first inning, I just didn’t feel comfortable getting him past the 40-pitch mark in one inning. I’m not going to put this guy in harm’s way.”
The Angels third baseman drew a walk, marking the beginning of the end for Sheehan, who already allowed a single. The 26-year-old pitcher loaded the bases with another walk. Angels catcher Sebastián Rivero drove in two runs with a center-field single.
“Frustrating,” Sheehan called his outing. “Couldn’t put guys away, not efficient.”
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Swanson: Dodgers show courage by permanently honoring LGBTQ+ pioneers Glenn Burke and Billy Bean
Dodgers-Angels box score
MLB standings
Caitlin Clark complains too much
From Bill Plaschke: As a diehard WNBA fan and season ticket-holder, it is with great reluctance that I have come to the following painful conclusion.
I’m sick of Caitlin Clark.
As the purchaser of an Iowa jersey and consumer of all things Indiana Fever — covered their games, witnessed them as a fan, caught them on television — it is with great angst that I make the following brutal admission.
I wish Caitlin Clark would just stop whining and play.
The logo-shooting, circus-passing, shape-shifting revelation who was once arguably the most famous basketball player in the world has become rude, entitled and, frankly, not all that fun.
In her third season in the WNBA, the once-shining superstar is acting like a spoiled brat. The league’s most popular player has become its biggest lout. Her stats are decent, but her attitude stinks.
I once openly cheered as Clark raced down the court, dribbled behind her back, skated past a helpless defender, and drained a three-pointer.
Now I cringe as she bricks the trey and immediately complains to the officials, spreading her arms, shaking her head, screaming in their face.
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Christian Pulisic carries U.S. World Cup hopes
From Kevin Baxter: Christian Pulisic looked exhausted as he stepped from a yellow cab on the edge of Manhattan’s financial district for a promotional event arranged by his shoe sponsor.
A day earlier, he had been booed off the field after going scoreless in his final 17 games with AC Milan. And as Pulisic’s private jet made its way from Italy to New York, the club’s coach, sporting director and two other top executives were sacked.
A day later Pulisic walked across a stage overlooking the East River to cheers during a sparsely attended rally in which the U.S. roster for this summer’s World Cup was announced.
The 24 hours between those two events — some of which were spent signing autographs for hundreds of school children as a dog in a red-and-white No. 10 Pulisic jersey looked on — would be the only respite from a hugely disappointing club season and the heavy expectations of the second World Cup played on U.S. soil.
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Iran’s soccer team arrives in Mexico for training ahead of World Cup matches in L.A.
World Cup poses an unprecedented security challenge at a fraught moment
Memo Ochoa is driven to play his best for Mexico win during his sixth World Cup
‘Enjoy the moment.’ Americans who played in 1994 World Cup on home soil offer advice
World Cup roundtable: Who will win, who will surprise and how far will U.S. advance?
Sparks get much-needed win
From Marisa Ingemi: The quarter mark of a season isn’t necessarily a make-or-break point, but for the Sparks, it was starting to feel like it was close to it.
An 89-72 win over the expansion Portland Fire on Sunday to close a 1-2 homestand felt more necessary than the Sparks might have wanted to admit. But after struggling on the road before losing consecutive games at home against Las Vegas and Dallas amid a three-game losing streak, the Sparks needed something to go right.
Especially defensively, where the Sparks had seemingly been getting worse. They had their best defensive game of the season Sunday, holding Portland to 36% shooting — the second-lowest mark against them this season.
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More fouls, less flow: Sparks struggling to adjust to WNBA crackdown on physical play
Sparks box score
WNBA standings
This day in sports history
1935 — Omaha, ridden by Willis Saunders, becomes the third horse to win the Triple Crown by capturing the Belmont Stakes with a 1½-length victory over Firethron.
1958 — Mickey Wright beats Fay Crocker by six strokes to win the LPGA Championship.
1980 — Sally Little wins the LPGA Championship by three strokes over Jane Blalock.
1982 — 36th NBA Championship: Lakers beat Philadelphia 76ers, 4 games to 2.
1985 — Creme Fraiche, ridden by Eddie Maple, becomes the first gelding to win the Belmont Stakes, beating Stephan’s Odyssey by a half-length.
1986 — Larry Bird scores 29 points to lead the Boston Celtics to a 114-97 victory over the Houston Rockets and their 16th NBA title.
1990 — The “Indomitable Lions” of Cameroon pull off one of the greatest upsets in soccer history, 1-0 over defending champion Argentina in the first game of the World Cup.
1991 — Warren Schutte, a UNLV sophomore from South Africa, shoots a 5-under 67 to become the first foreign-born player to win the NCAA Division I golf championship.
2000 — Mike Modano deflects Brett Hull’s shot at 6:21 of the third overtime, ending the longest scoreless overtime game in Stanley Cup finals history and helping the Dallas Stars beat the New Jersey Devils 1-0 in Game 5.
2002 — British-Canadian Lennox Lewis retains boxing’s WBC Heavyweight title with eighth-round knockout of American Mike Tyson.
2005 — Freshman Samantha Findlay hits a three-run homer in the 10th inning to lead Michigan to a 4-1 win over UCLA for its first NCAA softball title. Michigan is the first team from east of the Mississippi River to win the national championship.
2008 — Rafael Nadal wins his fourth consecutive French Open title in a rout, again spoiling Roger Federer’s bid to complete a career Grand Slam. Dominating the world’s No. 1 player with astounding ease, Nadal wins in three sets, 6-1, 6-3, 6-0.
2008 — Yani Tseng of Taiwan becomes the first rookie in 10 years to win a major, beating Maria Hjorth on the fourth hole of a playoff with a 5-foot birdie on the 18th hole to win the LPGA Championship.
2012 — I’ll Have Another’s bid for the first Triple Crown in 34 years ends shockingly in the barn and not on the racetrack when the colt is scratched the day before the Belmont Stakes and retires from racing with a swollen tendon.
2013 — Serena Williams wins her 16th Grand Slam title and her first French Open championship since 2002, beating Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-4.
2014 — Rafael Nadal wins the French Open title for the ninth time, and the fifth time in a row, by beating Novak Djokovic 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4. Nadal improves his record at Roland Garros to 66-1.
2015 — The NCAA approves multiple rule changes to men’s basketball for the 2015-16 season, including a 30-second shot clock and fewer timeouts for each team. The shot clock was last reduced, from 45 to 35 seconds, in 1993-94.
2018 — Golden State romps to its second straight NBA championship, beating Cleveland 108-85 to finish a four-game sweep. Stephen Curry scores 37 points and Kevin Durant, who is named MVP for the second straight finals, has 20 for the Warriors. It’s the first sweep in the NBA Finals since 2007.
2019 — Ashleigh Barty, Australia, wins the French Open by defeating Marketa Vondrousoca. The win is Barty’s first Grand Slam singles title.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1914 — New York’s Iron Joe McGinnity posted his 14th straight win beating Pittsburgh 2-0. With the win moved the Giants into first place over Chicago.
1933 — Philadelphia’s Jimmie Foxx homered in his first three at bats all off Lefty Gomez as the A’s beat the New York Yankees 14-10. Foxx had homered his last time up the previous day to tie a major league record of hitting four consecutive home runs. Bobby Lowe did it in 1894.
1940 — Harry Craft of Cincinnati connected for a home run, a triple, a double and two singles in seven at-bats to lead a 27-hit attack as the Reds pounded the Dodgers 23-2 at Brooklyn.
1950 — The Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Browns 29-4 at Fenway Park and set major league records for runs scored; most long hits, 17 (nine doubles, one triple and seven homers); most total bases, 60; most extra bases on long hits, 32; most runs over two games, 49; most hits in two games, 51, including 28 this game. Bobby Doerr had three homers and 8 RBIs, Walt Dropo hit two homers and drove in seven runs and Ted Williams added two homers and five RBIs.
1968 — Howie Bedell’s sacrifice fly in the fifth inning ended Don Drysdale’s record streak of 58 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings. The Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-3.
1969 — The New York Yankees’ No. 7 was retired on Mickey Mantle Day. A crowd of 60,096 came to Yankee Stadium to honor Mantle and watched the Yankees sweep the Chicago White Sox 3-1 and 11-2.
1975 — Detroit’s Tom Veryzer doubled with two out in the ninth to end Oakland’s Ken Holtzman’s no-hitter. Outfielder Bill North misjudged Veryzer’s hit but was not charged with an error. Holtzman retired the last hitter for a 4-0 victory.
1986 — In the longest 9-inning game by time in AL history Baltimore’s Lee Lacy went 4-for-6 with three home runs and six RBIs as the Orioles beat the New York Yankees 18-9. The game took 4:16 to complete.
1996 — Warren Morris hit a two-run homer with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Louisiana State a 9-8 victory over Miami in the championship game of the College World Series.
2001 — Damion Easley became the ninth Detroit player to hit for the cycle as the Tigers beat Milwaukee 9-4.
2010 — Stephen Strasburg exceeded expectations in his much-hyped major league debut, striking out 14 in seven innings to lead the Washington Nationals to a 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Last year’s No. 1 overall draft pick gave up four hits, two earned runs and didn’t walk a batter, piling up the most strikeouts in a debut since J.R. Richard fanned 15 for Houston in 1971.
2012 — Kevin Millwood and five Seattle relievers combined on a no-hitter, the third in franchise history, and the Mariners beat the Dodgers 1-0. Millwood was cruising through six innings, giving up just one walk. But while warming up for the seventh he felt a twinge in his groin and was pulled from the game. Five relievers combined to finish the no-hitter, capped by Tom Wilhelmsen retiring Andre Ethier on a routine grounder to end it.
2013 — In the longest major league game in more than three years, Adeiny Hechavarria hit an RBI single in the 20th inning and the Miami Marlins outlasted the New York Mets 2-1.
2020 — MLB owners present their counter-proposal to get the season started. They propose playing 76 games, with a postseason involving 16 teams, drop the proposed sliding scale for reducing salaries — although they still seek further cuts — and also propose dropping all forms of compensation for signing free agents. The ball is now back in the MLBPA’s court.
2021 — Pirates rookie 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes, swinging a red hot bat after coming back from a two-month stay on the injured list, makes a very embarrassing mistake when he has a home run taken away for missing first base. His apparent solo shot off Walker Buehler is nullified when the Dodgers successfully appeal that he did not touch the bag while rounding the bases.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.