AP-NW–Sports Right Now/1114
ATHLETICS-MARINERS
Martin homers in 9th, Mariners rally to beat A’s 6-5
SEATTLE (AP) — Leonys Martin hit a game-ending, two-run homer in the ninth inning to give the Seattle Mariners a 6-5 comeback victory over the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night.
Seattle trailed 5-2 after seven innings but got a two-run homer from Robinson Cano in the eighth inning.
Oakland closer Ryan Madson (2-1) came on in the ninth and got two quick outs before Norichika Aoki punched a double down the left field line.
Martin then drove a 1-2 pitch deep over the wall in right-center for his ninth home run.
Oakland erased a 2-1 deficit in the sixth, jumping on the Mariners bullpen to complete a four-run rally capped by Coco Crisp’s bases-loaded double.
Mike Montgomery (2-0) threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings.
NCAA WOMEN
Stanford, Washington meet for NCAA women’s title
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Sarah Rhee rallied from 3 down with three holes to play and then holed a bunker shot to win her match and lead Washington into the final of the NCAA Women’s golf championship against defending champion Stanford.
The Huskies were trailing in three matches late in the semifinals at Eugene Country Club. Rhee birdied two straight holes and won the 18th with a par. The freshman’s long bunker shot on the first extra hole hit the pin and dropped, and Louise Ridderstrom missed her birdie putt from off the green.
Mariah Stackhouse, the star of Stanford’s title last year, won the decisive match in a quarterfinal victory over South Carolina and won again in the afternoon as the Cardinal eliminated Duke.
Stanford is trying to become the first repeat champion since Duke won three in a row from 2005-07 in the stroke-play era.
WASHINGTON-COHEN
Washington names Jennifer Cohen new athletic director
SEATTLE (AP) — Washington has named Jennifer Cohen as its new athletic director after she served as the interim athletic director following Scott Woodward’s departure for Texas A&M.
Cohen becomes the 15th athletic director in school history and second female athletic director in the past 25 years. Barbara Hedges served in the position from 1991-2004. Cohen will officially take over June 1.
Cohen served as a senior associate athletic director under Woodward and was a driving force behind the renovation of Husky Stadium. She was also involved in development efforts for projects including renovations of Hec Edmundson Pavilion and Conibear Shellhouse and the construction of the Dempsey Indoor Practice Facility. Most of her 18 years at Washington have been spent overseeing fundraising efforts for the Huskies athletic programs.
PAC-12-BOARD MEETING
Pac-12 agrees to limit late football games, court storming
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Pac-12 CEO Group has approved provisions to reduce night football games, add fines for court and field storming, and begin eSports competitions in 2016-17.
The changes were announced Tuesday.
The conference modified its TV agreements with Fox and ESPN to allow football games on the Pac-12 Networks to start at 2:30 p.m. or 6 p.m. local time and overlap with the other two networks’ exclusive TV windows.
The Pac-12 also added a fine schedule to its court- and field-storming policy, starting at $25,000 for a first offense and going to $100,000 for a third offense.
The eSports competitions will allow schools to compete in specific video games with head-to-head matchups in studios and a tournament in conjunction with a Pac-12 championship event. Game titles and event formats will be determined later.
CONGRESS-NFL CONCUSSIONS
NFL doctor sends strong response to House report
SEATTLE (AP) — The co-chairman of the NFL’s head, neck and spine committee has sent a letter to Congress stressing that he was not contacted during a government study on the link between football and brain disease.
That study concluded that NFL officials improperly sought to influence the findings.
Dr. Richard Ellenbogen wrote to New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone to note that claims he and others tried to influence a National Institutes of Health grant selection are inaccurate. Ellenbogen called not being interviewed a “basic lack of fairness” and a “maligning without so much as the courtesy of a direct question to me by your staff.”
Pallone said the league tried to strong-arm the NIH into taking the project away from a researcher who the NFL feared was biased.
WASHINGTON STATE-RETURNING PLAYERS
3 Washington State players withdraw from draft consideration
PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) — Washington State’s Josh Hawkinson, Ike Iroegbu and Conor Clifford have withdrawn their names from consideration for the NBA draft and will return for their senior seasons.
The three declared for the draft in early April but didn’t hire agents, making them eligible to return to school.
Hawkinson, a 6-foot-10 forward, led the team in scoring and led the Pac-12 in rebounding at 11.1 boards per game last season.
Iroegbu was the only Cougar to start all 31 games last season and averaged 3.6 assists per game.
Clifford averaged 6.8 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.
GONZAGA-KARNOWSKI
Gonzaga’s Karnowski to return for senior season
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Gonzaga center Przemek Karnowski, who missed most of last season with a back injury, says he is returning for another year.
The 7-foot-1 center played in just five games last season, and had back surgery on Dec. 31. He received a medical redshirt from the NCAA.
Karnowski averaged 8.8 points and 5.4 rebounds prior to the back injury.
He was a first-team All-West Coast Conference selection as a junior, when he averaged 10.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.
NWSL-HEATH
Portland’s Tobin Heath voted NWSL player of the week
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Portland Thorns midfielder Tobin Heath was voted the NWSL player of the week after a goal and an assist last weekend against the Washington Spirit.
The Thorns beat the Spirit 4-1. Heath’s corner kick was headed by teammate Lindsey Horan for a goal in the 26th minute. Then Heath took a pass from Christine Sinclair and got past charging Washington goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe before sliding the ball in for the goal in the 46th minute.
Heath, who scored in the U.S. national team’s 5-2 victory over Japan last summer to win the Women’s World Cup, leads the league with five assists this season.
It is her first player of the week honor in the National Women’s Soccer League.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.
