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ByAndrewBaggarly BayAreaNewsGroup CHICAGO The wait lasted for- ever. Johnny Cueto paused, turned and delivered his 108th brush stroke of the night. Javier Baez, the Cubs' talented second base- man, connected with one of his fully extended, ear-to-ear swings. The ball flight appeared higher than farther, and for An- gel Pagan, the left field warning track became a bus stop. Pagan watched and waited, his back against the ivy. He waited some more. When the ball finally descended, it clat- tered into the wire basket that juts out from the top of the bricks. It delivered the Chicago Cubs a 1-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants in Game 1 of this NL Division Series Friday night. Baez screamed as he rounded the bases. A sellout crowd drowned it out. Their wait has lasted forever, too. The home run left the Giants with the most tenuous scrap of life: three outs to go, and Aroldis Chapman's 104 mph fastball to tame. The odds would have ap- peared bleak for any team, let alone one that went 0-62 when trailing after eight innings. Buster Posey hit a two-out double off the ivy, making him 6 for 11 in his career off the flame- throwing closer. But Hunter NLDS Baez homers in 8th as Cubs shock Giants 1-0 CUBS1,GIANTS0 Series:Cubslead1-0 Game 2: San Francisco Giants at Chicago Cubs, 5:08p.m. Sat- urday, TV on MLB Network. THESCORE By Chip Thompson editor@redbluffdailynews.com @editorchip on Twitter RED BLUFF The Red Bluff Lady Spartans beat the Chico Panthers 5-2 at home Thursday in their fi- nal home match of the season and the win leaves them one shy of a perfect year. The Spartans play Tuesday in Palo Cedro at the Foothill Cou- gars for a 10-0 record on the sea- son, but Thursday's win over Chico made the Spartans back- to-back league champions. With Thursday's win, the Spar- tans are assured of at least a tie for the league championship, said coach Dennis Poulton. Thursday was Senior Day and the team recognized Breast Can- cer Awareness Month by donning pink shorts. On court 1 Maggie Winning beat Chico's No. 3 Lienna Cham 6-0, 6-0; Cleo DuFrain beat GIRLS TENNIS SPARTANS CLINCH LEAGUE TITLE, WIN RedBluffbeatsChico5-2infinalhomematchofseason,atFoothillnext PHOTOS BY CHIP THOMPSON — DAILY NEWS Red Bluff's Rylee DuFrain returns a shot Thursday a ernoon in a singles match against Chico. Red Bluff's Megan Boone serves in her singles win over Chico on Thursday. RED BLUFF 5, CHICO 2 Up next: Red Bluff at Foothill, 3:30p.m. Tuesday. THESCORE Online: For more Tehama County sports coverage, visit REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM/SPORTS. Los Molinos' Genesis Acevedo blocks a shot by Redding Christian's Abby Pearson (4) on Thursday evening. LARRY LONG — CONTRIBUTED By Chip Thompson editor@redbluffdailynews.com @editorchip on Twitter PALO CEDRO The Red Bluff Lady Spartans continued their winning ways Thursday evening, beating the Foothill Cougars 3 sets to 2 in a non-league match. The Cougars took the first set 28-26 but the Spartans bounced back to take the next two sets, 25-20 and 25-21. The Cougars re- bounded to win the fourth set 25-23 but Red Bluff took the tie- breaker 15-6. Ashley Tignore racked up 26 digs in the win and was named player of the match by coach Kelli Mustaine. Logan Wheeler had 24 kills, two aces, nine blocks and 12 digs; Kylee Kitchell had 11 kills, two aces, four blocks, 19 digs and an assist; fresh- man Sarah Reineman had six kills, two aces, six blocks, three digs and 24 assists; Kennedy Somavia had five kills, four aces, three blocks, three digs and two assists; Tyler Ellenberger had two digs and 22 assists; and Aurora Carnes had four kills and 11 blocks. The Spartans (15-5 overall, 3-0 league) are scheduled for host the Pleasant Valley Vikings (20-3 over- all, 4-0 league) at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Cardinals3,Wheatland0 CORNING The Corning Lady Car- dinals had little trouble with the Wheatland Pirates at home Thurs- day evening, taking the league match in three sets, 25-8, 25-18 and 25-16. As of 2 p.m. Friday no individ- ual stats had been posted. The Cardinals (12-9 overall, 3-1 league) are scheduled to travel to Sutter to take on the Huskies (9-10 overall, 4-0 league) at 6 p.m. Tues- day. Sutter High School is at 2665 Acacia Ave. in Sutter. Bulldogs 3, Redding Christian 0 LOS MOLINOS The Los Molinos Lady Bulldogs beat the Redding Christian Lions 3-0 in a league match at home Thursday evening, but the Lions kept each set close at 25-23, 25-23 and 25-19. With four digs and an assist, Katie Moran was named player of the match by coach Chas Konopka. Other top performers were Ra- chel Rogers with 14 kills, an ace, a block and nine digs; Liset Castillo with 10 kills, four aces, four blocks and 16 digs; Heather Rodriguez with six digs and 17 assists; Henna Acevedo with six kills, two aces, seven digs and an assist; sopho- more Genesis Acevedo with two kills and three blocks; and Vale- ria Garnica with a kill, two blocks, five digs and an assist. Sugy Cota VOLLEYBALL LadySpartansoutlastFoothill Cardinals, Bulldogs, Warriors all win their games in straight sets By Jenna Fryer The Associated Press CONCORD, N.C. Of the 12 driv- ers remaining in NASCAR's play- offs, the odds makers have ranked Austin Dillon last in the champi- onship race. Very few expected him to make it out of the first round. Only he did make the cut, and now Dil- lon intends to creep even further into the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. "I like this role," Dillon said of being a longshot, "because it puts the pressure on the guys that I guess are projected to make it to the next round — whatever pro- jections mean." This is Dillon's debut in the Chase and he went into last week- end's elimination race at Dover in danger of being bounced from the field. But he stepped up with a strong eighth-place finish — his first top-10 in six weeks — and ad- vanced into the round of 12. He'll start 19th on Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speed- way, the opening race of the sec- ond round of the Chase. Rain from Hurricane Matthew washed out all track activity on Friday, but Dillon, like most teams, used Thursday to prepare for the race. "We had a good car in practice. We just missed our balance a lit- tle bit" in qualifying, Dillon said. "We'll be fine. I'm really happy with our Chevrolet." Although his results have been mediocre — Dillon was 14th at Chicago in the Chase opener, then 16th at New Hampshire — he did what he had to do at Dover while the drivers ahead of him in the standings struggled. Jamie McMurray and Kyle Lar- son didn't make the round of 12, and Dillon capitalized with his Richard Childress Racing team. He has no doubt it can happen again in the second round, which includes Charlotte, Kansas and Talladega Superspeedway. "You just never know what can happen in a race and you never know what the outcome will be," he said. "There is so much that goes into every little piece and part of these cars. I'm confident in the company I drive for with RCR and the people around me, myself also, that we can make strong fin- ishes and that is what I'm confi- dent about. I love the underdog role because that means when we do knock people out, it's going to be fulfilling." Dillon could surprise some at Charlotte, where he finished sev- enth in this race a year ago. The RCR organization is also accus- tomed to working the system of the Chase to its benefit. NASCAR SPRINT CUP Dillon embraces role as underdog Few expected him to get out of first round TENNIS PAGE 2 VOLLEYBALL PAGE 2 DILLON PAGE 2 GIANTS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, October 8, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1