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ByMarkLong TheAssociatedPress DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. JeffGor- don is working in the broadcast booth. Carl Edwards is spend- ing time with family. Tony Stew- art is hanging out at dirt tracks. Some of NASCAR's biggest stars have stepped away over the last 15 months, a thought- provoking trend that doesn't ap- pear to be ending anytime soon. Gordon (2015) and Stewart (2016) retired from full-time rac- ing in consecutive years, walk- ing away with a combined seven championships. Edwards called it quits last month, abruptly leaving before the final year of his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing. Edwards said his deci- sion was personal and private. What made it so bizarre is that Edwards was 10 laps away from winning his first championship just two months earlier. Even if Edwards returns to the series next year, it proba- bly won't do much to stop NAS- CAR's ongoing face-lift. "When I first started watch- ing the (Washington) Redskins, a lot of wide receivers and cor- nerbacks were playing into their mid-30s regularly and now they're not," NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. told The As- sociated Press this week. "Now- adays, at 30, they're starting to look for somebody else and won- dering how much more mileage they got on them. "I think we're seeing that in NASCAR as well." Other aspects of the issue, Earnhardt said, include drivers starting racing careers much younger than ever and the con- stant demands on those who reach NASCAR's pinnacle, the NASCAR Majorstarsstartingtostepawayfromracing By Chip Thompson editor@redbluffdailynews.com @editorchip on Twitter RED BLUFF The Red Bluff Lady Spartans split with the Foothill Cougars during the regular sea- son, but couldn't match up Thurs- day night to open the playoffs with a home loss, 72-59. Despite the first-round loss, the team was able to host the open- ing game and coach Shelby Long said it was a good season. "Overall I was really impressed with the girls this year," Long said. "Me being a new coach it was exciting to see the girls come and grow, and change into differ- ent players, so it was a good sea- son overall." The Cougars got on the board first and played aggressive de- fense to build a 14-9 lead by the end of the first quarter. BASKETBALL SPARTANS, CARDS GIRLS TEAMS FALL FoothillknockshostRedBluffoutofplayoffs;LiveOakdefeatsCorning PHOTOSBYCHIPTHOMPSON—DAILYNEWS Red Bluff's Allyson Drury puts up a shot Thursday night against Foothill. Red Bluff's Megan Boone shoots Thursday night against Foothill. Red Bluff's Cleo Dufrain puts up a shot Thursday against Foothill. KARL MONDON — BAY AREA NEWS GROUP Madison Bumgarner pitches the Cactus League opener for the San Francisco Giants against the Cincinnati Reds at Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale, Az., on Friday. By Andrew Baggarly Bay Area News Group SCOTTSDALE,ARIZ. The game didn't matter. The result was inconsequen- tial. But something important might have been won in the San Francisco Giants' exhibition opener Friday af- ternoon. Madison Bumgarner's faith in a catcher other than Buster Posey. "That was a tough pitch to catch — a backdoor curveball, and I pulled it a little bit," said Bumgarner, of the dirt skipper he threw with a runner at third base. "I'm sure that caught him off guard. I was impressed. That was pretty good." Nick Hundley blocked the ball that seemed destined for the backstop, momentarily saving a run. The Cin- cinnati Reds scored anyway, when Patrick Kivlehan hit a two-run sin- gle. But there was no erasing the impression that Posey's new backup catcher made on the Giants' left- handed ace. "It's my job to get on the same page so when Buster has a day off or plays first, there's as little drop off as there can be," Hundley said after the Gi- ants won 6-4 on a walk-off three- run homer by Chris Marrero. "That comes down to communication and comfort level." Aside from one day last June when he had an injured thumb, Posey has caught all of Bumgarner's starts over the past two seasons. Bumgarner's insistence on throwing to Posey of- ten dictated how manager Bruce Bochy rested his cleanup-hitting catcher. There were times when Posey would catch a day game after a night game, just because Bumgar- ner was on the mound. Perhaps Bochy wanted to set a precedent, then, by starting Hundley with Bumgarner in Friday's Cactus League opener. Posey is set to catch Matt Cain and Ty Blach against the Cubs on Saturday, instead. Bumgarner acknowledged that having a veteran backup would make the transition more seamless on days when Posey takes a break. GIANTS SPRING TRAINING SmallactwinsBumgarner'sfaith Hundley catches ace as San Francisco wins spring opener on homer Staff Report BIEBER The No. 5 seed Los Moli- nos Bulldogs went into Bieber on Thursday night and upset the No. 4 Big Valley Cardinals 59-58 with a late rally. Big Valley went ahead early, up 14-12 after the first quarter, but the Bulldogs battled back to take a 28-26 lead into the half. Big Valley took control again in the third to finish ahead 42- 40, but Los Molinos rallied in the closing period to take the one- point win on the road. Alex Russell led the Bulldogs with 19 points on the night, fresh- man Ty Isaksen had 15, sopho- more Aaron Hardy had 11 and Kyle Wood and freshman Devin Henderson each put up seven. Henderson and Russell each hit a 3-pointer. The Bulldogs (19-8 overall, 4-4 league) will face the winner of Fri- day's match-up between No. 1 Fall River and No. 8 Etna. Fall River had a bye in the opening round and Etna beat No. 9 American Christian Academy. Fall River would host the Bull- dogs in McArthur, Etna would come to Los Molinos for the game, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday. The No. 5 Los Molinos Lady Bulldogs were scheduled to visit Redding to take on the No. 3 Red- ding Christian Lions on Friday night. Results from that game are posted on redbluffdailynews.com. BASKETBALL Bulldogs pull off upset to advance By Daniel Mano Bay Area News Group Draymond Green got a chance to fire back at Paul Pierce for his comments about Kevin Durant last summer. Green did not hold back. The Golden State Warriors star trash-talked Pierce in the opening minutes of the Warriors-Clippers game Thursday night. With Blake Griffin on the free-throw line, Green spoke his mind to Pierce, who was on the Clippers bench. "Chasing that farewell tour — they don't love you like that," Green said in audio picked up by TNT. "Couldn't get no farewell tour — they don't love you like that. You thought you was Kobe?" Green was clearly pointing out that Pierce, in his final season in the NBA, hasn't gotten the star's farewell like Kobe Bryant did last season. Pierce's comments in Octo- ber — essentially that Durant was less competitive for joining Golden State — rubbed Green the wrong way "I just wonder at what point do they get bored talking about the same thing," Green said then. WARRIORS Green talks trash toward LA's Pierce GIRLS PAGE 2 GIANTS PAGE 2 NASCAR PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, February 25, 2017 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1