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2B – Daily News – Wednesday, June 30, 2010 South Carolina wins title on 11th inning single OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Whit Merrifield’s RBI single with one out in the bottom of the 11th inning gave South Carolina its first baseball national champi- onship with a 2-1 victory over UCLA in the College World Series on Tuesday night. The Gamecocks (54-16) won A’s (Continued from page 1B) a competitor,’’ he said. ‘‘It would be nice to get a heads-up, but whatev- er.’’ The A’s hope to have Braden back by Satur- day, but he didn’t sound optimistic. ‘‘I woke up and my elbow looked like a right triangle. It was just up and stiff,’’ said Braden, winless since throwing a perfect game against Tampa Bay on May 9. ‘‘It’s not painful. There’s just no flexibility. ... I can’t make 17 more starts, or however many we’ve got left. You can’t pitch that way and I’m not doing my team a favor and I’m not doing myself any good.’’ After Mazzaro depart- ed, four relievers fol- lowed. Andrew Bailey worked a perfect ninth for his 15th save. Coco Crisp had three VENUS (Continued from page 1B) time,’’ Williams said. ‘‘Obviously, she’s played well to get this far, but I don’t think I did anything right today.’’ Set aside, for a moment, all of Williams’ bona fides — seven Grand Slam titles, seven runner-up finishes at majors, a stint at No. 1 in the rankings — and consid- er the 22-year-old Pironko- va’s resume: She never made it beyond the second round in 18 previous Grand Slam events, and never made the final at any tour- nament. ‘‘No one expected me to (reach a) semifinal in Wim- bledon,’’ Pironkova said, ‘‘and to beat Venus Williams like that.’’ But Pironkova, who’s coached by her father, must have believed this was pos- sible, right? ‘‘If I have to be honest: no,’’ she said. ‘‘Coming here, I really just wanted to play a good game, to maybe win one or two rounds. But (a) semifinal looked, to me, very far.’’ Well, now she’s there. On Thursday, Pironkova will face No. 21 Vera Zvonareva of Russia, who added to the topsy-turvy day by coming back to oust No. 8 Kim Clijsters 3-6, 6- 4, 6-2. Unlike Pironkova, Zvonareva at least can boast of some experience at this stage, having reached the 2009 Aus- six straight games after losing their CWS opener against Okla- homa. They also won the last championship played at Rosen- blatt Stadium, the CWS’ home since 1950. Scott Wingo drew a leadoff walk and took second when catcher Steve Rodriguez, per- hits, stole two bases and scored twice for the A’s, whose winning streak matches their season high. Since returning from the disabled list a week ago, Crisp is 10 for 22 (.455) with nine runs scored in six games. ‘‘He’s just been out- standing,’’ Geren said. Cesar Izturis and Luke Scott had RBIs for the Orioles, whose season- high four-game winning streak ended. Baltimore starter Brian Matusz (2-9) allowed three runs and seven hits in 6 1-3 innings. The rookie is 0- 9 in 13 starts since April 18. ‘‘I’m frustrated now but I’m not going to carry it over to tomor- row,’’ the lefty said. ‘‘I’ll prepare for my next start and let it go. Because if I start worrying about that, it’s not going to make things any easier.’’ Asked if he just hasn’t gotten a break, Matusz tralian Open semifinals. On the other side of the draw, defending champion Serena Williams smacked 11 aces — lifting her total for the tournament to a Wimbledon-record 73, one more than she hit last year — and made only six unforced errors in a 7-5, 6- 3 victory over No. 9 Li Na of China. ‘‘I haven’t seen her serve that well in a while,’’ said the Williams sisters’ mother, Oracene Price, who joked that ‘‘they’re stealing some aces from Serena; we’re counting.’’ That Centre Court match began after Pironko- va’s victory was complet- ed, so tennis’ two most successful siblings crossed paths in the locker room. Venus — who had just lost — and Serena — about to play — chatted, already aware they would not meet in the Wimbledon final for a fifth time. ‘‘I don’t know if it affected my play too much,’’ Serena said. She next faces yet another unheralded mem- ber of this year’s final four, 62nd-ranked Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, who saved five match points and erased third-set deficits of 4-0 and 5-2 to eliminate 80th-ranked qualifier Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 4-6, 7-6 (8), 8-6. ‘‘I play now very well, my best tennis in my life, my career,’’ said the left- handed Kvitova, who knocked off No. 3 Caroline No expansion for WAC haps distracted when Evan Marzilli squared to bunt, let an inside 1-0 pitch get past him. Wingo moved to third when Marzilli got a bunt down, and scored when Merrifield drilled a 2-0 pitch by Dan Klein (6-1) past pulled-in outfield of the Bruins (51-17). replied, ‘‘That’s how it goes sometimes. You can’t control that. Things haven’t gone my way.’’ The Orioles closed to 2-1 during a testy fifth inning that began when Julio Lugo was hit in the back by Mazzaro’s pitch and angrily took two steps toward the mound. Lugo was angry because Matusz hit Daric Barton with a pitch in the top half. ‘‘I don’t know if it was on purpose or not,’’ Lugo said. ‘‘It just does- n’t look good.’’ Mazzaro said, ‘‘I was just trying to go in. I had him 1-1. I’m not trying to bag him, I’m trying to get him out.’’ After Lugo backed off, Izturis argued that a pitch from Mazzaro hit him on the foot. Plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth said it didn’t, so Izturis got back in the box and lined an RBI double to left. Oakland added a run Wozniacki, No. 14 Victoria Azarenka and No. 23 Zheng Jie en route to her first Grand Slam quarterfi- nal. Asked if she thinks she can win the title, the 20- year-old Kvitova replied: ‘‘I don’t think so. No.’’ Perhaps that’s because she hadn’t won a grass- court match until last week. Pironkova (her first name is pronounced sve- TAH-nuh, her last pee- RON-ko-vuh) and Kvitova (keh-VIT-oh-vuh) give Wimbledon two unseeded women in the semifinals for the first time since 1999. Indeed, Serena Williams is the only remaining woman with a Grand Slam championship; she owns 12. ‘‘It’s not mine to lose; it’s mine to win, if I can get it,’’ the three-time Wimble- don champion said. ‘‘There’s three other peo- ple that are vying to win it. They have just as good a chance as I do.’’ If you say so, Serena. Zvonareva, at least, was in Wimbledon’s fourth round twice before. But she was 0-5 against Cli- jsters before turning things around this time by letting the two-time U.S. Open champion make mistakes. Over the last two sets, Clijsters made 25 unforced errors, Zvonareva nine. After going 0 for 3 on break points in the opening set, Zvonareva converted 4 of 10 the rest of the way. ‘‘I never really made her in the seventh. After Matusz gave up a one- out single to Barton, Jason Berken walked Conor Jackson and yielded an RBI single to Suzuki. Doubles by Nick Markakis and Scott made it 3-2 with one out in the eighth, but Adam Jones and Lugo stranded the potential tying run at second base. A double by Crisp and an RBI single by Jackson provided Oakland with an insurance run in the ninth. The Orioles had a chance to break on top in the second inning, but Scott was thrown out at the plate trying to score from third on a fly to right fielder Rajai Davis. In the third, Oakland used singles by Cliff Pennington, Crisp and Suzuki to take a 1-0 lead. A triple by Crisp and a run-scoring grounder by Suzuki made it 2-0 in the fifth. work for it all that much,’’ Clijsters said. ‘‘That’s probably the most disap- pointing thing.’’ Zvonareva has a reputa- tion for mid-match melo- drama — she sobbed on court at the 2004 U.S. Open — but was all busi- ness Tuesday, staying focused by draping a pink towel over her head during changeovers. ‘‘It just helps me to relax and not to see what is going on around,’’ Zvonareva explained. ‘‘For me, it’s very important just to keep my concentration.’’ That towel prevented her from catching score updates from Court 1, where Pironkova became the first woman represent- ing Bulgaria to reach a major semifinal in the 42- year Open era. As Pironkova’s match began, it rained ever-so- slightly — a drop here, a drop there — and in the second game, Williams lost her footing as she strained to reach a forehand on the run. Williams stood and clutched at her lower back, but did not show any fur- ther signs of pain and said afterward she wasn’t injured. She turned 30 this month, and a pair of play- ers who are younger and once were her opponents, Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova, played in the legends’ doubles event Tuesday. But Williams dis- missed a question about whether she thinks at all Scoreboard WORLD CUP Second Round Round of 16 Tuesday’s results Paraguay 0, Japan 0 Paraguay wins 5-3 on penalty kicks Spain 1, Portugal 0 Quarterfinals Friday’s matches Netherlands vs.Brazil, 7 a.m. Uruguay vs. Ghana, 11:30 a.m. Saturday’s matches Germany vs. Argentina, 7 a.m. Paraguay vs.Spain, 11:30 a.m. MLB West Division Texas American League WL Pct GB Angels 43 35 .551 4.5 A’s Seattle 32 44 .421 14.5 East Division WL Pct GB New York 47 29 .618 — Boston 47 31 .603 1 Tampa Bay 44 32 .579 3 Toronto 40 38 .513 8 Baltimore 23 53 .303 24 Central Division Minnesota 42 35 .545 — Detroit WL Pct GB 41 35 .539 .5 Chicago 40 36 .526 1.5 Kansas City 33 45 .423 9.5 Cleveland 29 47 .382 12.5 ——— Tuesday’s results Oakland 4, Baltimore 2 Boston 8, Tampa Bay 5 Chicago 4, Kansas City 3 Cleveland 5, Toronto 4 Minnesota 11, Detroit 4 46 29 .613 — 38 40 .487 9.5 Seattle 7, New York 4 Texas at Los Angeles, late Today’s Games Oakland (Sheets 3-7) at Baltimore (Millwood 2-8),4:05 p.m.,CSNC Detroit (A.Oliver 0-1) at Minnesota (Slowey 7-5), 10:10 a.m. Seattle (F.Hernandez 5-5) at New York (Vazquez 6-6), 4:05 p.m. Toronto (Litsch 0-2) at Cleveland (Laffey 0-2), 4:05 p.m. Tampa Bay (Garza 8-5) at Boston (Matsuzaka 5-2), 4:10 p.m. Chicago (Peavy 7-5) at Kansas City (Greinke 3-8), 5:10 p.m. Texas (Beltre 0-0) at West Division Los Angeles (Kazmir 7-6), 7:05 p.m. National League WL Pct GB Padres 45 31 .592 — Dodgers 41 35 .539 4 GIANTS 40 35 .533 4.5 Colorado 40 36 .526 5 Arizona 30 48 .385 16 East Division WL Pct GB Atlanta 45 33 .577 — New York 43 34 .558 1.5 Philadelphia 41 34 .547 2.5 Florida 37 40 .481 7.5 Washington 34 44 .436 11 Central Division WL Pct GB St. Louis 43 34 .558 — Cincinnati 43 35 .551 .5 Milwaukee 35 42 .455 8 Chicago 34 43 .442 9 Houston 30 48 .385 13.5 Pittsburgh 26 51 .338 17 ——— Tuesday’s games Los Angeles at San Francisco, late Chicago 3, Pittsburgh 1 Florida 7, New York 6 Milwaukee 7, Houston 5 Philadelphia 9, Cincinnati 6, 10 innings St. Louis 8, Arizona 0 Washington 7, Atlanta 2 Colorado at San Diego, late Today’s games Los Angeles (Padilla 1-2) at San Fran.(J.Sanchez 6-5),12:45 p.m.,CSNB Philadelphia (Halladay 9-6) at Cincinnati (Harang 6-7), 9:35 a.m., MLBN Houston (W.Rodriguez 4-10) at Milwaukee (Bush 3-5), 11:10 a.m. Arizona (Enright 0-0) at St. Louis (Suppan 0-3), 11:15 a.m. Pittsburgh (B.Lincoln 0-2) at Chicago (Gorzelanny 2-5), 11:20 a.m., WGN Colorado (Francis 2-2) at San Diego (Richard 5-4), 12:35 p.m. N.Y. Mets (Pelfrey 10-2) vs. Florida (Volstad 4-7) at San Juan, 4:05 p.m., ESPN2 Washington (J.Martin 0-3) at Atlanta (Jurrjens 0-3), 4:10 p.m. Monday’s late results Los Angeles 4, San Francisco 2 Colorado 10, San Diego 6 North Division GOLDEN Golden League WL Pct. GB OUTLAWS 24 9 .727 — Calgary 20 12 .625 3.5 Edmonton 16 16 .500 7.5 Victoria 14 19 .424 10 St. George 14 20 .412 10.5 South Division Maui Yuma WL Pct. GB 20 13 .606 — 19 13 .594 .5 Orange Co. 15 17 .469 4.5 Tucson 15 18 .455 5 Tijuana 6 26 .188 13.5 ——— Monday’s late results Orange County 9, Chico 3 St. George 7, Maui 5 Tuesday’s results Orange County at Chico, late St. George 11, Maui 2 Edmonton at Calgary, late Yuma at Tucson, late Today’s games Orange County at Chico, 7:08 p.m. Edmonton at Calgary, 6:05 p.m. Maui at St. George, 6:05 p.m. Tijuana at Victoria, 7 p.m. Yuma at Tucson, 7 p.m. NCAA College World Series South Carolina wins series 2-0 Game 1 —South Carolina 7, UCLA 1 Game 2 —South Carolina 2, UCLA 1, 11 innings WNBA EASTERN CONFERENCE WL Pct GB Atlanta 12 4 .750 — Connecticut 10 5 .667 1.5 Washington 10 5 .667 1.5 Indiana 9 6 .600 2.5 New York 6 7 .462 4.5 Chicago 6 9 .400 5.5 WESTERN CONFERENCE WL Pct GB Seattle 13 2 .867 — San Antonio 5 7 .417 6.5 Minnesota 5 10 .333 8 Phoenix 5 10 .333 8 Los Angeles 3 10 .231 9 Tulsa 3 12 .200 10 ——— Tuesday’s results Atlanta 94, Phoenix 88 Connecticut 101, Tulsa 89 Washington 68, Indiana 65 New York at Los Angeles, late San Antonio at Seattle, late Today’s games No games scheduled WIMBLEDON Tuesday At The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, Wimbledon, England Purse: $20.3 million (Grand Slam) Surface: Grass-Outdoor Women Singles Quarterfinals Tsvetana Pironkova, Bulgaria, def. Venus Williams (2), United States, 6-2, 6-3. Vera Zvonareva (21), Russia, def. Kim Cli- jsters (8), Belgium, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. Serena Williams (1), United States, def.Li Na (9), China, 7-5, 6-3. Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic, def. Kaia Kanepi, Estonia, 4-6, 7-6 (8), 8-6. DEALS Major League Baseball American League BOSTON—Placed C Victor Martinez on the 15-day DL.Selected the contract of C Gusta- vo Molina from Pawtucket. DETROIT—Placed RHP Joel Zumaya on the 15-day DL. Purchased the contract of RHP Casey Fien from Toledo (IL). SEATTLE—Activated C Josh Bard from the 15-day DL. Designated C Eliezer Alfonzo for assignment. TAMPA BAY—Designated INF Hank Blalock for assignment. Activated OF Gabe Kapler from the 15-day DL. National League ATLANTA —Activated OF Matt Diaz from the 15-day DL. CHICAGO—Recalled LHP James Russell and RHP Jeff Stevens from Iowa (PCL). Placed RHP Carlos Zambrano on the restrict- ed list and LHP John Grabow on the 15-day DL. COLORADO—Recalled OF Dexter Fowler from Colorado Springs (PCL). Optioned INF Chris Nelson to Colorado Springs. FLORIDA—Announced Edwin Rodriguez will remain manager through the end of this season. HOUSTON—Placed RHP Jeff Fulchino on the 15-day DL.Purchased the contact of RHP Casey Daigle from Round Rock (PCL). PHILADELPHIA—Placed 2B Chase Utley and 3B Placido Polanco on the 15-day DL, Polanco retroactive to June 26. Selected the contract of INF-OF Greg Dobbs and INF Brian Bocock from Lehigh Valley (IL). ST. LOUIS—Placed 3B David Freese on the 15-day DL. Recalled RHP Fernando Salas from Memphis (PCL). WASHINGTON—Recalled RHP Craig Stam- men from Syracuse (IL). Placed RHP Tyler Walker on the 15-day DL, retroactive to June 20. Major League Soccer D.C.—Released M Christian Castillo. National Football League KANSAS CITY—Signed DB Kendrick Lewis. MINNESOTA—Waived QB R.J. Archer. SEATTLE—Signed S Kevin Ellison. WASHINGTON—Waived WR Marques Hagans. National Basketball Association HOUSTON—Announced C Yao Ming has exercised his contract option for next season. MIAMI—Waived F James Jones. NEW JERSEY—Traded F Yi Jianlian and cash to Washington for F Quinton Ross. PHOENIX—Promoted Noel Gillespie to assistant coach-advance scout. PORTLAND—Waived F Ryan Gomes. National Hockey League COLUMBUS—Named Kevin Collins strength and conditioning coach. MONTREAL—Signed F Tom Pyatt to a one- year contract. NASHVILLE—Signed F Andreas Thuresson to a one-year contract. NEW JERSEY—Named Adam Oates assis- tant coach. OTTAWA—Bought out the contract of F Jonathan Cheechoo. DENVER (AP) — The Western Athletic Confer- ence does not plan to replace departing Boise State for the 2011-12 season. Commissioner Karl Benson announced on Tues- day that the conference will operate with eight members in 2011-12 and won’t add any new schools until July 1, 2012, at the earliest. Boise State has accepted an invitation to join the Mountain West Conference after this season. ‘‘Over the past few weeks, the WAC’s Board of Directors and athletics directors have explored sev- eral membership options,’’ Benson said. ‘‘We believe it is in the best interest of the WAC to oper- ate as an eight-team league for the 2011-12 sea- son.’’ Benson said the league will take several months to look into various membership options before making any decisions for the 2012-13 season. The WAC’s remaining members are Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, New Mexico State, San Jose State and Utah State. Change has been a constant for the Western Ath- letic Conference since it was established in 1962. None of the original members are still in the league and in 1999, after it had expanded to 16 teams, eight of its most prominent programs, including Utah, BYU and Air Force, broke away to form the Mountain West. Boise State, which joined in 2001, had become the conference’s marquee and most successful football program in recent years. The Broncos have played in the BCS twice. Benson had said he expected to announce the addition of another member or two some time this summer. But instead those plans were put on hold. Ben- son said the league will look at scenarios with var- ious numbers of schools, including a 12-members conference that would allow the WAC to hold a football league championship game. ‘‘The future for the WAC is very bright, and we will continue to provide our student-athletes with the opportunities to compete on both the regional and national stages in all of our sports,’’ he said. about retiring. ‘‘Today, I didn’t seem to be the best tennis player, but for the most part, I rock and roll this game,’’ she said. ‘‘I’ll give it up when I’m just terrible. It would take more than just a few bad days in a year to make me quit tennis. So that’s not even in the equation.’’ The first test of Pironko- va’s nerves came in the fifth game, when she was serving at 15-40. But she saved both break points and claimed the game, thanks to four miscues in a row by Williams. Pironkova then went ahead 4-2, breaking with the help of a double-fault and a wide backhand by Williams. And Williams was broken the next time she served, too, opening with a pair of double- faults. Pironkova earned the break and the first set with a backhand passing shot. Pironkova created prob- lems by mixing speeds and angles, hitting slices or squash shots, sometimes of the sort one is more likely to see on a public play- ground than the manicured lawns of Wimbledon. ‘‘I didn’t have a particu- lar strategy,’’ Pironkova said. Hey, whatever works. She clearly flustered Williams, who kept mutter- ing to herself or gesturing toward Mom and Dad. ‘‘I got too caught up in the mistakes I was making, instead of just letting it go and moving on,’’ she said. ‘‘I expect a lot from myself, especially at this tournament.’’ Williams finally appeared to make headway when she broke for a 2-1 lead in the second set. But a game later came the shot of the match: Williams hit a drop volley, and Pironko- va sprinted up to flick a lob winner over her 6-foot-1 opponent. Williams put her hand to her mouth, and Pironkova wheeled and hopped and pumped her fist. ‘‘Wimbledon has always been like a religion to me. And I don’t think it’s just for me — it’s for all of the players,’’ Pironkova said. ‘‘It’s the oldest tour- nament. Growing up, every player is looking at Wim- bledon. They say, ’One day I want to play there.’’’ Her supporters in the crowd — including younger sister Elisaveta, a college tennis player at Loyola Marymount — jumped to their feet, screaming and clapping, to celebrate pretty much every point Pironkova won. They even roared when her postmatch interview was shown on the scoreboard, and Pironkova excitedly spoke about the possibility of maybe getting a mention ‘‘on the news’’ back home. Yes, Tsvetana, you cer- tainly made news at Wim- bledon on Tuesday, even if you weren’t sure you could.