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Weekend MLB — Giants at Diamondbacks, Sat, 5 p.m.; Sun, 1 p.m., CSNB MLB — White Sox at A’s, Sat, 1 p.m., FOX; Sun, 1 p.m., CSNC Tour de France — Sat, 5:30 a.m. VER; Sun, 4:30 a.m., V, 10 a.m., CBS Golf — Senior British Open, Sat, 9 a.m., ESPN; Sun, 9 a.m., ESPN2 PGA— Canadian Open, Sat and Sun, Noon, CBS Sun — NASCAR — Brickyard 400, 10 a.m., ESPN Sports 1B Weekend July 24-25, 2010 Rapids qualify for Nationals Girls’ run ends The Red Bluff 9-and 10-year-old Little League softball All-Stars could not hold off Linden dur- ing the sixth inning and lost 6-5. The loss knocked Red Bluff out of the state championship. Johnson hits for cycle, but Giants still win 7-4 PHOENIX (AP) — Kelly Johnson hit for the cycle but it wasn’t enough to overcome three costly Arizona errors, and the surging San Francisco Giants beat the Diamond- backs 7-4 on Friday night. Aubrey Huff hit two solo home runs and added an RBI single in San Francisco’s 14th victory in 18 games. The Giants scored two unearned runs on consecutive throwing errors by starting pitcher Edwin Jackson. A third unearned run came home after right fielder Justin Upton misjudged a fly ball in the ninth inning. Courtesy photo The North Valley Rapids 18-and-under softball team is (from top left) coach Hardy Vestal, coach Richard Walker, Emily Stokes, Tori Weatherford, Kayla McConnell, Kayla Spini, Lauren Vestal, manager Tito Cervantes, Alisha Rodebaugh, Molly McWilliams, Haley Harris, Tonya Walker,Taylor Gerhardt and Ally Bryant . The North Valley Rapids 18-and- under softball team qualified for the Nationals for the third straight year. The 2010 Nationals will be held in Hemet from July 31 through Aug. 8. The North Valley Rapids placed second at the NorCal State Champi- onship held in Sunnyvale. At the three 18Gold Showcases, the Rapids went a combined 14-5-1. Showcases were held in Stockton, Las Vegas, Nev. and Huntington Beach. The Rapids have had the opportu- nity to play against some of the best teams from Arizona, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Central and Southern California and the Bay Area. Establishing a competitive team to compete with other states and larger population groups in California has been difficult, especially when teams have all seniors or juniors, while the Rapids range from freshmen up to seniors level. The Rapids may be small in num- bers, but play with a big heart and have become very competitive and colleges have noticed the teamwork. This year the goal is to finish in the Top 5 in the nation and the Rapids have the right talent and chemistry to make it happen. In the past two Nationals, the Rapids have finished in the Top 20 in the nation. This year’s Rapids only have two seniors that will be attending school and playing softball at the college level. The 2011 Team should be even stronger as a young class of ball play- ers is progressing up to the college level of play. The team practices once or twice a week, but the biggest part of the development is the personnel training the athletes do on their own. Players will work out individually five times a week not including nor- mal practices and games. Players not only are dedicated in training, but the team’s GPA average is 3.9, while half the Team is averag- ing over 4.0. Players understand the concept of being a student-athlete and most colleges are looking for players to fit the family and the Rapids have done a good job in doing that. Buehrle leads White Sox past A’s OAKLAND (AP) — Mark Buehrle was so locked in he didn’t even notice the malfunction- ing stadium radar gun clock one of his first- inning pitches at 800 mph. Chicago’s ace left- hander only seemed that dominant. Buehrle pitched a four-hitter on the one- year anniversary of his perfect game and the White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 5-1 on Friday night. ‘‘It was one of those games where everything was working,’’ Buehrle said. ‘‘They weren’t finding holes, I was making pitches, getting ahead in the count. You have that five to eight times a year, and when you do it’s fun.’’ Buehrle (9-8) was nearly flawless through six innings against Oak- land before giving up a run in the seventh that ended a scoreless streak of 26 1-3 innings by White Sox starters. He then retired the final eight batters to finish his second straight complete game. Buehrle struck out two and didn’t walk a batter for the third time in his last four starts. He also earned his first career win in Oakland. ‘‘He was good. He made those guys swing the bat and we played good defense behind him,’’ Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. Buehrle pitched a perfect game against Tampa Bay last season but got off to a rocky start this year, losing five straight decisions at one point. He’s rebounded nicely, going 6-2 with a 2.20 ERA over his last eight starts. ‘‘As a starting pitcher Johnson, the third major league player to hit for the cycle this season, hit a solo home run in the first, doubled in the fifth and tripled in two runs when the Diamondbacks took a 4-3 lead in the sixth. He completed the feat with a line-drive single in the eighth, becoming the fourth Arizona player to hit for the cycle in the franchise’s 13-year history. The throwing errors by Jackson (6-9) came on what were intended to be sacrifice bunts in the Giants’ three-run sev- enth. Chris Ray (3-0) got one out for the win and Brian Wilson tossed 1 1-3 scoreless innings for his 28th save in 30 oppor- tunities. The game went 3 hours, 45 minutes, with Arizona stranding 14 runners and San Francisco nine. Huff had his third multihomer effort of the season as the Giants stayed three games behind first-place San Diego in the NL West. San Francisco starter Jonathan Sanchez left after five with a 2-1 lead and the Giants made it 3-1 when Huff homered in the sixth. Johnson joined Bengie Molina of the Texas Rangers and Jody Gerut of the Milwaukee Brewers as players to hit for the cycle this season. Johnson completed the most difficult part when he tripled to left-center off Santiago Casilla with two outs in the sev- enth to tie it at 3. Adam LaRoche’s RBI single put Arizona up 4-3. Jackson needed little time to waste it. Nate Schierholz singled and Eli Whiteside put down a sacrifice bunt. Jackson fielded it, but his toss to LaRoche was high and the first baseman had to jump slightly to catch it. Whiteside and LaRoche touched the base virtually at the same time and the runner was safe. Eugenio Velez bunted to advance the runners, but Jack- son threw wildly past first, allowing a run to score. Andres Torres tripled over the head of center fielder Chris Young to bring two more home and put San Francisco up 6-4. Freddy Sanchez walked and Jackson was finished. Jordan Norberto limited the damage, striking out Huff and Pablo Sandoval, then getting Travis Ishikawa to ground out. In the ninth, Torres’ fly ball soared over Upton for a two- base error. Two batters later, Huff singled Torres home. Sanchez gave up four hits, struck out 10 and walked five. Jackson, who faced five batters without getting an out in the seventh, allowed six runs, four earned, and eight hits. Barry Bonds perjury trial MCT photo Carlos Quentin slides in for a steal ahead of Cliff Pennington. you’re going to have so many good ones and then you’re going to have bad ones through- out the year,’’ Buehrle said. ‘‘I think I had so many bad ones at the beginning I’m due to go on a little streak here of good ones.’’ Carlos Quentin drove in two runs in his return to Chicago’s lineup and Omar Vizquel added two hits to move past Luke Appling into 50th place on baseball’s career hit list, helping Chicago increase its lead to 2 1/2 games over Detroit in the AL Cen- tral. Quentin had not played since getting hit in his right wrist against Minnesota last Sunday. He missed three games but was back in the line- up Friday at designated hitter, a position he’ll stay at for the next few days while Chicago tries to ease him back into the outfield. One of the White Sox top hitters before get- ting hurt, Quentin picked up where he left off. He drew a pair of walks, knocked in Alex Rios with a sacrifice fly in the fourth then drove in Vizquel with a groundout in the sixth. A.J. Pierzynski added a two-run single in the ninth off Oakland reliever Henry Rodriguez. That’s an encourag- ing sign for Chicago, which has won three of four on this road trip since dropping three of four at home against Minnesota. Oakland All-Star Trevor Cahill (9-4) lost for the second time in four starts. The right- hander scattered four hits and allowed three runs over seven innings but got little offensive support from his team- mates. ‘‘That’s a game any big league pitcher would win more often than not. Unfortunately Mark Buehrle was a lit- tle better,’’ A’s manager Bob Geren said. ‘‘We didn’t get anything going against him. He doesn’t have the overall numbers this season but he’s always capable of throwing a gem like he did tonight.’’ Jack Cust doubled twice and drove in the A’s only run. The A’s, who announced before the game that they signed catcher Kurt Suzuki to a new four-year contract, lost for only the second time in nine games. Notes: Oakland GM Billy Beane said he doesn’t anticipate trading RHP Ben Sheets, who signed a $10 million one-year deal in the offseason. Sheets (4-9) scuffled early in the season but has a 3.37 ERA over his last five starts. likely to start next year SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — It appears that Barry Bonds’ long-running perjury case may not go to trial until next year. The legal team for Major League Baseball’s home run king, the government lawyers prosecuting him and the judge overseeing the 3-year-old case were unable to set a definitive trial date Friday. They agreed to reconvene on Aug. 6 to try again. Bonds has pleaded not guilty to lying to a federal grand jury in 2003 when he denied knowingly taking performance- enhancing drugs. On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston told the lawyers her courtroom was only available for trial in Sep- tember this year. But Bonds’ attorneys ruled out September, making an early 2011 trial likely instead. Athletics sign Suzuki to a 4-year contract OAKLAND (AP) — Kurt Suzuki and the Oakland Ath- letics agreed to a four-year contract Friday that locks up the catcher through his arbitration years. The deal replaces Suzuki’s previous 2010 contract and includes a club option for the 2014 season. The option year is the first year Suzuki would be eligible for free agency. ‘‘Since the day Kurt got here, beyond being an outstand- ing player, he’s been an outstanding leader and a quality guy off the field as well,’’ A’s general manager Billy Beane said. ‘‘He’s the type of player you’d like to invest in. We actually started this process in the spring and started bringing up the idea. Sometimes it takes a little longer.’’ Full terms of the deal were not revealed, but Suzuki hint- ed at the price tag while talking to reporters. ‘‘If you look $16 million in the face and turn it down, to me, you’re crazy,’’ he said. ‘‘This is what I work hard for — not just for the money part — but to be in the big leagues. Working hard, doing everything you can in the offseason ... keeping yourself strong to be able to perform at a high level. It pays off and you get rewarded with a contract like this.’’ The 26-year-old Suzuki is a key part of Oakland’s future. He has led AL catchers in games started the past two seasons.