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2B – Daily News – Wednesday, May 4, 2011 Lady Spartans top Paradise By JEFFLARSON MediaNews Group PARADISE — Red Bluff senior Emily McEnaney committed what turned into a two-run error, allowing the Paradise High softball team a 4-3 lead through five innings of play. Spar- tans coach J Howell wasn’t fazed one bit by McEnaney’s blunder or the fact that his team trailed what he called a good Paradise team with two innings to play. Howell knew both McEnaney, a four-year varsity star who broke the Northern Section’s home run record against Paradise at the Lassen tourna- ment, and the team would recover. The Spartans did just that, scoring four runs off sophomore Jessica Sals- bury in the top of the seventh inning to again push past Paradise and record a 7-4 victory over the surging Bobcats in an Eastern Athletic League South bat- tle Tuesday night in Paradise. McEnaney played a huge role, lac- ing a well-struck ball to left-center to load the bases for cleanup hitter Brit- tney Fletcher with zero outs in the sev- enth. The junior catcher came through with a bloop single just over second base to score Haley Harris and tie the game at four. Two batters later, Morgan Weaver pushed home the go-ahead run on a fielder’s choice that scored Megan McColpin. Howell was pleased with his team, especially McEnaney for staying focused, and once again pulling out a come-from-behind win over Paradise. Back on April 5 it was Tayler Zazueta crushing a two-run home run to enable the Spartans (21-4, 9-1 EAL South) to win 6-5 in extra innings. Nearly two months later and it was McEnaney and the top of the order touching up a pitch- er in Salsbury who had retired seven of the last 10 batters she faced heading into the seventh inning. “(Emily) is a clutch player, you are not going to see her make mistakes very often. I’ll take her at the plate any day. She’s another one of those kids that competes, competes, competes,” Howell said. “We talk about competing till the last out and that’s what the girls did today.” Paradise (20-7, 7-3) – winners of four straight heading into Tuesday – fell an inning short. It appeared as if the team would avenge that loss to Red Bluff on April 5 when Katie McSpad- den came up three batters following McEnaney’s error, and found a hole in shallow left field for her lone hit of the game that scored the team’s second straight unearned run and put Paradise in front, 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth. After scoring the go-ahead run, Sals- bury returned to the circle in the sixth and retired three of the four batters she faced to complete her fourth scoreless inning. Salsbury was in a groove, the team was fired up, especially after senior Alex Sobrero, who is bound for Division I North Dakota State in the fall, made a diving basket catch in right-center that Paradise coach Lennie Dean said is a surefire ESPN top ten play for the second out of the sixth inning. “There’s a reason why she’s going to play Division I, I mean if that wasn’t the catch of the year I don’t know what would be,” Dean said. “We gave her a little SportsCenter highlight reel when she came in.” But the play didn’t carry over after Paradise stranded its 10th runner in the bottom of the sixth inning. Jessica Sharp came up with no outs and Melanie Winans on first base. Yet the senior four-year varsity player hit a screaming line drive to second which Harris snared and proceeded to pick off Winans for a double play. Danielle Kelm followed with her second hit of the game but was left stranded at first when Stephanie Zinn again lined out to Harris to end the inning. “We were looking for some insur- ance runs but we didn’t come up with the clutch hits when we needed to,” Dean said. Red Bluff did in the seventh to over- take Paradise once again. Rose named NBAMVP LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill. (AP) — Right from the start, Derrick Rose wondered why he couldn’t be the MVP. It turns out, nothing was stop- ping him. Rose officially became the NBA’s youngest MVP on Tuesday and joined Michael Jordan as the only Bulls play- ers to win the award. The news was hardly a surprise after Rose had a spectacular season in leading Chicago to the league’s best record Rose has a ways to go before he catches Jordan, who won five MVPs and led the way to two title three-peats, but he sure is off to a good start. In his third year, the dynamic point guard led the Bulls to their best season since the championship era. The 22-year-old Rose got 113 first- place votes from a panel of media vot- ers. Orlando’s Dwight Howard fin- ished second, Miami’s LeBron James was third, the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant was fourth and Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant finished fifth. A product of Chicago’s South Side, Rose established himself as one of the top players in the league after going from Rookie of the Year to an All-Star in his first two seasons. He took anoth- er step this year with one of the best all-around performances by a point guard. He averaged 25 points and 7.7 assists while leading Chicago into con- tention for its first championship since the Jordan-Scottie Pippen era. For all the groaning over the Bulls missing out on James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in free agency, they did quite well for themselves anyway. Looking for more after back-to- back 41-win seasons and first-round playoff exits, they fired coach Vinny Del Negro and replaced him with Tom Thibodeau. Then, they landed Carlos Boozer and supporting players like Kyle Korver, giving the Bulls the inside scoring presence they were lack- ing and one of the deepest rotations. It all added up to this — a 62-20 record and homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs. They advanced past the first round for just the second time since the champi- onship era, and the biggest reason for all that, of course, was Rose. He showed up to training camp openly wondering why he couldn’t be MVP. Then, he backed it up. He ranked seventh in scoring and 10th in assists, making him the only player this season in the top 10 in both categories. The only other Bull to do so was Jordan in 1988-89, when he led the league in scoring (32.5 points) and finished 10th in assists, according to information provided to the team by the Elias Sports Bureau. Throw in a 4.1 rebounding average, and Rose joins another elite group. He’s the seventh player in league histo- ry to average at least 25 points, 7.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds, along with Jordan, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Larry Bird, Wade and James, accord- ing to Elias. impressive. In the postseason, he’s been just as He scored 39 and 36 points in the first two playoff games against Indi- ana. Then he shook off two subpar per- formances and a sprained left ankle to score 25 points in Game 5 as the top- seeded Bulls closed out what had been a tight first-round series with a 116-89 victory. They stumbled in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against Atlanta, losing 103-95. Rose scored 24 points, but he hit just 11 of 27 shots and did not attempt a free throw. He also limped off the court after twisting his left ankle, but expects to be ready for Game 2 on Wednesday. It’s been a rapid, steady climb for a player who came into the league with soaring expectations. He helped Sime- on Career Academy become the first Chicago Public League team to win back-to-back state championships, then led Memphis to the NCAA cham- pionship game before the Bulls drafted him with the No. 1 pick in 2008. Since then, he’s been everything Chicago imagined. He’s added new wrinkles to his game every season, expanding the range on his jumper to go with those explosive drives to the basket. He went from shooting 22.2 percent and 26.7 percent on 3-pointers his first two years to a more respectable 33.2 per- cent this season, and his scoring aver- age again climbed about four points after going from 16.8 to 20.8 his first two years. No surprise there. He was a fixture at the team’s prac- tice facility in the offseason when he wasn’t getting ready for the world championships. When he was on the road, he was constantly checking in, asking about his teammates and what he should be doing. That struck a chord with Thi- bodeau, the long time NBA assistant who finally got a shot after helping Boston win a championship and get back to the NBA finals. So did this: the experience Rose gained with the national team, particularly playing alongside Chauncey Billups. Now, the kid from the South Side who led his hometown team back to prominence can call himself MVP. Twins’ Francisco Liriano throws no-hitter CHICAGO (AP) — Francisco Liriano’s 123rd pitch of the night headed to the plate, and Adam Dunn turned on it. The ball streaked toward the left side of the infield. For an instant, it appeared Liriano’s no-hit bid might be shattered with one out to go. Shortstop Matt Tolbert took two steps to his right, gloved the liner, spun around and raised the ball in triumph with his bare hand. Then he sprinted to the mound, where the pitcher was being mobbed by team- mates, to personally deliver the prize. On a cold night at U.S. Cellular Field, Liriano wiped away the memory of NBA PLAYOFFS Conference Semifinals Tuesday’s results Miami 102, Boston 91 Miami leads series 2-0 Oklahoma City 111, Memphis 102 Series tied 1-1 Today’s games Atlanta at Chicago, 5 p.m., TNT Atlanta leads series 1-0 Dallas at L.A. Lakers, 7:30 p.m., TNT Dallas leads series 1-0 all those shaky outings this season, pitching a no-hitter that led the Minnesota Twins over the Chicago White Sox 1-0 Tuesday. ‘‘It was a crazy night,’’ said Liriano, who might have been pitching to save his spot in the rotation fol- lowing a 1-4 start with a 9.13 ERA coming in. ‘‘When I go out there I try to think positive,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t want to think about, ‘They’re going to put me in the bullpen.’ I just try to do my best.’’ Liriano was running low on energy in the final innings, even as his pitches were still baffling the hap- less White Sox and pressure mounted. With the no-hitter within reach and his pitch count climbing, he relied on NHL PLAYOFFS Conference Semifinals Tuesday’s results Tampa Bay 4, Washington 3 Tampa Bay leads series 3-0 Vancouver 3, Nashville 2, OT Vancouver leads series 2-1 Today’s games San Jose at Detroit, 5 p.m., CSNC San Jose leads series 2-0 Philadelphia at Boston, 4 p.m., VS Boston leads series 2-0 Washington at Tampa Bay, 4 p.m. Tampa Bay leads series 2-0 defense to help him finish. ‘‘To be honest I was run- ning out of gas,’’ he said. ‘‘I just thank my teammates that they made some great plays behind me tonight.’’ Liriano (2-4) walked six and struck out two in his first complete game in 95 major league starts. The 27- year-old left-hander, who reached the big leagues in 2005, matched his career high with 123 pitches. ‘‘I can’t explain it. I feel so nervous and so happy right now,’’ Liriano said. He survived a rocky ninth inning that began when Brent Morel ground- ed to shortstop and Tolbert made a one-hop throw that first baseman Justin LOCAL REC Coed 2 Softball WL Pct GB Up In Flames Pritchard Logging 1 1 .500 1 Rub a Dub St. Elizabeth 2 0 1.000 — 1 1 .500 1 1 1 .500 1 Tehama Angus 1 1 .500 1 Cornerstone 0 2 .000 2 ————————————————— Monday’s results Rub a Dub 5, Pritchard Logging 3 Tehama Angus Ranch 12, St. Elizabeth 0 Up in Flames 8, Cornerstone 0 May 9 games — Frey Field Tehama Angus at Cornerstone, 6:30 p.m. Rub a Dub at Up in Flames, 7:30 p.m. St. Elizabeth at Pritchard, 8:30 p.m. Morneau scooped. Juan Pierre walked and Alexei Ramirez popped to short- stop. Liriano fell behind Dunn 3-0 in the count, then got a pair of strikes. After a foul ball, Dunn followed with perhaps the hardest-hit ball off Liriano all night. ‘‘I thought it was a base hit,’’ Liriano said. ‘‘When I saw him catch it, I was so excited.’’ MLS WESTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA Galaxy 4 2 3 15 11 9 Salt Lake 4 1 0 12 8 2 Seattle 3 2 3 12 10 7 Colorado 3 3 1 10 9 8 FC Dallas 3 3 1 10 10 10 Portland 3 3 1 10 10 13 Chivas USA 2 2 3 9 8 6 Vancouver 1 4 3 6 11 14 QUAKES 14 2 5 6 10 EASTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA New York 4 1 2 14 10 2 Philadelphia 4 1 1 13 5 2 Houston 3 1 3 12 11 6 Columbus 3 1 3 12 7 5 N. England 2 3 3 9 8 12 D.C. 2 4 17 10 16 Toronto FC 1 3 4 7 7 13 Chicago 1 3 3 6 10 13 Kansas City 1 4 1 4 10 13 NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie. ————————————————— Today’s games Seattle FC at D.C. United, 4:30 p.m. Colorado at Houston, 5:30 p.m. Huff homers in 10th, Giants beat New York NEW YORK (AP) — Aubrey Huff ended an 0-for-20 slump with a leadoff homer in the 10th inning and the San Francisco Giants snapped out of their offensive slumber, beat- ing the New York Mets 7-6 on Tuesday night. Nate Schierholtz homered for the Giants, who had lost eight of 11. The defending World Series champi- ons, shut out three times in their previous six games, entered with the second-worst offense in the National League. Javier Lopez (1-0) and Francisco Rodriguez escaped dicey jams in the ninth before Huff sent a 2-0 pitch from Taylor Buch- holz (1-1) off the facing of the right-field over- hang for his third home run. Before that, Huff was in a 3-for-37 rut with one RBI during that stretch. He entered the game batting .190. Brian Wilson got three outs to earn his ninth save in 10 chances. Carlos Beltran hit a three-run homer and Ike Davis a two-run shot for the Mets off Ryan Vogelsong, a winner last week at Pittsburgh in his first major league start since 2004. The 33-year-old jour- neyman was a brief respite for the Mets while facing Roy Halla- day, Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum in a four- game stretch. New York had the bases loaded in the bot- tom of the ninth, but Josh Thole grounded into a 1-2-3 double play to end the inning. The Giants entered ranked 15th out of 16 NL teams in runs (99) and on-base percentage (.295). Only the San Diego Padres were worse in those cate- gories. Before arriving in New York, they were shut out twice while losing three of four in Washington. San Fran- cisco totaled four runs during the entire series and had scored 23 in their last 11 games. Manager Bruce Bochy said the offense was ‘‘awful right now,’’ so he tried to do some- thing about it. Second baseman Freddy Sanchez and left fielder Pat Burrell were left out of a lineup that had lit- tle Mike Fontenot bat- MLB West Division Texas American League WL Pct GB Angels 16 14 .533 .5 A’s 16 13 .552 — 15 14 .517 1 Seattle 13 16 .448 3 East Division WL Pct GB New York 17 10 .630 — Tampa Bay 16 13 .552 2 Boston 14 15 .483 4 Baltimore 13 15 .464 4.5 Toronto 13 16 .448 5 Central Division WL Pct GB Cleveland 19 8 .704 — Kansas City16 13 .552 4 Detroit 13 17 .433 7.5 Minnesota 10 18 .357 9.5 Chicago 11 20 .355 10 ————————————————— Tuesday’s results Cleveland at Oakland, late Boston 7, Los Angeles 3 Detroit 4, New York 2 Kansas City 6, Baltimore 5, 10 innings Minnesota 1, Chicago 0 Tampa Bay 3, Toronto 2 Texas at Seattle, late Today’s games Cleveland (Tomlin 4-0) at Oakland (Cahill 4-0),7:05 p.m.,CSNC+ Minnesota (Blackburn 1-4) at Chicago (Danks 0-4), 11:10 a.m., WGN Toronto (Morrow 0-1) at Tampa Bay (Niemann 1-3), 3:40 p.m. New York (F.Garcia 1-1) at Detroit (Scherzer 4-0), 4:05 p.m. Los Angeles (E.Santana 1-3) at Boston (Beckett 2-1), 4:10 p.m., ESPN Baltimore (Arrieta 3-1) at Kansas City (Davies 1-3), 5:10 p.m. Texas (C.Wilson 3-1) at Seattle (Pineda 4-1), 7:10 p.m. Thursday’s games Cleveland at Oakland, 12:35 p.m. New York at Detroit, 10:05 a.m. Toronto at Tampa Bay, 10:10 a.m. Los Angeles at Boston, 10:35 a.m. Baltimore at Kansas City, 11:10 a.m. Texas at Seattle, 7:10 p.m. ting third. The team held a longer-than-usual hitters’ meeting before the game, and Bochy himself threw knuckle- balls to his players dur- ing batting practice to get them ready for Mets starter R.A. Dickey. Apparently, it helped. San Francisco scored four times in the third to take a 4-3 lead, getting RBI singles from Vogel- song and Aaron Rowand before Fontenot’s two-run sin- gle capped the rally. The Giants were 3 for 42 with runners in scoring position during the first seven games of their road trip before getting three hits in those situations in the third inning alone Tues- day. Schierholtz’s second homer of the season put San Francisco up 6-5 in the sixth, but Jose Reyes tied it in the bot- tom half with a broken- bat RBI single over a drawn-in infield. Reyes drew three walks, one intentional, after coming into the game with eight this season. He finished 3 for 3 with a stolen base. Playing their first home game since Presi- dent Barack Obama announced Sunday night that terrorist leader Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan, the Mets donated 4,000 tickets to military mem- bers and their families. New York wore spe- cial stars-and-stripes caps, and five members of the armed services threw out ceremonial first pitches, receiving a warm hand from the crowd of 32,288. Marine Corps veteran Sgt. Elizabeth Quinones sang ‘‘God Bless Amer- ica’’ during the seventh- inning stretch, prompt- ing brief chants of ‘‘U- S-A! U-S-A!’’ Before the game, Mets manager Terry Collins said he thought all the servicemen in the stands would give his team ‘‘a lot of ener- gy.’’ ‘‘I think there will be a lot of emotions tonight,’’ he said. But there were sever- al ‘‘Let’s Go Giants!’’ chants in the late innings. MLB West Division National League WL Pct GB Colorado 17 9 .654 — Dodgers 14 15 .483 4.5 GIANTS 13 15 .464 5 Arizona 12 15 .444 5.5 Padres 11 17 .393 7 East Division WL Pct GB Florida 18 9 .667 — Philadelphia18 9 .667 — Atlanta 15 15 .500 4.5 Washington 14 14 .500 4.5 New York 12 16 .429 6.5 Central Division WL Pct GB St. Louis 16 13 .552 — Cincinnati 14 14 .500 1.5 Milwaukee 13 15 .464 2.5 Pittsburgh 13 15 .464 2.5 Chicago 12 15 .444 3 Houston 11 17 .393 4.5 ————————————————— Monday’s results San Francisco 7,New York 6,10 innings Houston 10, Cincinnati 4 Philadelphia 4, Washington 1 St. Louis 7, Florida 5 Chicago at Los Angeles, late Colorado at Arizona, late Pittsburgh at San Diego, late Milwaukee at Atlanta, ppd., rain Today’s games San Francisco (Lincecum 2-3) at New York (Capuano 2-2),4:10 p.m.,CSNB Houston (An.Rodriguez 0-0) at Cincinnati (T.Wood 1-3), 9:35 a.m. Chicago (Zambrano 3-1) at Los Angeles (Lilly 2-2), 12:10 p.m. Milwaukee (Estrada 1-0) at Atlanta (Hanson 3-3), 1:10 p.m Pittsburgh (Correia 4-2) at San Diego (Richard 1-2), 3:35 p.m. Washington (Marquis 3-0) at Philadelphia (Worley 1-0), 4:05 p.m. Milwaukee (Greinke 0-0) at Atlanta (T.Hudson 3-2), 4:40 p.m. Florida (Vazquez 2-2) at St. Louis (Carpenter 0-2), 5:15 p.m. Colorado (Chacin 3-2) at Arizona (Enright 1-2), 6:40 p.m. Thursday’s games San Francisco at New York, 10:10 a.m. Houston at Cincinnati, 9:35 a.m. Florida at St. Louis, 10:40 a.m. Washington at Philadelphia, 4:05 p.m. Milwaukee at Atlanta, 4:10 p.m. Colorado at Arizona, 6:40 p.m. Monday’s late results Los Angeles 5, Chicago 2 Pittsburgh 4, San Diego 3 N.Y. Mets 6, 10 inn Giants 7 Red Bluff 7 12 1 Paradise 4 14 0 NBA Minnesota 1 Chi. White Sox 0