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Friday Baseball Playoffs — Corning at Pleasant Valley, 4 p.m. Baseball Playoffs — Los Molinos at East Nicolaus, 4 p.m. Baseball Playoffs — Shasta at Red Bluff, 4 p.m. Track —EAL-South Finals at Oroville, 11:30 a.m. Track —NAL Finals at West Valley, Noon Softball — Corning at Yreka, 2 p.m., doubleheader Softball — Red Bluff at Enterprise, 3:30 p.m. Soccer — Paradise at Red Bluff, 4:30 p.m. Sharks finally claim their bait Sports 1B Lady Warriors take 2nd Friday May 13, 2011 TRACK &FIELD SAN JOSE (AP) — Patrick Marleau got his first point of the series when he knocked home a rebound with 7:47 to play and the San Jose Sharks finally managed to knock out the Detroit Red Wings on their fourth try with a 3-2 victory Thursday night in Game 7 of their Western Conference semifinal series. Devin Setoguchi and Logan Couture scored in the first period and Antti Niemi made 38 saves for the Sharks, who had lost three straight potential clinching games before elim- inating the Red Wings for the second straight year in the sec- ond round. San Jose avoided becoming the fourth NHL team to lose a series after winning the first three games. A franchise known for its playoff flops avoided a colossal one and now heads into its second straight Western Conference final. That series begins Sunday in Vancouver. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg scored for the Red Wings, who fought valiantly to the end but were unable to complete their bid for an historic feat. Detroit furiously pushed for the tying goal in the frantic final minutes, but couldn’t beat Niemi again — even after getting a late power- play chance. The much-maligned Marleau, who was called ‘‘gutless’’ by former teammate Jeremy Roenick after Game 5, gave the Sharks the breathing room they had been desperately seek- ing when he poked a rebound of Setoguchi’s shot into an empty net behind Jimmy Howard to give San Jose a 3-1 lead. But as tough as it was to eliminate the Red Wings in the series, it was just that hard to close out this game. Datsyuk beat Niemi with a great individual effort to make it a one- goal game with 6:01 remaining. The Sharks had to kill off a power play, when Torrey Mitchell was called for slashing with 5:03 left, to preserve the lead. Niemi then made a stop on a tricky shot by Datsyuk in the final minute. After a scramble in front of the net, Marleau got the final clear in the closing seconds, sending the fans into delirium and giving the Sharks their first sense of relief as the clock ran out. The Red Wings fell behind 2-0 in the first period but that deficit surely wasn’t daunting to a team that overcame a 3-0 hole in the series to force this Game 7. Detroit dominated the second period despite finishing it without three of its top forwards, with Johan Franzen missing the game with an ankle injury, Todd Bertuzzi getting knocked out in the first period with an upper body injury, and Danny Cleary getting helped to the locker room after appearing to hit his head on the ice after a collision with teammate Jiri Hudler. The Red Wings outshot the Sharks 17-6 in the period but managed to get only one puck past Niemi, who made tough saves on Niklas Kronwall and Cleary in the first half of the period. Zetterberg got Detroit on the board when he beat Niemi with a backhand at the end of a three-on-two rush with 6:50 left in the second. The Red Wings kept the pressure up the rest of the way as the Sharks looked desperate for the period to end, icing the puck five times. Detroit got the final 10 shots in the period as the Sharks couldn’t manage even to get one after Setoguchi’s attempt with 7:48 to go. But Niemi was able to preserve the lead heading into the third, robbing Zetterberg with his glove late in the period. The crowd was frenzied at the start for what was being billed by many as the biggest game ever at the Shark Tank, cheering ‘‘Beat De-troit! Beat De-troit!’’ That energy from the fans was matched by the Sharks, who were thoroughly outplayed in their Game 6 loss in Detroit two nights earlier. See SHARKS, page 2B Tehama Tracker RED BLUFF TRITONS Tryouts for new members interested in joining the Red Bluff Tritons will be May 14 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Physi- cal Therapy & Wellness Center as well as May 23 and May 25 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Red Bluff High School pool. If you are interested in joining contact Pam Jackson at 736-1459 or email mattandpam@sbcglobal.net. Returning swimmers will begin practice May 23 from 3:30 to 5:15 p.m. at the high school pool. There will be two groups during this time and coaches will be assigning spe- cific time frames for each child and age group. SOAR Sun Oaks Aquatics Racing will be holding tryouts Mon- day at the Red Bluff High School pool from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Anyone ages 7-18 is encouraged to tryout. Practice for all returning team members starts May 16 at 5:30 p.m. as well. If you have any questions or would like to join Sun Oaks Aquatics please call Kathy Brandt at 354-4775 or email her at kandjbrandt@msn.com. AMERICAN LEGION Greg Cadaret will be the featured speaker at Sunday's Red Bluff American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame Dinner and Auction. Cadaret pitched 10 seasons in the major leagues, including in the 1988 World Series for the Oakland Athletics. He has managed the Redding Colt .45s and at Simpson University and was hired by Comcast Sports Net California as a studio analyst. The Hall of Fame dinner will take place at the Veterans Memorial Building at the corner of Oak and Jackson Streets. Tickets can be purchased in advance from a current Red Bluff Bulls player or at the Avant Garde or Memorial Build- ing. WRESTLING The Northern area Wrestling Association NAWA is host- ing the California USA Wrestling State Championships this weekend at Red Bluff High School. It is the Association Dual Meet Championship. It is the first time a championship has been held north of Sacramento. NAWA is the defending champion in both styles freestyle and Greco Roman. Pushed by first place finishes from Anna Curry and Desiree Crane the Lady Warriors placed second, Thurs- day, at the Mountain Valley League Track and Field Championships. Curry won the 400 meters with a time of 1:11.77 and Crane grabbed the 300-meter hurdles in 57.66. Teammate Samantha Mondragon was second at 58.13. Los Molinos had a pair of first place winners in Kevin Garnica and Francis Ocampo. Garnica edged Mercy’s Jeremie Jones to win the shot put with a mark of 42’6.5”. Jones came in at 41’11” and Los Molinos’ Jorge Salazar was third at 35’2.5”. Garnica also won the discus, with a toss of 133’5”. Ocampo won the triple jump with a mark of 28’5.5” and the long jump (13’5.25”). Mondragon was third in the long jump at 13’3.25”. Mercy’s 4x100 relay team of Curry, Rebecca Gasman, Crane and Mon- dragon placed second at 58.62 sec- onds. Mondragon was second in the 100- meter hurdles at 20.54 seconds, just ahead of Crane, who finished third at 21.52 seconds. Salazar placed third in the men’s 400 meters at a time of 58.11 seconds. Providence Christian won both the boys and girls competitions. They beat out the Lady Warriors 120-64. Redding Christian was third at 55 points. Los Molinos finished sev- enth with 20 points. The boys competition was closer with Providence Christian winding up with 87 points, followed by Hayfork with 58 and Biggs with 39. Los Molinos was fifth with 36 points and Mercy was eighth with eight points. Cain pitches Giants to 6th straight win Daily News photo by Rich Greene Matt Cain tries to duck out of the way of a pitch,Thursday, against the Arizona Diamondbacks. SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Matt Cain didn’t have much time to react at the ball coming straight for his head. The San Francisco pitcher tried to twist out of the way but hit the dirt within sec- onds, clutching his right hand in pain. It was the most damage the Ari- zona Diamondbacks inflicted on Cain all afternoon. Cain stayed in the game and finished his best outing in nearly a month, Nate Schierholtz added three hits and made an outstanding defensive play and the Giants beat the Diamondbacks 3-2 Thursday to complete a perfect homestand. ‘‘Matty’s so tough,’’ San Fran- cisco manager Bruce Bochy said. ‘‘He could have come out of that game but he wanted to stay in. He just kept going out there throwing up zeros.’’ Cain (3-2) scattered seven hits over 7 2-3 innings with seven strikeouts and one walk to win for the first time since April 15. He retired 17 of 18 hitters during one stretch and left to a rousing ova- tion from the sold-out crowd at AT&T Park after giving up back- to-back hits with two outs in the ninth. Cain might not have made it that far had the pitch from Arizona starter Daniel Hudson missed a lit- tle more inside. Cain, who was trying to put down a sacrifice bunt, tried to get out of the way but was hit on the back of his hand and immediately dropped to his knees as manager Bruce Bochy and trainer Dave Groeschner rushed out from the dugout. Plate umpire Bill Miller ruled the ball hit Cain’s bat and was a foul. After getting checked out, Cain stayed in the game and got the bunt down, moving Eli White- side from second to third. Andres Torres followed with a double and Aubrey Huff’s RBI single made it ‘‘Those are the ones where you really don’t have a whole lot of options to get out of the way.The bat and my hand probably saved my face.’’ — San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain 3-0. ‘‘Those are the ones where you really don’t have a whole lot of options to get out of the way,’’ Cain said. ‘‘The bat and my hand probably saved my face.’’ Whiteside doubled twice to help the surging Giants go 6-0 at home. They swept Colorado and then Arizona to extend their sea- son-high winning streak to six games. Gerardo Parra, Xavier Nady and Justin Upton had two hits apiece for Arizona, which has lost four straight. The Diamondbacks scored twice in the eighth and had the tying run at third base with one out in the ninth before Javier Lopez recorded the final two outs for his first save in nearly five years. ‘‘I feel like we got outplayed this series, I got outmanaged and they swept us,’’ Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. ‘‘Those guys are the world cham- pions and they showed it this series. We’ve got to just pick our- selves up.’’ Schierholtz, making his 10th start of the season, made big plays in the field and at the plate to give the Giants an early boost. He sin- gled in Cody Ross in the second for a 1-0 lead, then threw out Parra at second base after he singled off the wall in right the next inning. Schierholtz, who grounded out with the bases loaded in the third, also beat out an infield single in the sixth but was stranded at third. The Giants tacked on two more and Cain made it stand up with his best outing in nearly a month. He left after giving up back-to-back singles with two outs in the eighth. ‘‘That’s definitely the homes- tand we needed,’’ Cain said. ‘‘I got those guys in a little bit of a pick- le in the eighth and the bullpen really didn’t worry about it.’’ Reliever Jeremy Affeldt got Stephen Drew to hit a sharp grounder to first, but the ball glanced off Huff’s glove for a hit. Parra easily scored from third to end the shutout bid. Upton followed with an RBI single off Ramon Ramirez to cut the gap to 3-2, but Ramirez got Russell Branyan to ground out wit the tying run at second. Ryan Roberts singled leading off the ninth for Arizona and took third on Chris Young’s pinch-hit single. Lopez, working in the clos- er role while Brian Wilson rested after pitching five straight games, struck out Kelly Johnson and then got Parra on a swinging strikeout to end the game. It was Lopez’s first save since Sept. 12, 2006. NOTES: Giants C Buster Posey was held out of the starting lineup after taking two foul balls off his mask on Wednesday night. ‘‘There are no concerns or issues,’’ Bochy said. ‘‘We’re just being a little careful.’’ ... Giants RHP Santiago Casilla, on the DL since April 6 with an inflamed right elbow, is scheduled to start for Class-A San Jose on Friday. Bochy said the plan is for Casilla to throw 20- 25 pitches, then be stretched out to two innings in his next outing. ... The Giants have sold out each of their 15 home games. ... This is San Francisco’s first undefeated home stand of five games or more since May 25-30, 2004. Mountain Valley League Finals SJ Detroit 2 Sharks 3 4-3 Arizona 2 Giants 3