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JeffGordonisthird all-time with seven Darlington victories, including a record six Southern 500s. He'd love nothing more than to lock up a spot in Sprint Cup's championship chase with another checkered flag at the track "Too Tough To Tame" on Sunday. TERRY RENNA — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ByPeteIacobelli TheAssociatedPress DARLINGTON, S.C. Jeff Gordon hopes to make his last Southern 500 as a full-time driver as mem- orable as the rest of his career at Darlington Raceway. Gordon is third all-time with seven Darlington victories, in- cluding a record six Southern 500s. He'd love nothing more than to lock up a spot in Sprint Cup's championship chase with another checkered flag at the track "Too Tough To Tame." "That would be huge," said Gordon, who sits a precarious 13th in points for the 16-driver Chase playoff. "I feel like we were in pretty comfortable position a month ago and we've just had some misfortunes." A win at Darlington on Sunday night would be a welcome balm for Gordon's winless team and ease his worries about limping through the final 10 races with little to race for in his farewell season. "We definitely feel pressure and it's a little bit stressful right now being on the bubble," Gor- don said Friday. "I feel like we've performed well enough to be se- curely in by points, but I can't say we've performed well enough to be real confident coming in here that we're going to be one of the cars to beat." That has not happened of- ten this season for Gordon, the 44-year-old four-time Sprint Cup champion who announced earlier this year he would step away from his longtime, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports ride. He has come close — a third place at Bristol in April and at Pocono last month are his best showings this year — yet has not shown the magic and skill of last year's run when he won four races and finished sixth in the Chase. NASCAR SPRINT CUP Sayingsolong,ladyinblack Gordon hopes to make memorable Darlington finale, with his spot in Chase still up for grabs Staff Reports ORLAND The Mercy Warriors volleyball and girls' tennis teams took losses in Orland on Thurs- day. The volleyball team lost 3-2 to the Providence Lions in a non- conference match. Dropping the first set 25-20, the Warriors took the next two sets 25-14 and 25-23. The Lions came back for a 25-20 fourth set and the tiebreaker went to Providence 15-5. Standouts for Mercy were Mad- eline Flynn with 15 kills and three blocks; Laura Keane with eight kills and four blocks; Annie Fe- ser with six kills, a block and an assist; and Tasha Pimentel with 30 assists. The Warriors are scheduled to play Mount Shasta at home at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Warriors tennis team dropped its match against the Or- land Trojans on Thursday. Five singles matches were lost 6-0 and another was forfeited. In doubles, Mary Dimaggio and Grace Grinton kept up with Trin- ity Smith and Katy Kraemer but fell 9-8. Gabriela Fujita and Joy Nguyen lost 8-0 and a third match was a forfeit. The Warriors are scheduled to take the court at home against Live Oak at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17. ROUNDUP Two Mercy teams fall in matches in Orland ROCKIES2,GIANTS1 Up next: San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies, 5:10p.m. Satur- day, TV on CSNBA. THESCORE By Andrew Baggarly Bay Area News Group DENVER It was a moment for Buster Posey to be Buster Posey. Instead, the San Francisco Gi- ants' cleanup-hitting star flung his bat and snapped off his leg protector after Colorado's Jorge De La Rosa drilled him in the back with a pitch in the sixth in- ning. So with the bases loaded, it was a moment for Hunter Pence to be Hunter Pence. Instead, the Gi- ants had Marlon Byrd. He swung BASEBALL Rockies hand Giants seventh straight loss Hundreds of migrants frus- trated at being stuck at two train stations in Hungary set off on foot for Austria on Fri- day, one group forming a line nearly a half-mile long as they streamed out of Budapest. EUROPE MIGRANTS RefugeesinHungary moving west on foot FULL STORY ON PAGE B8 By Howard Fendrich The Associated Press NEW YORK Can't count out Ser- ena Williams, no matter how big the deficit, no matter how off-target her strokes, no matter how much the pressure might be mounting as she bids for a calen- dar-year Grand Slam. Eight times this season at ma- jor tournaments, Williams has dropped the opening set. Eight times, she has won. The latest comeback was in the third round of the U.S. Open on Friday night, when Williams figured out a way to deal with a tricky opponent and get her own game going before it was too late, eventually emerging to grab the last eight games for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 victory over American wild-card entry Bethanie Mattek-Sands. "I'm not trying to live on the edge," Williams said with a big smile. Perhaps. Still, no one does it better. And with so much at stake, no less. "She's a great closer," Mattek- Sands said. "Always has been." The No. 1-ranked Williams is trying to become the first tennis player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to win all four Grand Slam tourna- ments in the same season. She won the Australian Open on hard courts in January, the French Open on clay courts in June, and Wimbledon on grass courts in July, and now is four wins away from adding the trophy on the hard courts of the U.S. Open. Add in her title last year in New York, and Williams is bidding for a fifth consecutive Grand Slam ti- tle and 22nd overall, which would equal Graf for the second-most in the professional era, which began in 1968, and second-most in his- tory behind Margaret Court's 24. So it's understandable that Williams acknowledged feeling "tight" and "nervous" in her sec- U.S. OPEN SERENA RALLIES IN TRY TO WIN SLAM No. 1-ranked Williams looks to become first player since Graf in 1988 to win all 4 majors MATT ROURKE — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Venus Williams, of the United States, reacts to her coach's box a er defeating Belinda Bencic, of Switzerland, during the third round of the U.S. Open on Friday in New York. JULIO CORTEZ — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Serena Williams returns a shot to Bethanie Mattek-Sands during the third round of the U.S. Open on Friday in New York. A jailed Kentucky clerk as- serted that marriage licenses issued without her author- ity Friday to gay couples in Rowan County are void and "not worth the paper they are written on," her attorney said. KENTUCKY Clerk's lawyer: Marriage licenses for gays void FULL STORY ON PAGE B6 The 49ers released defensive lineman Darnell Dockett, linebacker Philip Wheeler, safety Craig Dahl, offensive linemen Joe Looney and Patrick Miller and receiver Issac Blakeney on Friday. FOOTBALL 49ers release Dockett, five others Friday Offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave is bringing some of the up-tempo style he learned under Chip Kelly. That should work well for QB Derek Carr, who excelled in a no-huddle system in college. FOOTBALL Raiders look to feature up-tempo offense NASCAR PAGE 2 TENNIS PAGE 2 GIANTS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, September 5, 2015 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1