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Wednesday Baseball — Marist, Ore. at Red Bluff, 3 p.m. Baseball — Williams at Mercy, 3:30 p.m. Softball — Williams at Mercy, 3:30 p.m. Track — Los Molinos at University Prep, 2:30 p.m. Track — Red Bluff at West Valley, 3:30 p.m. NBA — Kings at Nets, 4:30 p.m., CSNCA Sports 1B Lady Spartans open strong Wednesday March 24, 2010 Cottonwood’s Ballard wins MMA debut fight Thomas Ballard By AVERY VILCHE Special to the DN Cottonwood’s Thomas Ballard’s Mixed Martial Arts career is off to a great start. Daily News photo by Rich Greene Red Bluff’s Stevie Boone beats out a throw to first base,Tuesday, during the sixth inning. By RICHGREENE DN Sports Editor The Lady Spartans opened up East- ern Athletic League softball play with a solid, mistake-free effort, Tuesday, beating the Foothill Cougars 4-0. “We’re doing all the little things right and it adds up to the big things,” coach J Howell said. One example of those little things was Emily McEnaney taking the extra base. On two separate occasions she went from first to third on a Megan McColpin sacrifice bunt. On the sec- ond one, she ended up scoring a run after the Foothill defense threw it away trying to catch her at third. “I saw they weren’t really prepared for me going around so I figured take every advantage I can get,” McEnaney said. The Spartans leadoff hitter reached base during all four of her plate appearances, scoring the first three Red Bluff runs and driving in the fourth on a sharply hit ball to second base. On the mound, McColpin said she felt it wasn’t her best performance. Still she pitched a shutout, seeming- ly getting stronger when Foothill man- aged to put runners on base. McColpin pitched the complete game to pick up the win, allowing five hits and striking out six. A fine defensive play at the plate in the fifth inning by Spartans catcher Brittany Fletcher kept the shutout going. Fletcher blocked the plate as she waited for the ball to come in from left field. When it did she couldn’t hold on to the ball at first and it fell to the dirt. However the Foothill player had never made it to home plate and Fletcher alertly picked up the ball and tagged her out. Fletcher also had an RBI single in the game and freshman Haley Harris added a couple of singles including an RBI. Danisha Slay also singled twice for Red Bluff, which improved to 7-2 overall on the season after going 4-2 over the weekend at a tournament in Lassen. “It gave us a lot of game play,” McColpin said of how the six games over the weekend prepared them for the EAL season. The Lady Spartans host Lassen on Thursday. Foothill shuts down Red Bluff offense By RICH GREENE DNSports Editor The Lady Spartans had difficulty producing any type of offensive effort in the second half, Tuesday and fell 2-0 to the visiting Foothill Cougars. Red Bluff had started the match with a strong offensive push. They earned a pair of corner kicks in the first 20 minutes and were constantly press- ing Foothill back into their half of the pitch. But as the first half drew to a close the Cougars began making threats to the Spartan goal on counter- attacks and at the 38- minute mark they beat Spartan keeper Jaklyn Wheeler on a beautifully taken shot from about 20 yards out that just bent over the Spartan keeper’s out- stretched fingertips. Foothill struck again 10 minutes into the second half when a shot rebounded off the crossbar and to the feet of a waiting Cougar attacker who buried it in the net for a 2-0 lead. Red Bluff’s defense held strong to keep the scoreline at 2-0, but offen- sively they never chal- lenged Foothill for the remainder of the game. On March 19th at the Lord's Gym in Sacramento, Ballard made his MMA debut. He succeeded in making his weight cut — he even made it a few pounds under, weighing in at 200 pounds for his 205-pound agreed weight. His opponent, Robert Acuna of Sacramento, weighed in a pound heavy at 206. In the tale of the tape, Ballard was 6' 2" and Acuna was 5' 6". Ballard was a little nervous, this being his first fight, but he knew he was ready. He put in his hours of training every day and was ready to come out pounding. As his name was announced, he was booed loudly by the hometown crowd. His oppo- nent, Acuna, was given the hero's welcome — lots of cheers and high expectations. The bell rang and both men came out swinging. Ballard threw some good straight punches and Acuna threw some powerful bombs, too. Ballard got him up against the fence and started striking Acuna with a flurry of knees to the body, weakening Acuna visibly. Ballard forced him down as he sprawled on him, pinning him against the fence and finished the round out with some brutal rabbit punches to the head. Acuna was not answering back with any punches of his own and was not even covering up much. The bell rang, and both fighters went to their cor- ners. The referee announced that Acuna was done — he quit after the first round via verbal submis- sion, meaning he couldn't take anymore punishment. Later it was learned Acuna had suffered a pair of broken ribs. Ballard had his had raised in victory and had won the hometown's approval for an excellent fight that was packed with action. The new fighter was thrilled, as were his corners — Avery and John Vilche. Scoreboard MLB Tuesday’s results San Francisco 6, Chicago White Sox 1 Detroit 6, Washington 2 Florida 5, Baltimore 2 Houston 11, Pittsburgh 1 Kansas City 5, Chicago Cubs 5, tie Milwaukee 10, Cleveland 2 Minnesota 7, Boston 2 N.Y.Mets 7, Atlanta 6 Philadelphia 4, Tampa Bay 3 San Diego 9, Colorado 6 Seattle 6, L.A. Angels 4 Today’s Grapefruit League games Baltimore vs St. Louis, 10:05 a.m. Boston vs Pittsburgh, 10:05 a.m. Florida vs Minnesota, 10:05 a.m. Philadelphia vs Atlanta, 10:05 a.m., ESPN Toronto vs Tampa Bay, 10:05 a.m. Houston vs N.Y. Mets, 10:10 a.m. Washington vs N.Y.Yankees, 4:05 p.m. Today’s Cactus League games San Francisco (ss) vs Cincinnati,1:05 p.m. San Francisco (ss) vs Kansas City,6:05 p.m. L.A. Dodgers vs Oakland, 7:35 p.m. Arizona vs Chicago White Sox, 1:05 p.m. Chicago Cubs vs Texas, 1:05 p.m. Kansas City (ss) vs L.A. Angels, 1:05 p.m. Seattle vs San Diego, 7:05 p.m. NBA Daily News photo by Rich Greene Spartans sweeper Jessica Rabalais tracks down a ball,Thursday. Tehama Tracker Warriors baseball Behind a 4-RBI perfor- mance from Scott Farmer, Mercy topped American Christian Academy 6-5 on Tuesday. Pat Farmer picked up the win on the mound and also had an RBI. Mitchell Lopez recorded the save. Bulldogs baseball Los Molinos built up a 8- 0 lead over Portola over the weekend at the Bobby Hill Tournament, but eventually lost the game 12-9. Cardinals softball Corning went 1-2 at the Yreka Tournament with a 16-3 win over Hidden Val- ley and a 7-2 loss to Etna and 6-1 defeat to La Salle. Against Hidden Valley, Sonya Scott doubled, tripled and drove in three runs. Angelica Ramos also tripled and drove in two runs. Michelle Silva had a pair of doubles and an RBI dur- ing a 3-for-4 day. Erica White and Morgan Parker each drove in two runs and Anna Curry struck out 11 batters. Karlie Jennings drove in an RBI against Etna and Nelson had an RBI against La Salle. Tuesday’s results Charlotte 95, Washington 86, OT Dallas 106, L.A. Clippers 96 Indiana 98, Detroit 83 New York 109, Denver 104 Today’s games Sacramento at New Jersey,4:30 p.m.,CSNCA Memphis at Golden State,7:30 p.m.,CSNBA Denver at Boston, 4 p.m., ESPN Minnesota at Charlotte, 4 p.m. Orlando at Atlanta, 4 p.m. Utah at Toronto, 4 p.m. Washington at Indiana, 4 p.m. Cleveland at New Orleans, 5 p.m. Houston at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m. Philadelphia at Milwaukee, 5 p.m. L.A. Lakers at San Antonio, 6:30 p.m., ESPN Monday’s late result Phoenix 133, Golden State 131 NIT Quarterfinals — Tuesday’s results Mississippi 90, Texas Tech 87, 2OT North Carolina 60, UAB 55 Quarterfinals – Today’s games CBI Semifinals — Today’s games Boston U. at Virginia Commonwealth, 4 p.m. Princeton at Saint Louis, 6 p.m. CIT Semifinals — Today’s games Pacific at Appalchian State, TBA Creighton at Missouri State, TBA WOMENSNCAA DAYTON REGIONAL Second Round — Tuesday’s results Connecticut 90, Temple 36 Mississippi State 87, Ohio State 67 Iowa State 60, Wisconsin-Green Bay 56 MEMPHIS REGIONAL Second Round — Tuesday’s result San Diego State 64, West Virginia 55 SACRAMENTO REGIONAL Second Round — Tuesday’s result Xavier 63, Vanderbilt 62 KANSAS CITY REGIONAL Second Round — Tuesday’s result Nebraska 83, UCLA 70 Oklahoma 60, Arkansas-Little Rock 44 Notre Dame 84, Vermont 66 NHL Tuesday’s results San Jose 4, Minnesota 1 Boston 4, Atlanta 0 Calgary 3, Anaheim 1 Chicago 2, Phoenix 0 Dallas 3, Nashville 1 Edmonton 3, Vancouver 2 Florida 4, Toronto 1 New Jersey 6, Columbus 3 Ottawa 2, Philadelphia 0 Tampa Bay 3, Carolina 2, OT Today’s games N.Y. Islanders at N.Y. Rangers, 4 p.m. Pittsburgh at Washington, 4 p.m. Montreal at Buffalo, 4:30 p.m. St. Louis at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. Los Angeles at Colorado, 6 p.m. Anaheim at Vancouver, 7 p.m. Monday’s late result Rhode Island at Virginia Tech, 4 p.m., ESPN2 Dayton at Illinois, 6 p.m., ESPN2