LADY BEARS SHUT OUT BY WEST LAURENS
DEXTER — The Griffin Lady Bears soccer team was shut out by the West Laurens Lady Raiders 2-0 in a Region 2-AAAA matchup. Although giving up two goals, Bre Daniel made five saves for Griffin a very close match.
Griffin dropped to 5-7 overall, and 3-6 in the region. Griffin is ranked fifth in the region. Up next is another road match for Griffin against the Perry Lady Panthers. The Lady Panthers are a perfect 15-0 overall this season, and lead the region with a 9-0 record.
PIKE COUNTY FENDS OFF LAMAR COUNTY IN BOYS SOCCER
BARNESVILLE — The Pike County Pirates defeated the Lamar County Trojans 4-3 in a rivalry match Monday evening. Pike County has now won six of their last seven matches. Meanwhile, the Trojans five-match win streak was snapped.
Caleb Miller, Axel Garcia and Joshua Moore each scored a goal for the Trojans in the loss. The Trojans dropped to 7-5 overall, and Pike County improves to 8-3-1.
Pike County’s next match is Friday on the road against the Jackson Red Devils. The Red Devils are 9-5-1 overall. Lamar County hits the road to face the 2-9 Hampton Hornets.
WBC TO RETURN IN 2026
MIAMI — The World Baseball Classic will return for its sixth edition in March 2026, with organizers concluding spring training remains a better time than after the World Series or in the middle of the major league season.
Speaking before Tuesday night’s final between the United States and Japan, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said MLB owners and general managers have to be pursuaded to make more star pitchers available to national teams.
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Since its launch in 2006, the WBC has been played in March, ahead of club opening day in MLB, Japan and South Korea.
Many MLB teams blocked pitchers from participating, wanting them to concentrate on preparing for the season’s start.
PITINO SIGNS WITH ST. JOHN’S
NEW YORK — The video banner above the entrance to Madison Square Garden on Tuesday read: “Welcome Rick Pitino.” More like welcome back for the new St. John’s coach.
Back to The Garden, where he once coached the Knicks. Back to the Big East, the conference that launched his stardom and where he won his last NCAA championship. Back to big-time college basketball after a series of scandals made it seem as if that part of his career was over.
St. John’s introduced Pitino as the Red Storm’s new coach after giving the Hall of Famer a six-year contract to turn back the clock on a program that once stole New York City tabloid headlines away from the Knicks in the 1980s under coach Lou Carnesecca but has been mired in mediocrity for more than two decades.
The Red Storm once played most of their biggest home games at The Garden. Pitino said the goal is to have all their Big East games played there going forward.
Pitino, who was born in New York City and grew up on Long Island, has won 832 games in 34 full seasons as a college head coach, including NCAA championships at Kentucky in 1996 and Louisville in 2013.
The title at Louisville was vacated for NCAA violations, and another NCAA case related to the FBI’s investigation into corruption in college basketball recruiting led to Pitino being fired by Louisville in 2017. The final ruling from the NCAA’s outside enforcement arm on the FBI case came down in November and exonerated Pitino.