MOTOR SPORTS:
Courtney Force continued her early-season dominance in the Funny Car class as she became the No. 1 qualifier at the inaugural Virginia NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park.
Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel), Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana Jr. (Pro Stock Motorcycle) were also preliminary No. 1 qualifiers in their respective categories at the 10th of 24 events of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series.
Force made a pass of 3.983 seconds at 323.35 mph in her Chevrolet Camaro SS. The NHRA ’s top racers returned to VMS for the first time since 2009, and both Her time and speed are track records. The current points leader is on the hunt for her sixth No. 1 qualifying spot of the year and fourth in the past five events.
COLLEGES
Women’s golf:
Virginia coach Kim Lewellen resigned after 11 years to accept the same post at Wake Forest, saying she and her husband, Mike, wanted to be closer to her family in North Carolina. She led U.Va. to nine NCAA tournaments, and the Cavaliers were 22nd this season.
Men’s tennis:
York High alum Sean Maymi, an assistant coach at Michigan, is a top candidate for Nebraska’s head-coaching job, according to HuskerOnline reporter Nate Clouse.
LOCAL BASEBALL:
Coastal Plain League:
The Peninsula Pilots (4-2) routed host Edenton 16-10 as Tyler Adams had four hits, three runs and two RBI, and Matthew Schwarz had three hits and two RBI.
Both of them homered, as did Dalton Dedas, who capped the night with a grand slam to center field in the ninth inning.
The Steamers, traditionally one of the CPL’s top teams, fell to 1-6.
International League:
Mike Yastrzemski socked a three-run homer in the second inning, and Norfolk’s pitching did the rest as the Tides (31-26) won 3-1 in a series opener at league-leading Toledo (37-22).
The Tides used five pitchers, and the only one to yield a run to the Mud Hens was rehabbing Oriole Zach Britton, in the sixth.
Yefry Ramirez pitched five shutout innings, yielding three hits and striking out five. San Francisco castoff D.J. Snelten, recently acquired by the Baltimore organization, pitched a scoreless inning, as did Jason Gurka and Jhan Marinez.
Eastern League:
Harrisburg overcame a five-run deficit to win 8-7 over Richmond at The Diamond as rehabbing Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning.
He also had a single and two walks for the Senators (29-29). The Squirrels fell to 30-27 as their two-game winning streak ended.
Richmond led 7-2 early, but Harrisburg’s pitchers shut them out for the last seven innings. All of their runs — and 10 of their 13 hits — came off Logan Darnell in the first two innings.
Besides Murphy’s contributions, Austin Davidson was 3 for 5 with four RBI for the Senators. Kelvin Gutierrez and Taylor Gushue each had two hits and scored twice.
For Richmond, Matt Lipka was 3 for 5 with two runs and an RBI, Ryan Howard had two hits and three RBI, and Aramis Garcia and John Polonius had two hits each.
