EIGHT-PAGE PULLOUT
B3
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • Fr Iday, JUNE 11, 2021
COLLEGE
SOFTBALL
Sooners top ’Noles
to WCWS title
OKLAHOMA CITY
— Giselle Juarez threw
her second consecutive
complete game and
Oklahoma won its fifth
national championship,
beating Florida State 5-1
in the Women’s College
World Series on Thursday.
The Sooners had
lacked a dominant pitcher
heading into the series
but Juarez answered the
call, allowing one run
on two hits in the deci-
sive Game 3. Oklahoma
won Game 2 6-2 behind
Juarez, who went 5-0 at
the World Series and was
named Most Outstanding
Player. She allowed four
runs in 31.1 innings.
Much of the crowd
stood when Juarez took
the circle in the seventh
inning. Fittingly, the fi-
nal out was a popup into
her glove. Teammates
mobbed her and “Boomer
Sooner” blared over the
sound system as the
crowd of mostly Okla-
homa fans celebrated the
win just 25 miles from
campus.
Oklahoma (56-4) also
won titles in 2000, 2013,
2016 and 2017, all under
coach Patty Gasso. The
Sooners set the Division
I single-season record
with 161 home runs this
season.
Jocelyn Alo homered
in Game 3, her 34th of
the season, extending
her school single-season
record. The USA Softball
Collegiate Player of the
Year hit four homers in the
World Series, including the
go-ahead blast in Game 2.
Left fielder Mackenzie
Donihoo went 10-for-21
in the World Series.
Florida State (49-13-1)
was seeking its second
national championship
in the past three World
Series under coach Lonni
Alameda. Kathryn Sand-
ercock gave up one hit in
3.1 innings of relief in the
final game.
Florida State freshman
Kaley Mudge set the re-
cord for most hits in a
Women’s College World
Series with 14.
bendbulletin.com/sports
WEST COAST LEAGUE BASEBALL
Next
player up
Reinforcements arriving as Bend Elks
turn over roster early in the season
BY BRIAN RATHBONE • The Bulletin
W
hen the Bend Elks took the
field this week for their first
home series of West Coast
League play against the Cowlitz Bears, six
new names showed up in the team’s starting
lineup.
More than a dozen players that were not on the
opening day roster have now joined the Elks. And
more will be making their way to Central Oregon
over the next couple of weeks as the Elks quickly
work through the early parts of the season trying to
build a winning ball club.
“We have had a lot of reinforcements coming in,”
said Elks coach Kyle Nobach. “I’ve been taking guys
into the office one by one and sitting them down
and building a relationship with them. That’s the
first step in coaching anybody … you have to know
them and have a relationship with them.”
In their first WCL series of the season, the Elks
were swept on the road by the Ridgefield (Wash.)
Brisbane to host
’32 Summer Games
GENEVA — Brisbane
has long seemed to be in
a one-horse race to host
the 2032 Olympics.
That race looks sure to
be over and won in Tokyo
next month when the In-
ternational Olympic Com-
mittee meets before the
games open.
IOC president Thomas
Bach said Thursday af-
ter an executive board
meeting Brisbane can be
awarded hosting rights as
the only candidate pro-
posed at a July 21 meet-
ing ahead of the Tokyo
Olympics.
The Australian city’s
victory already looked
certain after the IOC put it
on the fast track in Febru-
ary by being named the
preferred candidate with-
out a formal opponent.
Though Bach said
the outcome was “in the
hands” of the members
they typically rubber
stamp all recommenda-
tions coming from the
leadership.
Bach praised Australia
as a sport-loving country
with strong support from
layers of government in
the city of Brisbane, the
state of Queensland and
federal level.
“All this together I
think made it somehow
irresistible,” the IOC leader
said.
— Associated Press
“This is my first time playing summer ball.
I’ve been welcomed by all the guys.
Everyone here has good energy, and we are
all here to put a lot of work in.”
— Matt Dallas, Bend Elks player
Raptors. Their roster however, was still made up of
players on 10-day contracts, while the Raptors were
close to having their full roster.
“That was part of the challenge,” Nobach said.
“And what I learned was no matter how much we
want to win, and the outcome matters, we can’t get
absorbed in the outcome. It is a long season. We are
going to play here and we have our guys coming in.
And our goal is to compete every night and put up
a fight.”
One day after arriving in Bend, Matt Dallas, who
played at Lane Community College in Eugene this
past season and will play for the University of Or-
egon next season, was quickly plugged in to play
shortstop and batted second in the Elks series
opener against Cowlitz (Wash.).
Joining a team and immediately playing on the
field was a new experience for Dallas.
See Elks / B4
TENNIS | FRENCH OPEN
Legacies at stake in men’s semis
BY HOWARD FENDRICH
AP Tennis Writer
— Associated Press
OLYMPICS
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Bend Elks’ Matt Dallas turns to make the throw to first base during the fourth inning of the first game of a double-
header against Cowlitz on Thursday at Bend’s Vince Genna Stadium.
Michel Euler/AP
Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Diego Schwartzman during their
quarterfinal match of the French Open on Wednesday in Paris. Nadal
squares off against Novak Djokovic in a semifinal on Friday. If he can
top Djokovic, Nadal will have a shot to break a tie with Roger Federer
by winning his 21st Grand Slam.
Novak Djokovic and Rafael
Nadal know there’s something
special about the two of them
meeting in the French Open
semifinals — even if they’d pre-
fer, of course, for it to happen a
round later.
“Each time we face each
other, there’s that extra tension
and expectations,” the top-
seeded Djokovic said.
“Just vibes are different
walking on the court with
him.”
The third-seeded Nadal’s
take?
“In some way,” he said, “we
are practicing, we are living the
sport, for these moments.”
Whatever the quality of play
might be between Nadal and
Djokovic in Paris on Friday —
their semifinal will follow the
one between No. 5 Stefanos
Tsitsipas of Greece and No. 6
Alexander Zverev of Germany
— the numbers associated with
the matchup are overwhelm-
ing.
Start with the big picture:
Nadal is two wins away from
his 21st Grand Slam title,
which would break the men’s
mark he currently shares with
Roger Federer.
Djokovic is trying to get to
No. 19, which would leave him
just one behind his rivals.
Nadal is 105-2 at Roland
Garros — Djokovic is respon-
sible for one of those defeats, in
the 2015 quarterfinals; Robin
Soderling the other — and eye-
ing a 14th championship at the
clay-court major.
Djokovic won La Coupe des
Mousquetaires in 2016 and
could join Rod Laver and Roy
Emerson as the only men to
win each of the four Grand
Slam tournaments twice.
See French Open / B5
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
College Football Playoff is considering expansion to 12 teams
BY RALPH D. RUSSO
AP College Football Writer
The College Football Play-
off announced Thursday it
will consider expanding from
four to 12 teams to settle the
national championship, with
six spots reserved for the high-
est-ranked conference champi-
ons and the other six going to
at-large selections.
The CFP’s surprising an-
nouncement outlined a plan
that would triple the number
teams that enter the postseason
with a chance to win it all.
Even if the format is ad-
opted — no earlier than this
fall — there was no indication
in the proposal about when an
expanded playoff could be in
place. The soonest would seem
to be for the 2023 season, but
it is probably more likely to be
after the 2026 season.
A selection committee
would still be involved, and
the proposed 12-team play-
off would not limit how many
teams can come from any one
conference. The four high-
est-ranked conference champi-
ons would receive first-round
byes and teams 5-12 would
face each other in four games
played on campus sometime
during the two-week period
following conference champi-
onship weekend, typically early
December.
The plan calls for no
re-seeding of the bracket as
teams advance. Quarterfi-
nals would be hosted by bowl
games on New Year’s Day —
unless that falls on a Sunday,
in which case those games will
be played Jan. 2 — and an ad-
jacent day.
The semifinals would also be
hosted by bowl games, as is the
case now.
The proposal includes no
dates for semifinals and the
championship game to be
played, but did indicate the
semifinals would not be played
as a doubleheader on a single
day.
Currently six bowl games
have a three-year rotation for
hosting the semifinals and
the championship game site is
open to bidders, similar to the
what the NFL does with the
Super Bowl. The current semi-
final bowl rotation includes the
Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta,
Cotton and Peach bowls, but
they are not guaranteed to be
Ross D. Franklin/AP
Alabama’s Ronnie Harrison (15) breaks up a pass intended for Clem-
son’s Artavis Scott during the 2016 College Football Playoff champion-
ship game in Glendale, Arizona.
hosts in the proposed expan-
sion plan.
“The process for selecting
the six bowls that would ro-
tate as hosts of the quarterfi-
nals and semifinals (is) still to
be determined,” the CFP plan
said.
The proposal will be consid-
ered by the full CFP manage-
ment committee in Chicago on
June 17-18.
On Thursday, a subcommit-
tee comprised of Southeastern
Conference Commissioner
Greg Sankey, Big 12 Commis-
sioner Bob Bowlsby, Moun-
tain West Commissioner Craig
Thompson and Notre Dame
athletic director Jack Swarbrick
presented the proposal to the
rest of conference commission-
ers in a Zoom meeting.
The group has been work-
ing on an expansion plan for
almost two years and it might
have been put forth sooner if
not for the pandemic.
“The four-team format has
been very popular and is a big
success,” the members of the
four-person working group
said in a statement. “But it’s im-
portant that we consider the
opportunity for more teams
and more student-athletes to
participate in the playoff. After
reviewing numerous options,
we believe this proposal is the
best option to increase partic-
ipation, enhance the regular
season and grow the national
excitement of college football.”
The full management com-
mittee will determine next
week whether it will recom-
mend expansion to univer-
sity presidents who make up
the CFP oversight committee.
The presidents are scheduled
to meet with the management
committee in Dallas on June
22.
If the presidents sign off, the
next step is determining over
the summer whether the plan
can be implemented and when.
The final approval would likely
come in September.
The College Football Playoff
is entering year eight of a 12-
year agreement with ESPN.
See Playoff / B4