Augustana cruises in first game of Division II softball tournament

Top-ranked Augustana of Sioux Falls, S.D., opened defense of its 2019 national title with a 10-0 rout of Valdosta (Ga.) State in six innings on Thursday in the NCAA Division II softball tournament in Denver.

Valdosta State (38-10) opened the game on Morgan Hill's homer, but that was the only hit the Vikings' Ashley Mickschl gave up in a complete game.

Augustana (48-6) scored three runs in the bottom of the first, two on Abby Lien's single. Kendall Cornick hit two homers for the Vikings, her 10th and 11th of the season, and had four RBI.

St. Thomas got only two hits and lost 3-0 to second-seeded Virginia Wesleyan in its first game in the NCAA Division III double-elimination softball tournament in Salem, Va. The Marlins (42-5-1) scored three unearned runs in the sixth inning — two on Kayla Womack's single and the third on an error. Hanna Hull got the win on a complete game.

Kierstin Anderson-Glass gave up nine hits and struck out five for the seventh-seeded Tommies (32-9), who committed four errors and had a nine-game win streak ended.

Gophers heavyweight wrestler Gable Steveson will make his senior international debut on Sunday at the Pan American Championships in Guatemala City, Guatemala. He will be one of 11 members of the U.S. Olympic team that will compete in the tournament.

Steveson will take part in a pool round-robin beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday with semifinals and the finals slated for later in the day. As part of Group A, he will face opponents from Canada, Colombia and Guatemala.

FloWrestling will provide livestreaming coverage.

The Big Ten announced starting times for four Gophers football games this season.

Along with the Sept. 2 season opener against Ohio State at TCF Bank Stadium previously announced as a 7 p.m. start on Fox, the Gophers will have the following starting times:

• Sept. 11 vs. Miami (Ohio), 11 a.m., ESPNU

• Sept. 18 at Colorado, noon, Pac-12 Network

• Sept. 25 vs. Bowling Green (homecoming), 11 a.m., an ESPN network

• Oct. 2 at Purdue, 11 a.m., TV to be determined.

Randy Johnson

The Minnesota State Mankato baseball team (37-8) was scheduled to play Arkansas Tech (28-15) at 11 a.m. Thursday in the NCAA DII Central Regional in Warrensburg, Mo., but tournament officials delayed that game 24 hours because of the potential for inclement weather in the area.

Weather also wreaked havoc with Division III regionals in Collegeville and St. Paul, pushing those games back a day as well.

No. 19 St. Thomas (29-7) will now play Scranton (Pa., 20-9) at 11 a.m. Friday at St. John's.

Northwestern (32-10), the host of the St. Paul regional, will play Misericordia (Dallas, Pa., 29-8) at 6 p.m. Friday after St. Mary's (29-14) plays Aurora (Ill., 37-6) at 2:30 p.m.

Sophomore Akealy Moton of North Dakota State won the women's javelin (179 feet, 1 inch) in the NCAA West Preliminary meet in College Station, Texas. The top 12 in every event there will advance to the NCAA Championships on June 9-12 in Eugene, Ore. Senior Maddy Nilles of NDSU was fourth in the hammer throw (216-4). Freshman Gennifer Hirata of South Dakota tied for third in the women's pole vault (14-0).

Freshman Kyle Atkinson of the Gophers was 11th in the shot put (62-5¼) the day before.

Graduate student Ida Narbuvoll of University of Mary won the 10,000 (33:36.59) in the NCAA Division II meet in Allendale, Mich. She won the 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 in the NSIC outdoor meet for the Marauders. She is from Narbuvoll (same as her last name), Norway.

In the Division III meet in Greensboro, N.C., freshman Anna Swanson of St. Mary's placed second in the javelin (153-1) while sophomore Shawn Schindler of St. John's was fourth in the pole vault (16-¾).

Five Minnesota high school soccer players — three girls and two boys — were selected to play in High School All-American games Saturday in St. Louis featuring top players from across the country.

Forwards Khyah Harper of Centennial, Madison Ishaug of Eden Prairie and Mia Van der Heide of Holy Angels will play in the girls' game set for 11 a.m. at Chaminade College Prep High School. Goalkeeper Hank Stechmann of Edina and forward Zachary Susee of Shakopee will play in the following boys' game at 1 p.m.

Games organizer Eric Stratman said players were selected from all-state teams, as well as based on feedback from coaches. All are seniors.

Minneapolis Washburn boys' coach Aaron Percy was named to help coach in the boys' game.

The games, which will be livestreamed by topdrawersoccer.com, were originally set to be played in December in Orlando but were delayed by the pandemic.

PAUL KLAUDA

• Gianna Kneepkens of Duluth Marshall was named the 2020-21 Gatorade Minnesota Girls Basketball Player of the Year. The 5-foot-11 senior guard led the Hilltoppers (18-3) to the Class 2A state quarterfinals this past season. Kneepkens averaged a state-record 43.1 points per game plus13.4 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 5.7 steals. She finished her prep career with 3,702 points — fifth on the state's all-time scoring list. She has signed a national letter of intent to play basketball at Utah.

• A school-record 187 University of Minnesota student-athletes were named Academic All-Big Ten for the spring and at-large seasons, the conference announced. To be eligible, student-athletes must be on a varsity team, have been enrolled full time at the institution for a minimum of 12 months and carry a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. Ten athletic programs were represented led by rowing and women's track & field (42 apiece) and baseball (24).

• The Loons loaned rookie first-round pick Nabi Kibunguchy to USL's Sacramento Republic FC to get some game action. Minnesota United doesn't play for two weeks after Saturday's game at Real Salt Lake. Kibunguchy played near Sacramento in college at UC-Davis.