Sports Update Monday: Baseball is Back, NCAA Basketball Championship & Nova Softball!
Opening Day for Marlins to Kick Off!
A sellout crowd is expected for the 4:10 p.m. opener at Marlins Park, with Henderson Alvarez scheduled to throw the first pitch in a season the Marlins hope leads them to the postseason for the first time since 2003 when they captured the World Series. The Marlins spent the offseason bolstering the lineup and pitching rotation, adding three new infielders and a pair of new starters, in a bid to improve on their 2014 record of 77-85. They also signed 41-year-old Japanese legend Ichiro Suzuki to strengthen the bench. If it adds up the way the Marlins think it will, they’ll be playing — in the words of president of baseball operations Michael Hill — “162 plus.” Plus, meaning playoffs.
NCAA Championship Game is Set!
Not since the World War II era has Wisconsin vied for the NCAA’s top men’s basketball championship. They’ll do it tonight against Duke, in a game that pits two balanced teams — and two talented big men — against each other. For Wisconsin, a win will bring its first title since 1941. Perennial power Duke last won it all in 2010. Tipoff at 9:18 p.m. ET. You can watch the game on CBS or at the NCAA website. The game will include a showdown of two of the best centers in college ball, as Duke freshman Jahlil Okafor battles with Wisconsin senior Frank Kaminsky, who on Sunday was named the Naismith College Player of the Year. The teams have two of the best offenses in the nation. Duke has averaged a little more than 80 points a game this season; Wisconsin averaged nearly 73. They hewed close to those norms in a December game that Duke won 80-70.
NSU Sharks Split Doubleheader, Brown Knocks in Game-Winner
The Nova Southeastern University softball team fell short late in the opener, but salvaged a split of Friday’s doubleheader with a win in their last at-bat in the nightcap. Lynn won 6-5 in game one and the Sharks 2-1 in the finale at the A.D. Griffin Sports Complex. NSU (14-17) had ample opportunity in game one, leaving 12 runners stranded, including the bases loaded twice. They came back from a 5-3 deficit to tie it in the sixth on a two-run single by Te Reo Powhiri Matautia, but Leanne Wright won it for Lynn (19-15) with a seventh-inning home run. In the series finale, it was the Sharks’ turn for a late-inning game-winner, as a two-out single by Jessie Brown in the bottom of the sixth was the difference, complimenting a spectacular outing in the circle by starting pitcher Rebecca Thornton.