HIGH SCHOOLS

Boothbay cancels softball season with lack of players

Boothbay Region High has dropped its varsity softball team for the 2018 season because of a lack of players.

“We thought about dropping it a couple of months ago,” said Boothbay Athletic Director Allan Crocker. “But we had enough kids sign up to play so we decided to play. But on the first day of practices, only seven kids showed up.”

Boothbay, a member of the Mountain Valley Conference, is one of the smaller Class C schools in the state with an enrollment of 215, according to the Maine Principals’ Association. Boothbay also offers girls’ lacrosse, track and tennis in the spring.

The Seahawks’ softball team was coming off back-to-back winless seasons, going 0-14 last year and 0-16 in 2016.

SOCCER

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Cristiano Ronaldo scored a stunning overhead kick for his second goal of the night to help Real Madrid beat 10-man Juventus 3-0 at Turin, Italy in the first leg of their quarterfinal.

Ronaldo’s second goal was pure mastery and his overhead kick had the entire stadium on their feet in appreciation. In the process, he became the first player in Champions League history to score in 10 straight matches.

• With the help of two deflected shots, Bayern Munich came from behind to beat Sevilla 2-1 at Seville, Spain in the first leg of the quarterfinals.

Bayern now only needs a draw in the second leg in Munich next week to reach the semifinals for the fifth time in six seasons.

COLLEGES

SOFTBALL: Chloe Gorey drove in Casey Heath with a sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth inning as Husson beat Southern Maine, 3-1.

Olivia Smith followed with an RBI double to score Madelyn Fowler for a 3-1 Husson (6-7) lead. Brooke Cross had an RBI double for USM (7-10).

TENNIS

VOLVO CAR OPEN: Top-seeded Caroline Garcia of France defeated Varvara Lepchenko of the United States 6-2, 6-3 in her first match Tuesday at Charleston, South Carolina.

Other seeded players winning were No. 9 Ashleigh Barty of Australia, No. 13 Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania and Elena Vesnina of Russia.

FOOTBALL

NFL: Bill Rademacher, a two-way player for the Jets and Patriots, has died. He was 75.

A wide receiver and defensive back for five seasons who played on the Jets’ Super Bowl champion, Rademacher was an undrafted free agent from Northern Michigan who made the AFL team in 1964 as a receiver. He was a backup and special teams player in the 1968 title season.

Rademacher was released before the 1969 season and played for the Patriots for two years. Overall, Rademacher played in 58 pro games and had 24 catches for 282 yards and three touchdowns, all of his scores with the Patriots.

BIATHLON

RETIREMENT: Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, the most decorated male Winter Olympian in history with 13 medals, has retired from the sport. Bjoerndalen, 44, competed at six Olympics. Of his 13 medals, eight were gold.

Bjoerndalen failed to qualify for the PyeongChang Games and revealed on Tuesday he struggled with heart murmurs during the season.

“It is not dangerous, but it is a discomfort,” he said. “I always got it in a state of rest, never under stress, so I was never sure if I should compete or work hard.”

– Staff and news service report