Malkin, Crosby pace Penguins to 5-2 pre-season win over Senators

ROGERS, Ark. (AP) — Jasmine Suwannapura made a 12-foot eagle putt on the second hole of a playoff with Lucy Li to win the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship on Sunday.

Suwannapura — playing in the group behind Li — also eagled the par-5 18th in regulation to force the playoff at Pinnacle Country Club. They each birdied the 18th on the first extra hole.

Suwannapura shot a career-best 10-under 61, playing the back nine in 7-under 28, to match Li at 17-under 196. Tied for 25th entering the day, Li shot a tournament-record and career-best 60, making her third eagle of the round on 18.

“Lucy was not the easy player to play in a playoff with, so I’m really glad to play and stay calm and stay within myself, play my game,” said Suwannapura, who jumped into husband-caddie Michael Thomas’ arms after the winning putt. “Today happened, so I’m very happy.”

Suwannapura won her third LPGA Tour title, playing the final 22 holes without a bogey. The 31-year-old Thai player also won the 2018 Marathon Classic and teamed with Cydney Clanton to take the 2019 Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational.

“It’s been a long time, and there is a time that I think I probably not going to win again,” Suwannapura said. “But today everything just fall in the right place, right time. And we did it with my husband is even more special.”

Li, the 21-year-old American who played in the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at age 11, missed a chance for her first LPGA Tour victory.

“I had honestly no clue that this was going to happen,” Li said. “I did not think I was in it at all. I mean, after two three-putts in the first four holes I was just like, ‘I don’t know.′ And then some magic came and I shot 60. Even though I didn’t win, just this is the greatest thing.”

Sei Young Kim was a stroke back after a 63. She made a 20-footer for eagle on 18.

Savannah Grewal of Mississauga, Ont., was the top Canadian, finishing tied for 44th at 6 under. Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., finished tied for 58th at 5 under.

Mao Saigo (65) and Arpichaya Yubol (66) tied for fourth at 14 under, and second-round leader Ashleigh Buhai (69) was sixth at 13 under.

University of Arkansas sophomore Maria Marin topped the Razorbacks contingent in the field, closing with a 69 to tie for 17th at 10 under in her first tour start.

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AP golf:

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BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Red Sox honored longtime radio voice Joe Castiglione, who called his final game Sunday, with an on-field pregame ceremony.

The 77-year-old Castiglione, who was honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer with the Ford C. Frick Award, has been the team’s lead radio voice since 1983.

During the ceremony, the team played highlights of his calls over videos of the American League championship team in 1986, and Boston’s World Series title teams in 2004, ’07, ’13 and ’18 on the center-field scoreboard.

Members of those teams came onto the field during the ceremony. Hall of Famer Jim Rice highlighted the ’86 group and Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez was one of the ’04 former players.

Castiglione referred to his call ending the ’04 championship that broke an 86-year title drought, when he thanked the fans. It came on a ground ball back to pitcher Keith Foulke, who was also there to represent that team.

“I will miss being your eyes and ears,” he said. “For 42 years, all I can say is: Can you believe it!”

Asked how he felt making the call of his final out — a liner to center by Tampa Bay’s Richie Palacios that ended a 3-1 victory by the Red Sox, Castiglione said: “I was sort of numb. It sort of felt like the ninth inning in St. Louis in ‘04. … It still really hasn’t set in, probably won’t until next spring.”

Before the top of the eighth, the team ran a montage of his calls over highlights shown on the center-field scoreboard. When it was over, the entire Red Sox dugout emptied, with players, coaches and manager Alex Cora stepping onto the field, looking up and applauding toward him in the booth behind home plate.

“I had some moments, especially when Alex brought the players out,” Castiglione said.

Jackie Bradley, the 2018 ALCS MVP, caught a ceremonial first pitch from Castiglione.

“Forty-two years is a long, long time for someone to be working every single day to go through the struggles and the successes, the travel and the lifestyle, and always have a smile,” Martinez said. “Those are the kind of people that deserve all the respect that we are giving him today.”

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu handed him a proclamation declaring Sept. 29, 2024, as “Joe Castiglione Day” in Boston. Team President Sam Kennedy presented him with letters from Fenway Park’s infamous Green Monster that read: “CASTIG” in white with a green background color of the Monster.

Cora, a member of the ’07 team, was also on the field and Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow, representing the ’13 squad, was on the field as well.

Castiglione signed off like he does each season, reading part of A. Bartlett Giamatti’s “The Green Fields of the Mind.”

“I did right away, right after the game ended,” he said.

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This story has been corrected to show that Castiglione was honored with an award by the Hall of Fame, not inducted.

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AP MLB:

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CALGARY – Ryan Lomberg and Brayden Pachal each had a goal and assist on Saturday night to lead the Calgary Flames to a 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in NHL pre-season action.

Blake Coleman and Adam Klapka also scored for Calgary, which is 4-0-1 through five games.

Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Aatu Ratyu were the marksmen for Vancouver, which is 2-2 in exhibition play.

Dan Vladar, who stopped 17 of 19 shots in 40 minutes of action, got the win. Devin Cooley made nine stops in relief.

Artus Silovs, beaten four times on 24 shots, gave way to Nikita Tolopilo to start the third. Tolopilo had eight saves.

Calgary opened the scoring at 4:23 when Pachal’s rising wrist shot from the blue line through a maze of bodies eluded Silovs, who never saw it.

The Flames surged in front 2-0 three minutes later when Lomberg corralled a MacKenzie Weegar rebound in the slot and fired a shot just inside the goalpost.

Lomberg, 29, who broke into the NHL as a Flame in 2017-18, re-signed in the off-season in Calgary as a free agent after four years with the Florida Panthers, which was capped off by winning the Stanley Cup.

Vancouver got on the scoreboard at 8:35 of the second on a fortuitous bounce.

Lekkerimaki’s shot from the slot deflected off Flames defenceman Artem Grushnikov, went high into the air, and with seemingly nobody aware of where the puck went, it toppled over Vladar and landed in the Calgary net.

Since being drafted by Vancouver in the first round, in 2022, Lekkerimaki has spent the past two seasons in his native Sweden.

This will be the 20-year-old’s first season in North America and with three points (1 goal, 2 assists) in three games in the pre-season, he’s making a push for a job with the Canucks.

One of the players he is competing against is Raty, who after Calgary had taken a 3-1 lead, again got the Canucks back within one on a perfect shot after being set up on a 2-on-1 by Conor Garland.

Raty, a second-round pick in 2021, was acquired from the New York Islanders in the Bo Horvat trade. He’s spent most of the past two seasons in the AHL.

The Flames restored their two-goal cushion later in the second with Klapka firing a shot past Silovs for his third goal in as many pre-season games.

Klapka, who stands 6-foot-8, is looking to make the team’s fourth line. The 24-year-old has shown some offensive pop with three goals in as many pre-season games.

His physicality was also on display Saturday, throwing an open-ice hit in the first period on Nils Aman that sent the Canucks forward flying. In the third, a heavy hit on Akito Hirose send the defenceman careening into the sideboards. Hirose had to be helped off the ice.

UNEXPECTED OFFENCE

Known more for his physicality, Pachal has never had a multi-point game in his 62 career NHL regular-season games. The 24-year-old was in his fifth season with the Vegas Golden Knights organization when he was claimed off waivers by Calgary last February.

HUBERDEAU-MANTHA COMBO

Left-winger Jonathan Huberdeau played in his second pre-season game for Calgary and has been the case throughout camp, the right-winger was veteran Anthony Mantha, who the Flames signed to a one-year deal as a free agent. On this night, Yegor Sharangovich was at centre. In the first game, the two were centred by Martin Pospisil.

UP NEXT

Canucks: Visit the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.

Flames: Host the Seattle Kraken on Monday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2024.

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