It would be a huge call for Edwards to drop Knight, who made a record 310th England appearance at Chelmsford, for such an important summer.
Hartley said her top three would consist of Wyatt-Hodge, Capsey and Sciver-Brunt, keeping Knight in the middle order and with Dunkley missing out.
However, Dunkley is one of few England batters capable of clearing the ropes, which is an area in which they are lacking.
Since the last T20 World Cup in 2024, Dunkley has hit 11 sixes and Wyatt-Hodge five. They are the only batters in England’s top seven to have hit more than three sixes in that timeframe.
Explosive all-rounders Dani Gibson and Freya Kemp were tasked with scoring at more than 10 runs per over by the time they came in, having been in a very similar position during England’s defeat by New Zealand at Canterbury.
On both occasions, they fell cheaply trying to score quickly from ball one because of the pressure that had built when Knight was batting.
The argument to stick with Knight is not helped by the fact her attacking shot percentage has dropped to 64% in 2026 compared to 75% between 2023 and 2025.
“I don’t think Charlotte Edwards will want to drop one of the all-rounders,” Hartley added.
“She’s a huge all-rounder fan and she wants that left-hander in Kemp as well.”
Former England Test captain Nasser Hussain backed Knight to deliver because of her wealth of experience, but accepted there needs to be an improvement.
“I back Heather because she has been a world-class player for a long time,” Hussain said on Sky Sports.
“Under pressure you need people like Heather Knight, but she will know her last four innings, particularly today, to a get a run-a-ball 20 after three run-a-ball 20s – you are better getting out for a first-ball duck than getting that.
“She didn’t play T20 internationals for a year. Maybe she is taking time to get going.
“She is not as mobile. She is not someone like Jemimah Rodrigues who is putting away the bad balls and looks a lot busier, but she has been around long enough to know that is not the innings you need in a 180 run-chase.”
Freshman pitcher Ainsley Jenkins is a big reason Sherman Oaks Notre Dame has advanced to the Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinals in softball. In the Knights’ first two playoff victories over Anaheim Canyon and Oaks Christian, she has been called out of the bullpen to pitch exceptionally well in relief.
Next up is a quarterfinal showdown with No. 2-seeded Norco on Wednesday at Encino’s Franklin Fields.
If Jenkins needs any help with writing for school work, she has two parents with distinguished writing backgrounds. Her father, Lee, was a highly regarded reporter at Sports Illustrated before becoming an executive with the Clippers. Her mother, Elizabeth, is a magazine writer.
Notre Dame is expected to face Norco’s top one-two pitching duo of Coral Williams and Peyton May. Jenkins will be available if needed. Mom and Dad are also available to write up a pleasing ending if the Knights pull off the upset.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
NEW YORK — The NHL docked the Vegas Golden Knights a second-round pick in next month’s draft and fined coach John Tortorella $100,000 on Friday for violating media access rules after their series-clinching Game 6 victory over the Ducks on Thursday night.
Tortorella refused to speak to reporters after Vegas routed the Ducks 5-1 to move on to face Colorado in the Western Conference final. The Golden Knights also did not open their locker room in accordance with league and NHL Players’ Assn.-negotiated regulations.
The NHL in a statement announcing the punishment said the penalties for these “flagrant violations” come after previous warnings were issued to the Golden Knights. The team has been offered the opportunity to appeal to Commissioner Gary Bettman’s office in person at the league’s New York headquarters next week.
“The Golden Knights are aware of today’s announcement from the NHL regarding the postgame media availability following Game 6 in Anaheim,” the team said in a statement posted to social media. “The organization will have no further comment.”
The carriage has turned back into a pumpkin, the ballgown is once again just tattered clothing and all the horses have gone back to being mice.
The Ducks’ Cinderella run through the NHL playoffs came to an end Thursday in a 5-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 6 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series. And the end came well before midnight, with goals by Mitch Marner and Brett Howden in the first 8½ minutes giving Vegas a commanding lead before many in the late-arriving weeknight crowd had made it to their seats at the Honda Center.
The Golden Knights will move on to the Western Conference final with the Colorado Avalanche next week while the Ducks will move on to summer. But it’s the team’s latest start on the offseason since 2017, the last time the Ducks made it to the second round of the playoffs. So even if the glass slipper didn’t fit this time, the Ducks have reason to celebrate.
“I think our team, we learned, myself included, just how to play in those games,” said winger Troy Terry, the only remaining link to the Ducks’ last playoff team. “That’s kind of the difference in some of these games, a team like Vegas, learning how to manage those close games. It stings right now, but I think I speak for everyone that we’ll be hungry going into the summer.
“It was fun to play in this. It’s been a long time.”
Ducks center Leo Carlsson passes the puck as Vegas’ Shea Theodore defends during the second period.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
This team, after all, wasn’t supposed to be at the ball this long. Fourteen players on its roster had never been to the postseason before; most of them had never even played for a winning team in the NHL before. But the team’s youth and inexperience proved to be a strength, not a weakness.
They didn’t know they weren’t supposed to win in the playoffs, so they did, dispatching the Edmonton Oilers — who made the last two Stanley Cup finals — in the first round and outplaying the veteran Golden Knights, a playoff team in eight of the franchise’s nine seasons, throughout much of the second round.
Rookie Beckett Sennecke, just 20, had four goals and an assist in the six games with Vegas. Winger Cutter Gauthier, just 22, led the team with 12 points in his first trip to the playoffs. Defenseman Olen Zellwenger, also 22, had a goal and assist in his first two playoff games and Olympic gold medalist Jackson LaCombe, 25, led the team in ice time — and was third in points with 10 — in his first postseason.
That’s the core of the team going forward and the playoff experience they got this spring will be invaluable.
“We’ve got a super young core here,” Sennecke said. “We’re a fast team and we play with a lot of skill, a lot of pace. … The next few years are exciting.”
Ducks left wing Alex Killorn moves the puck ahead of Vegas right wing Keegan Kolesar in the first period.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
“It doesn’t make this any easier,” added center Mikael Granlund, at 34 the second-oldest Duck to play Thursday. “Tonight was kind of the story of the season. In the first period we’re down three goals. In the regular season, we were able to come back. But in playoffs, it’s not easy.
“So yeah, there’s a lot of good signs in this team, but at the same time, it’s never easy.”
However, the fairy godmother’s spell wore off early in Game 6, which was just 62 seconds old when Vegas went ahead to stay.
Marner opened the scoring with a spectacular breakaway goal, skating on to William Karlssson’s two-line pass as he entered the offensive zone and beating LaCombe up the center of the ice to the crease. When he got there, he pulled up, turned his back to goalie Lukas Dostal, then shoved the puck just inside the right post for his seventh goal of the playoffs.
Howden doubled the lead with a shorthanded goal 7½ minutes later, finding miles of space just to the right of the goal and banging in a pass from Marner that split LaCombe and Alex Killorn. The goal was Howden’s eighth of the playoffs, temporarily giving him the NHL postseason lead, while the assist gave Marner 18 postseason points, also best in the league.
“I thought we had a really good vibe going in and felt good about guys being excited,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “Couple of quick goals, and we certainly lost a lot of our excitement. That was tough.”
When Shea Theodore scored off a faceoff seconds into a power play late in the period, it gave the Golden Knights a 3-0 lead at the intermission with the goals coming on a power play, the penalty kill and with the teams at even strength.
The Ducks led the NHL with 26 comeback wins during the regular season, but against the poised and patient Golden Knights the deficit was too big. The Ducks left the ice to a chorus of boos after the period, though they came back to dominate the second period, getting the only score at 12:46 when Mikael Granlund notched his fifth goal of the playoffs on a power play, lining a snap shot into the side netting from the middle the left circle.
But the Ducks would get no closer, with Vegas icing the game on two third-period goals from Pavel Dorofeyev, who had four goals in the final two games. The first came off a turnover from the Ducks’ John Carlson deep in his defensive end 2:52 into the final period and the second on a shot from a difficult angle to the right of the goal that ricocheted in off Dostal with 6:28 left in the Ducks’ season.
The two goals gave Dorofeyev nine for the playoffs, passing Howden for the league lead.
“They worked for what they got,” Quenneville said of the Golden Knights. “They deserve to move on.”
As Kelsey Luderer rounded third base and headed home Thursday after hitting a game-tying home run that ignited Sherman Oaks Notre Dame to a 6-3 Division 1 softball playoff win over Anaheim Canyon, she was greeted by every teammate at the plate. They engulfed her in a sea of white, screaming, yelling and patting her head.
Looking on with pride was Brian Luderer, her father and Notre Dame assistant coach. Every moment he’s at a game or practice, it serves as a positive distraction from thinking about the fight his brother, Matt, the athletic director at St. Francis, has been enduring. For more than a year, Matt has been battling an uncureable brain cancer, glioblastoma.
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame assistant coach Brian Luderer with his daughter, Kelsey.
(Craig Weston / For The Times)
It’s hard for Brian to talk about his brother without crying. “These girls give me what I need,” he said. “They’re like my family. The more we can win, the better for me. I’m proud he’s been fighting his butt off.”
Three weeks ago, Matt suffered a relapse. The many Luderer family members (Brian has four children and Matt has six daughters) have united to keep the faith. And softball is their place for a moment away from life’s challenges.
“This is kind of our happy place, a good place to get away,” Kelsey said.
Haley Maldonado had a three-hit day for Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.
(Craig Weston / For The Times)
The Knights fell behind 3-0 after Canyon’s Mia Saenz hit a two-run home run and added another run on an error. The hitters started forcing Canyon pitcher Kelsey Perez to work extra hard, producing multiple three-and-two counts. Sophomore Haley Maldonado, who finished with three hits, contributed an RBI double in the second. But it wasn’t until Luderer’s home run to left field in the fourth that the Knights were set free, leading to a three-run inning and a comeback victory.
Brian and Notre Dame head coach Justin Siegel are best friends and former minor league baseball players who turned to softball when they had daughters. Brian has sophomore twins Kelsey and Keira in starring roles. In four years, they’ve built the Knights (22-3) into a Division 1 title contender. Next up is Marmonte League champion Oaks Christian on Saturday.
Every softball win brings a moment of peace to the Luderer family.
Oaks Christian 8, Chaminade 1: Sophia Debs struck out 13 and hit a home run for the Lions.
Murrieta Mesa 10, Valley View 0: Lilly Hauser had three hits and struck out 11 in a six-inning mercy rule win.
La Mirada 4, Los Alamitos 2: Alison Ortega struck out 10 for La Mirada.
JSerra 3, Yucaipa 2: Liliana Escobar struck out nine and walked one for JSerra.
Mater Dei 11, Foothill 3: Danica Lancellotti had a two-run double and finished with three hits for Mater Dei.
