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OAKMONT, Pa. — Sam Burns only wobbled twice on a soggy Oakmont course Saturday and held his nerve with a great lag from just inside 60 feet on the final hole for a one-under 69, leaving him one round away from a U.S. Open title and no margin for error.

Burns, who has never contended in his 20 previous majors, next takes on the Sunday pressure of golf’s most stringent test alongside Adam Scott, the 44-year-old Australian and the only player among the top 10 with experience winning a major.

Scott, whose lone major was 12 years ago at the Masters, didn’t make a mistake since a soft bogey on the opening hole and looked far younger than his 44 years down the stretch with brilliant iron play and enough putts for a 67, leaving him one shot behind.

This was shaping up to be a wild chase to the finish, with only four players under par. That starts with Burns at four-under 206. He has five PGA Tour titles, the last one more than two years ago. He is coming off a playoff loss last week in the Canadian Open.

J.J. Spaun, who lost in a playoff at The Players Championship in March, kept pace with Burns throughout the back nine until the end, when he couldn’t save par from a bunker and shot 69. He joined Scott a shot behind.

“It seemed like we were kind of back and forth,” Spaun said. “He would take the lead, I would take the lead, I would fall back, whatever. But it was fun. You can’t really play against your opponent; you got to play this course. There’s just so much on demand with every shot.”

The other survivor to par was Viktor Hovland, who has been smiling as much as anyone on a course that has been exasperating to so many all week. Hovland salvaged a bogey from an opening tee shot into the bushes and an exquisite shot off the muddy cart path.

But he hit the pin on the uphill ninth hole for birdie and hit an amazing wedge from the cabbage left of the 17th green for a tap-in birdie. He closed with a bogey from the rain-soaked rough on the 18th for a 70 and was three behind.

“I’m well aware that I’ve got a chance tomorrow, and if I shoot a low round of golf tomorrow then anything can happen,” Hovland said. “But there’s a lot of good players around me. Adam Scott played a brilliant round today, just didn’t really miss a shot. That forces me to play some really good golf tomorrow.”

Carlos Ortiz turned in one of the most remarkable performances by going bogey-free for 30 consecutive holes. The streak ended on the 18th, but the Mexican still had a 67 and was very much in range at even-par 210.

Missing from the mix was Scottie Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player who had won three of his last four tournaments coming into the U.S. Open. Scheffler never found any momentum, with one critical stretch coming right before the turn.

After holing a 20-foot birdie putt on the sixth, Scheffler saved par after driving into the rough on No. 7 and hitting wedge to 3 feet. But then what looked like a tap-in par on the long par-three eighth turned into a shocking miss.

He wound up with a 70, moving him from a tie for 23rd to just outside the top 10. But he was eight shots behind Burns, his best friend on tour with whom he shares a house at the majors.

“I put myself in this position,” Scheffler said. “It’s not the position I want to be in, but I’ve done a good job of hanging in there and staying in the tournament.”

The best news for this U.S. Open was that it finished the third round without weather getting in the way. Oakmont received an inch of rain from when play ended on Friday evening. The USGA offered to refund tickets to spectators who didn’t want to traipse through the muck.

Divots taken from the fairways looked like pelts, and the greens were noticeably softer and more receptive. There was one spell midway through the round when umbrellas were out and the sun was shining.

Everyone plodded along, trying desperately to avoid rough that hasn’t been cut and greens that never seem to lose their speed.

Burns, a 28-year-old from Louisiana, had the look of someone determined to add his list to young Americans ready to capture a major. He took a most unusual route on the tough third hole with a drive well to the left, over the church pew bunkers and into the adjacent fourth fairway, allowing him to avoid a blind shot.

He picked up birdies with a wedge from the fairway to a back pin on No. 5 and a tee shot to 7 feet on the accessible par-three 13th. Equally important were the three times he saved par from the fairway after getting out of position off the tee

Then came the closing stretch. He clipped a wedge that raced toward a back pin and checked up a foot away on the short par-four 17th. And he caught a break on the 18th when his drive into the rough caught a good lie, a rarity at Oakmont, allowing him to reach the back of the green nearly 60 feet away. He gently rolled the putt down to 4 feet for one last par and the lead.

Ferguson writes for the Associated Press.

OAKMONT, Pa. — Sam Burns avoided a meltdown that ruined his opening round at the U.S. Open and wound up with a big par save on his last hole for a five-under 65 and the 36-hole lead. Best of all, he was long gone before the real calamity arrived late Friday afternoon at Oakmont.

Rory McIlroy threw a club in disgust and smashed a tee marker. For punishment, he gets to come back for two more rounds because he birdied the 18th to make the cut.

Shane Lowry absent-mindedly picked up his golf ball on the 14th green without marking it.

Thriston Lawrence became the only player to reach six-under par. He promptly made six bogeys and a double bogey over his next nine holes. Thomas Detry can appreciate the suffering. He was challenging for the lead until three double bogeys in a three-hole stretch.

And then there was Phil Mickelson, in what likely is his 34th and final U.S. Open. He was just outside the top 20 until two double bogeys in his last four holes for a 74 to miss the cut.

The cut might not be official until Saturday morning. If the second round wasn’t brutal enough, play was halted by bad weather just as Lawrence had a four-foot putt on the last hole to finish a wild round that was approaching six hours. The day ended with rain pounding the course.

Scottie Scheffler, coming off three wins in his last four starts, had his sixth straight round over par in the U.S. Open with a game that didn’t look familiar. He still scratched out a 71 and was seven shots behind.

“Today was, I think with the way I was hitting it, easily a day I could have been going home,” Scheffler said. “And battled pretty hard to stay in there. I’m four over. We’ll see what the lead is after today, but around this golf course I don’t think by any means I’m out of the tournament.”

Burns was a regular birdie machine — at Oakmont, no less — playing in the morning under cloud cover and little wind and flushing his irons so well that all six of his birdies were inside 10 feet.

He was at three-under 137, one shot ahead of J.J. Spaun, who fell out of a share of the lead with a bogey on the 18th, his sixth in his round of 72.

Burns and Viktor Hovland (68) each have 11 sub-par holes over 36 holes, the most in three U.S. Opens at Oakmont since it switched to a par 70 in 2007. Hovland was two shots behind.

Only three players remained under par, the fewest in seven years at the U.S. Open.

Burns can only imagine where he would be if not for a shocker of a finish Thursday, when he was one shot out of the lead and then played his last four holes in five-over par.

“I played really well yesterday other than the finishing holes. So I think today was just kind of getting mentally ready to come out and try to put a good round together,” Burns said.

“It was unfortunate, but there was too much good to focus on the little bit of bad.”

Hovland twice holed 50-foot shots from off the green — a putter from the collar on No. 10 when he started his round, and chipping in for eagle on the reachable par-four 17th. He also chopped up the second hole for a double bogey. But he was happy to be done.

“Definitely tired, exhausted because you’re just focusing so much on every single shot,” he said. “I’m very pleased with two-under par, but also I know that I was four under at some point. So it’s like very pleased, but also, ‘Man, that could have been a little bit lower.’ But we’re in a really nice spot after two days, so I’m just kind of happy.”

Adam Scott, playing in his 96th consecutive major, had another 70 and joined Ben Griffin (71) at even-par 140.

Burns is among the top putters on the PGA Tour, though he did miss a five-foot putt to win a playoff in the Canadian Open last week and three-putted the fourth playoff hole to lose. This was more about staying in position and eliminating as much stress as possible on a course that can be relentless.

No putt was more important than his 20-foot par putt up the ridge on No. 9 to finish off a great round the right way. He tugged his drive to the left on the tough par-four ninth into a ditch, took a penalty drop, hit safely on the green and made the putt.

“That putt was, I don’t know, six feet of break,” he said. “Yeah, it was a nice one to make for sure.”

Scheffler was among those who had little room left for mistakes. He opened with a birdie on No. 10, but then didn’t find another fairway until he came up just short of the green on the 17th, 50 feet away for eagle. Four putts later, he had a bogey.

It was a grind all the way, battling his swing and the rough, making a number of key par putts that kept the round from getting worse.

“Mentally, this was as tough as I’ve battled for the whole day. There was a lot of stuff going on out there that was not going in my favor necessarily,” Scheffler said. “Overall, definitely not out of the tournament.”

Neither is Brooks Koepka, who had a 74 but was only five behind.

Jon Rahm went from red numbers to red in the face with a 75, leaving him in the same spot as Scheffler. Rahm, who took 35 putts, was asked if his score could illustrate how tough Oakmont was playing.

“Honestly, too annoyed and too mad right now to think about any perspective,” he said. “Very frustrated. Very few rounds of golf I played in my life where I think I hit good putts and they didn’t sniff the hole. So it’s frustrating.”

That’s not just Oakmont. That’s most U.S. Opens. In that respect, Hovland was a curious contender. He has been all over the place with his swing, his expectations, his confidence. He won during the Florida swing and is making progress. Perhaps no expectations helped him.

“For some reason I’ve just been in a really nice mental state this week,” Hovland said. “Both my rounds have been very up and down. I feel like a couple times if it would have happened at another tournament, for example, I could have potentially lost my mind there a little bit. But I felt like I kept things together very well.”

Ferguson writes for the Associated Press.

OAKMONT, Pa. — J.J. Spaun is still new enough to the U.S. Open, and a newcomer to the brute that is Oakmont, that he was prepared for anything Thursday. He wound up with a clean card and a one-shot lead on an opening day that delivered just about everything.

Scottie Scheffler had more bogeys in one round than he had the entire tournament when he won the Memorial. He shot a 73, his highest start ever in a U.S. Open, four shots worse than when he made his Open debut at Oakmont as a 19-year-old at Texas.

Patrick Reed made the first albatross in 11 years at the U.S. Open when he holed out a 3-wood from 286 yards on the par-five fourth. He finished with a triple bogey.

Bryson DeChambeau was 39 yards from the hole at the par-five 12th and took four shots from the rough to get to the green.

Si Woo Kim shot a 68 and had no idea how.

“Honestly, I don’t even know what I’m doing on the course,” Kim said. “Kind of hitting good but feel like this course is too hard for me.”

Through it all, Spaun played a steady hand in only his second U.S. Open. He played bogey-free and finished with 10 straight pars for a four-under 66 on America’s toughest course hosting the major known as the toughest test in golf.

He matched the low opening round in U.S. Opens at Oakmont — Andrew Landry also shot 66 the last time here in 2016 — and it was no mystery. Good putting never fails at any U.S. Open, and Spaun holed five par putts ranging from 7 feet to 16 feet to go along with four birdies.

“I didn’t really feel like I’m going to show a bogey-free round 4 under. I didn’t really know what to expect especially since I’ve never played here,” said Spaun, playing in only his second U.S. Open. “But yeah, maybe sometimes not having expectations is the best thing, so I’ll take it.”

Oakmont lived up to its reputation with a scoring average of about 74.6 despite a course still relatively soft from rain and moderate wind that didn’t stick around for long.

And oh, that rough.

Just ask Rory McIlroy, although he chose not to speak for the fifth straight competitive round at a major since his Masters victory. He had to hack out three times on the fourth hole to get it back to the fairway, and then he holed a 30-foot putt for a most unlikely bogey. He shot 74.

“Even for a guy like me, I can’t get out of it some of the times, depending on the lie,” DeChambeau said after a 73. “It was tough. It was a brutal test of golf.”

The start of the round included Maxwell Moldovan holing out for eagle on the 484-yard opening hole. Toward the end, Tony Finau hit an approach just over the green, off a sprinkler head and into the grandstand, his Titleist marked by green paint of the sprinkler. He saved par.

When the first round ended more than 13 hours after it started, only 10 players managed to break par. That’s one fewer than the opening round in 2016.

Scheffler, the heavy favorite as the No. 1 player in the world who had won three of his last four tournaments by a combined 17 shots, made a 6-foot birdie putt on his second hole. Then he found the Church Pew bunkers on the third and fourth holes, made bogey on both and was never under the rest of the day.

“I made some silly mistakes out there, but at the same time, I made some key putts and some good momentum saves in my round,” Scheffler said. “But overall just need to be a little sharper.“

Spaun, who started his round by chipping in from ankle-deep rough just right of the 10th green, was walking down the 18th fairway when a spectator looked at the group’s scoreboard and said, “J.J. Spaun. He’s four under?”

The emphasis was on the number, not the name.

But some of the names were surprising, starting with Spaun. He lost in a playoff at The Players Championship to McIlroy that helped move him to No. 25 in the world, meaning he didn’t have to go through U.S. Open qualifying for the first time.

Thriston Lawrence of South Africa, who contended at Royal Troon last summer, had six birdies in a round of 67.

And perhaps Brooks Koepka can count as a surprise because the five-time major champion has not contended in a major since winning the PGA Championship in 2023, and he missed the cut in the Masters and PGA Championship this year.

He looked like the Koepka of old, muscling way around Oakmont, limiting mistakes and closing with two birdies for a 68 that left him in a group with the South Korea duo of Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im.

“It’s nice to put a good round together. It’s been a while,” Koepka said. “It’s been so far off … but now it’s starting to click. Unfortunately, we’re about halfway through the season, so that’s not ideal, but we’re learning.”

Another shot back at 69 was a group that included two-time major champion Jon Rahm, who went 11 holes before making a birdie, and followed that with an eagle.

“I played some incredible golf to shoot one under, which we don’t usually say, right?” Rahm said.

The course allowed plenty of birdies, plenty of excitement, and doled out plenty of punishment.

McIlroy also was bogey-free, at least on his opening nine. Then he three-putted for bogey on No. 1 and wound up with a 41 on the front nine for a 74. Sam Burns was one shot out of the lead until playing the last four holes in five over for a 72 that felt a lot worse.

Spaun was not immune from this. He just made everything, particularly five par putts from seven feet or longer.

“I think today was one of my best maybe putting days I’ve had maybe all year,” Spaun said. “Converting those putts … that’s huge for momentum and keeping a round going, and that’s kind of what happens here at U.S. Opens.”

Spaun wouldn’t know that from experience. This is only his second U.S. Open, and his ninth major since his first one in 2018. He didn’t have to qualify, moving to No. 25 in the world on the strength of his playoff loss to McIlroy at The Players Championship.

“I haven’t played in too many,” Spaun said “I knew it was going to be tough. I did my best just to grind through it all.”

It was every bit of a grind, from the rough and on the fast greens. Three more days.

Ferguson writes for the Associated Press.

Fancy footwork won him Wimbledon.

Simple footwear won him everything since.

“The shoe has had a life of its own,” said Stan Smith, 78, whose eponymous Adidas kicks, with their timeless lines and leather uppers, are the king of all tennis sneakers with more than 100 million sold. “People from all walks of life have embraced them.”

Not surprisingly, Smith has a head for business to match his feet for tennis.

With that in mind, he and longtime business partner Gary Niebur wrote the just-released “Winning Trust: How to Create Moments that Matter,” aimed at helping businesses develop stronger relationships with their clients, with tips that readers can apply to their personal relationships and to sports.

“The book is about developing relationships that can elevate the element of trust, which is a depreciating asset in today’s world,” Smith said this week in a call from the French Open.

Stan Smith and Gary Niebur’s book, “Winning Trust,” was released earlier this year.

(Courtesy of Stan Smith)

When it comes to building and maintaining high-stakes relationships, Smith and Niebur have distilled their process into five key elements they call SERVE, a recurring theme throughout the book. That’s an acronym for Strategize, Engage, Recreate, Volley and Elevate.

For instance, recreate — as in recreation — means to build bonds through fun shared experiences, and volley means to trade ideas back and forth to find solutions.

“When people realize that you care more about the relationship than the transaction,” Niebur said, “trust follows.”

A onetime standout at Pasadena High and USC, Smith was a close friend of the late Arthur Ashe, the UCLA legend whose name graces the main stadium court at Flushing Meadows, N.Y., home of the U.S. Open.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Ashe’s victory at Wimbledon, when he beat the heavily favored Jimmy Connors in the 1975 final. Ashe remains the only Black man to win the singles title at that storied tournament.

“Arthur was a good friend,” Smith said. “He made a huge impact, and much more of an impact in the last few years of his life when he was fighting AIDS and the heart fund, and obviously for equal rights.”

Arthur Ashe celebrates after winning the Wimbledon men’s singles title in 1975.

(Associated Press)

Ashe, who contracted HIV from a blood transfusion he received during heart-bypass surgery, died in 1993. Although he was four years older than Smith, the two developed a close friendship when they traveled the globe as Davis Cup teammates and rising professionals.

Smith has vivid memories of traveling with him, Ashe in his “Citizen of the World” T-shirt with his nose forever buried in a newspaper or magazine. Smith was ranked No. 1 in the U.S. at the time, two spots ahead of his pal, yet the wildly popular Ashe always got top billing.

“When we went to Africa, I was the other guy who played against him in all these exhibitions,” Smith told The Times in 2018. “They would introduce him as Arthur Ashe, No. 1 player in the U.S., No. 1 in the world, one of the greatest players to ever play the game … and Stan Smith, his opponent.”

Smith laughs about that now, but it used to chafe him. Finally, he raised the issue with his buddy.

Recalled Smith in that 2018 interview: “Arthur came up to me and said, ‘I’m sorry about that. If we do a tour of Alabama, I’ll carry your rackets for you.’ He was in tune with everything.

“Arthur was a quiet leader walking a tightrope between a traditionally white sport and the black community.”

Smith will be at Wimbledon next month, where his UCLA friend will be honored.

As for his shoes, they’re everywhere, and have been since the 1970s. Adidas originally developed the shoe for French player Robert Haillet in the mid-1960s, and the sneakers were known as the “Haillet.”

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Tennis great Stan Smith talks about some of the ideas he hopes his new book will convey to readers.

In 1972, the company switched to Smith, naming the shoes in his honor and printing a tiny picture of his mustachioed face on them. There were subtle changes to the Haillet, including a notch in the tongue for laces to pass through and a heel better shaped to protect the Achilles tendon.

They sold like crazy. In 1988, Stan Smiths made the “Guinness Book of World Records” for the most pairs sold at 22 million. Yet that was only the beginning as sales surged with the release of the Stan Smith II and retro Stan Smith 80s. The most common ones were solid white with touch of green on the back.

“Hugh Grant turned around last year in the [Wimbledon] royal box and said, `First girl I ever kissed, I was wearing your shoes,’” Smith told The Times in 2022. “Another guy said he met this girl when he was wearing my shoes. It was so meaningful that they both wore the shoes for their wedding seven years later.

“It started off as a tennis shoe. Now it’s a fashion shoe.”

Tennis great Stan Smith with his namesake Adidas shoe.

(Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Times)

Smith’s personal collection has climbed to more than 100 size 13s in all sorts of colors, including his favorite pair in cardinal and black, an homage to his USC roots.

In 2022, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Smith’s Wimbledon singles title, Adidas gave all of its sponsored players a pair of shoes with SW19 on the tongue — Wimbledon’s postcode — with the date of that match against Ilie Nastase inside the right shoe and the score of the match inside the left.

At Wimbledon this year, the spotlight swings to the other side of Los Angeles, to an unforgettable Bruin, a sports hero who impacted so many lives.

For Smith, his friendship with Ashe was an early example in his career of a relationship forged with trust.

The book, incidentally, is affixed with a unique and fitting page marker.

A shoelace.

On the day he turned 17, Jack Champlin gave himself his own best birthday present, one he got to share with his teammates.

The junior right-hander needed 27 pitches to retire all seven batters he faced to wrap up St. John Bosch’s 4-0 shutout of San Diego Patrick Henry in the Southern California Regional Division I championship game.

“I’m going to dinner with my family and my girlfriend,” he said when asked what he would do to celebrate. “I’m not sure where yet, but there are a lot of good places around here and we’ll make a decision.”

Champlin pitched in all seven playoff games for the Braves, picking up two wins and five saves, giving up no runs allowed in 11 2/3 innings.

“I don’t really feel the pressure … as a closer you need to have confidence in your stuff and I’m just happy to be put in that position,” said Champlin, who fielded a grounder back to the mound and underhanded a toss to first base for the final out of the season. “We knew our starter [Brayden Krakowski] had pitched earlier in the week and only had 14 outs remaining, so the gameplan was for me to come in after that or before if necessary. As it turned out I was able to finish each playoff game with the ball in my hand every single time.”

Krakowksi allowed three hits and got all the support he needed in the first inning, as James Clark led off the bottom half with a triple and scored on a single by Noah Everly. Miles Clark added a two-out RBI single. In the next inning St. John Bosco doubled its lead when James Clark hit an RBI double and later scored on an infield single by Jaden Jackson.

St. John Bosco closer Jack Champlin struck out three of the seven batters he faced to earn the save Saturday afternoon against Patrick Henry.

St. John Bosco beat eighth-seeded San Diego St. Augustine 2-1 in the first round and No. 5 Villa Park 7-4 in the semifinals in a rematch of the Braves’ 4-3 nine-inning triumph in the Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinals.

Patrick Henry had lost 3-0 to Granite Hills in the San Diego Section Open Division final but after back-to-back victories over two of the best Southern Section teams in Santa Margarita and Crespi, the Patriots (23-11-2) came to Bellflower confident they could upset the No. 1-ranked team in California.

It did not happen. Instead, the Braves notched their 19th consecutive win, 30th in 34 games and capped an historic campaign, which included a 3-2 walk-off victory over Santa Margarita to capture the program’s first Southern Section crown May 30 after losing to Beckman 2-1 in eight innings in the Division 3 title game last season.

“We’ve proven ourselves,” Champlin said in the midst of a celebration on the same field where he and his returning teammates rallied to defeat Bakersfield Christian 5-4 and claim the Division III regional championship last June.

Champlin took the hill with one out in the top of the seventh inning in last year’s regional final, got the final two outs, and was credited with the win when the Braves scored the game-ending run on a balk in the bottom of the inning.

Saturday’s achievement was even sweeter because it was accomplished at the highest level and was a testament to second-year coach Andy Rojo, who held the first-place plaque high and declared “We won the West!” as his players surrounded him.

“It’ll take a lot for any team to match what we’ve done winning by three titles in one year — the Trinity League championship, the Southern Section Division 1 championship and the regional Division I championship,” said Rojo, who got his squad to the top of the mountain despite losing 12 players to graduation — including pitcher Anthony Cosme (Cal Poly Pomona), center fielder Julian Villasenor (Washington State) and first baseman Zach Woodson (Pepperdine). “Tomorrow will be two months since we lost a game (the Braves last suffered defeat on April 8 against Santa Margarita). I couldn’t be more proud.”

PARIS — As popular as Coco Gauff is, she knew full well that nearly all of the 15,000 fans at Court Philippe-Chatrier would be against her during the French Open semifinals Thursday. That’s because Gauff, an American, was taking on a French opponent — and one who came from nowhere, 361st-ranked Loïs Boisson.

So the No. 2-seeded Gauff turned to a trick that 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic has talked about using: When the partisan crowd was loudly singing Boisson’s first name, Gauff pretended they were chanting “Coco!” Not that it mattered much, truly, because Gauff was by far the superior player throughout a 6-1, 6-2 victory that earned her a second trip to the final at Roland-Garros.

Three years ago, Gauff missed out on a chance to leave with the trophy when Iga Swiatek beat her. This time, Swiatek won’t be around for the championship match on Saturday because her 26-match unbeaten run at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament ended earlier Thursday with a 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-0 loss to No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

Sabalenka vs. Gauff will be the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 final in Paris since 2013, when Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova, and just the second in the last 30 years.

Gauff figures to hear at least the occasional “Allez, Coco!” while meeting Sabalenka.

But that wasn’t in the offing against Boisson, who beat No. 3 Jessica Pegula and No. 6 Mirra Andreeva while becoming the first woman since 1989 to get all the way to the semifinals in her first Grand Slam tournament.

Coco Gauff, left, and Lois Boisson shake hands after their French Open semifinal match on Thursday.

(Aurelien Morissard / Associated Press)

It’s been a quarter of a century since a woman representing France won the singles title at Roland-Garros — Mary Pierce in 2000 — so Boisson became front-page news. The flags flapping in the stands, and the raucous applause and yells accompanying each point Boisson won, were hard to miss.

“I was mentally prepared before the match that it was going to be 99% for her. But I just tried to block it out,” Gauff told the spectators during her on-court interview, laughing as she explained her thought process. “And actually, when you guys were chanting her name, I was saying to myself my name. Just to kind of psych myself out. You have to do that.”

Then she added: “I know you guys would usually root for me if I’m not playing a French (foe).”

Gauff never really allowed the atmosphere to become much of a factor, because she took Boisson out of the match from the get-go, grabbing 20 of the first 30 points to lead 4-0.

As much as Boisson’s game is fit for clay, Gauff is rather adept on the slower surface, too. Her speed and reflexes allow her to track down shot after shot, elongating points and making the player across the net come up with the goods over and over.

Boisson finished with just seven winners while Gauff made only 15 unforced errors, fewer than half of Boisson’s total of 33.

When the exchanges grew longer, Gauff got better. She won 34 of 51 points that lasted five strokes or more.

“Congratulations to her on an incredible tournament,” Gauff said, “but today just happened to be my day.”

Southern California is where golf prodigies Tiger Woods and Patrick Cantlay first began to receive attention as youths, and 14-year-old Jaden Soong, a member of the Class of 2028 at St. Francis High in La Canada, is on the same path.

On Tuesday, he mastered Poppy Hills Country Club, shooting a nine-under-par 62 to win the CIF state championship in Pebble Beach. He had no bogies, seven birdies and an eagle. He’s believed to be the youngest to win a CIF individual golf title. PGA winners Cantlay (Servite) and Rickie Fowler (Murrieta Valley) are former winners of the event.

It’s just another achievement for someone who came close to qualifying for the U.S. Open as a 13-year-old in 2023.

Soong only earned a chance to play on Tuesday by winning two playoffs to receive the invite as an at-large competitor. He said he hadn’t played Poppy Hills since he was 7 or 8 but got a round in before Tuesday’s competition.

He had two birdies and an eagle on the front nine. Then came birdies on No. 10 and No. 11 to go to six under par. He and Evan Liu of Torrey Pines started to pull away from the rest of the field on the par-71 course. Liu was in the clubhouse at seven under after making a birdie on No. 18 to finish with a 64, with Soong at six under with six holes to play.

Soong tied Liu at seven under with a birdie on No. 14, a 369-yard par-four hole. Then he went to eight under with a birdie on the par-three No. 17.

He hit a perfect drive on No. 18, a 503-yard par-five hole and had a 13-foot putt for an eagle before settling for a tap in birdie.

Soong loves pressure and showed his comfort level throughout a round to remember.

Stevenson High in Monterey won the team title.

When is the “fastest” something of a slow roll?

How about last week when pitcher Chris Sale was crowned the fastest to reach 2,500 career strikeouts?

Not to diminish Sale’s accomplishment: It took him fewer innings (2,026) to record No. 2,500 than any other pitcher in history. But because of injuries and a reduced workload — both huge, flashing signs of the times — he didn’t achieve the feat until his 16th season.

Sale was appropriately humble, telling reporters, “I appreciate it for what it is, but I try not to get too caught up in stuff like that right now.”

Perhaps he realizes it took others far less time to reach the 2,500 milestone, including the top two strikeout artists of all time: Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson.

Strikeouts are a single lens in viewing the substantive changes over the last 100-plus years in how pitchers are utilized, record outs and withstand the burden. But they can be an instructive one.

Catch a whiff of this: A certain Dodger currently on the injured list strikes out more batters per nine innings than any other pitcher in baseball history, which in effect is another way to express Sale’s “fastest” title.

Blake Snell averages a record 11.1679 strikeouts per nine innings, edging out Sale, who is second all-time at 11.1056 among pitchers who average at least one inning per team game.

The believe-it-or-not distinction might explain why the Dodgers gave Snell a five-year, $182-million free agent contract last offseason. His wicked stuff that features a 96 mph four-seam fastball also could help explain why he’s on the injured list for the eighth time in the last eight seasons, this time out since April 6 with left shoulder inflammation.

Snell is the epitome of a highly valued starter in today’s game: He accumulates strikeouts at a higher rate than anyone else, gives up fewer hits than anyone else, and elicits only shrugs when someone points out that he has a grand total of one complete game in 213 career starts.

It is revealing that 13 of the top 20 pitchers on the all-time strikeout per innings list are active. The only one who didn’t pitch in the 21st century is Ryan at No. 19, just ahead of another believe-it-or-not name, Lucas Giolito.

Among the 33 pitchers to average more than a strikeout per inning, the only one whose career began in the 1950s has a statue outside Dodger Stadium: Sandy Koufax.

Koufax and Snell are two of 10 Dodgers among the 33, a clue as to what the Dodgers front office values in mound performance. Several of the names are less than luminary.

The others, from bottom to top: Lance Lynn (No. 32; 9.04), Rich Hill (No. 29; 9.12), Andrew Heaney (No. 25; 9.33), Clayton Kershaw (No. 16; 9.72), Trevor Bauer (No. 15; 9.82), Pedro Martinez (No. 12; 10.04), Yu Darvish (No. 7; 10.59) and Max Scherzer (No. 5; 10.65).

Note: Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani averaged a mammoth 11.40 strikeouts per nine innings in six seasons with the Angels but hasn’t pitched enough to qualify for the all-time list. He has recovered from elbow surgery and is expected to return to the mound after the All-Star break for the first time since August 2023.

Sale’s accomplishment, then, is sustaining a near-record rate of strikeouts per nine innings for more than 2,000 innings, certainly worthy of note.

An equally valid definition of “fastest” to reach a strikeout milestone would be how long it took to get there. The pitcher that the 6-foot-6, left-handed Sale surpassed was his boyhood idol: Johnson, a 6-10, left-handed flamethrower who ranks second to Ryan on the career strikeout list with 4,875.

Johnson notched No. 2,500 in inning No. 2,108 — 82 more than it took Sale. But he did so in only his 11th season, five seasons “faster” than Sale.

Incidentally — and incredibly — Johnson was only halfway through his career. He retired in 2009 after 22 seasons with 4,135.1 innings and 303 wins.

Granted, Johnson was an anomaly, the only hurler ever to amass more than 200 innings and 300 strikeouts in multiple seasons well into his 30s. At ages 35-38 from 1999-2002, he averaged a staggering 354 strikeouts and 258 innings a season.

The only comparable hurler was Ryan (record strikeout total: 5,714), who also reached No. 2,500 in his 11th season, the milestone whiff coming in inning No. 2,287 when he struck out Andre Thornton of Cleveland while pitching for the Angels in 1978.

Ryan’s longevity was even more impressive than Johnson’s: 27 seasons from 1966-93, 5,386 innings and 324 wins. No current pitcher will come close to those numbers.

On the other end of the strikeout spectrum are Hall of Fame pitchers from more than 100 years ago who logged vast numbers of innings while striking out far fewer batters per inning. Velocity wasn’t nearly as high or as prized as it is today and pitchers were expected to complete games they started.

Sale ranks No. 40 on the all-time strikeout list, and he next will pass Christy Mathewson, who needed a prodigious 4,788 innings to log 2,507 strikeouts from 1900-16. Mathewson is far down the list of strikeouts per nine innings, checking in at No. 689 with 4.71.

Walter Johnson, the legendary “Big Train” out of Fullerton Union High, is third all-time with 5,914 innings and ninth with 3,509 strikeouts in a career spanning 1907-27. But he averaged just 5.34 strikeouts per nine innings, ranking No. 520, a few notches ahead of the less than legendary former Dodgers swingman Elmer Dessens.

Other fabled names associated with blazing fastballs compiled surprisingly low strikeout rates as well. Bob “Rapid Robert” Feller, for example, sits at 6.07 strikeouts per nine innings.

Kershaw, meanwhile, is on the cusp of reaching a milestone that very nearly guarantees entry into the Hall of Fame: 3,000 strikeouts. The career Dodger in his 18th season has 2,974, and he’s inching toward the finish line, having struck out six in three abbreviated starts since coming off the injured list two weeks ago.

Although Kershaw has consistently downplayed the significance of reaching 3,000, he told Tyler Kepner of the Athletic last week that it’s on his mind.

“Yeah, I’d be lying if I didn’t want to do it,” Kershaw said. “But I think the coolest part is the company you get to be a part of. You know what I mean? There’s just some really special names.”

They include, of course, Ryan and Johnson. Nineteen pitchers have reached the milestone and 17 are in the Hall of Fame, with Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling falling short for reasons that had nothing to do with strikeout totals.

Kershaw is considered a Hall of Fame shoo-in, his earned-run average of 2.51 the lowest of any active pitcher that meets the innings qualification and his 212 career victories an impressive number in today’s game.

Snell’s candidacy falls into the “way too early to tell” category. Yes, he is the only pitcher to win a Cy Young award in each league, and his 3.18 career ERA sparkles. And, of course, striking out more batters per nine innings than anyone else in history stands out on his resume.

Yet Snell is in his 10th season and he has just 77 wins. Hall of Fame starters with the fewest MLB wins are Dizzy Dean (150) and Koufax (165), the careers of both cut short by arm injuries.

Snell’s career should be far from over. He’s only 32 and his lucrative Dodgers contract doesn’t expire until after the 2029 season. But to have a shot at the Hall, Snell must fulfill the promise that prompted the Dodgers to sign him.

The only active pitchers besides Kershaw considered Hall of Fame locks are Justin Verlander and Scherzer, both hard throwers with the requisite strikeout totals.

Verlander, 42, has 3,457 strikeouts while averaging 8.98 per nine innings. He also has 262 wins — 46 more than Scherzer and 50 more than Kershaw, the next two active pitchers on the all-time list. No one else is close to 200.

Scherzer ranks fifth all-time in strikeouts per nine innings at 10.65, trailing only Snell, Sale, Robby Ray (another believe-it-or-not name) and Jacob DeGrom. Scherzer’s career total of 3,408 ranks 11th, just behind Verlander.

Gerrit Cole, 34, appeared on a Hall of Fame track before undergoing Tommy John surgery in March. He won’t pitch again until early next season, putting a long pause on his current totals of 153 wins, 2,251 strikeouts and 10.37 strikeouts per nine innings.

The only recently retired starter who might be rehearsing his Hall induction speech is another former Dodger, Zack Greinke, who posted 225 wins and 2,979 strikeouts along with a 3.49 ERA before retiring in 2024 after 20 seasons.

What about Sale, whose rebound from four years of debilitating injuries to win a Cy Young award with the Atlanta Braves was one of baseball’s best stories of 2024? He finished in the top five of Cy Young voting seven years in a row from 2012-2018, and his 3.04 career ERA is lower than any active starter besides Kershaw and DeGrom.

“He’s kind of doing Hall of Fame stuff,” Braves manager Brian Snitker told reporters. “That guy is probably as big a baseball fan as anybody, just the history of the game and the competition. He’s a ballplayer, and it’s really cool to watch.”

Yet Sale has only 141 wins, and that perceived blemish could be an interesting litmus test for Hall voters who profess to recognize that wins are much more difficult to accumulate now that teams routinely limit starters to six or fewer innings.

Strikeouts are king these days, and the Dodgers clearly know it.

CLEVELAND — Mike Trout originally expected to return to the Angels’ lineup on Monday in Boston.

It turns out the timeline was moved up one series and three days.

Trout was activated off the injured list before Friday night’s game against the Cleveland Guardians. The Angels slugger missed 26 games with soreness in his left knee eventually diagnosed as a bone bruise. The three-time American League MVP had two operations last year on the knee after tearing his meniscus.

“I’m just itching to get out there,” Trout said before the game. “I think came out of the other day (of running bases) good. I wasn’t too sore or anything, I told them I was good enough to go out there and have some good at-bats.”

Trout’s return comes with something he hasn’t done in his 15-year big league career. This will be the first time in 1,532 starts that he will be hitting fifth in the lineup.

The only other time Trout batted fifth in 1,547 previous games was on May 14, 2022, against the Athletics, when he entered in the fourth inning and finished the game in center field.

“We know where Mike Trout is in the order. It doesn’t matter where he is hitting, he could be hitting ninth,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “It’s got to be a different feeling for sure for them. I mean, he’s been in the two or three hole for what, 12 years now? But he’s still a really good player.”

Manager Ron Washington is happy to have Trout back, especially since he noted Trout wasn’t aggressive in rushing back. Washington also knows that Trout isn’t ready to return to his normal spot batting second or third.

“He hasn’t seen anything. So when you look at what we have, that’s where he sits,” Washington said. “It doesn’t make sense for him to protect (Logan) O’Hoppe. So I’ll put Mike behind him to protect O’Hoppe. He’s not ready to be at the top of the lineup, especially with those guys up there. As we go along the next couple of days, he’s not going to remain fifth.”

The 33-year old Trout was hitting .179 with nine home runs, 18 RBIs and a .727 OPS in 29 games before the injury. He will be the designated hitter for the weekend series against the Guardians before possibly returning to right field when the Halos head to Boston on Monday for a three-game series.

Even though Trout has shied away from wanting to be the designated hitter, he has done well in that spot. In seven games this season, he is eight for 28 (.286) with six home runs and nine RBIs.

Trout said whether or not he plays more games than originally planned at DH the remainder of the season is something that remains to be seen.

“Bone bruises are tricky. I know I am going to be sore but I can deal with it,” he said. “I definitely have to be cautious, especially the first couple games.”

Trout’s return comes with the Angels on a five-game skid after an eight-game winning streak that included a three-game sweep of the defending World Series champion Dodgers. Los Angeles were 25-30 going into Friday’s game.

“There’s so many games that any sense of newness or something to make you excited is something that you’d latch on to. So today is definitely a moment like that,” O’Hoppe said about Trout’s return. “He’s the heart of this organization. So we’re happy to have our heart beating again for sure.”

Trout has missed 404 of the Angels’ 664 games — almost 61% — since May 17, 2021, when he tore his calf muscle against Cleveland and was sidelined for the rest of that season. This is the fifth straight year he has had a stint of at least 25 games on the IL.

He missed five weeks of the 2022 season with a back injury, and all but one game after July 3 in 2023 after he broke a bone in his hand on a foul ball. Trout played in 29 games last season before the meniscus injury.

Jack Champlin, a junior pitcher for St. John Bosco, surveyed the memorable scene Tuesday afternoon. There were fans standing everywhere — down the lines, around the outfield walls, in the press box. It was the top of the seventh inning, and No. 1 Corona had two runners aboard trying to rally in the Southern Section Division 1 semifinals.

“I love it,” he said. “There’s close to 1,000 people and it’s electric. I didn’t feel any pressure, didn’t feel nervous.”

He got a strikeout and fly ball to save St. John Bosco’s stunning 2-0 victory over Corona and unbeaten pitcher Seth Hernandez, who had never lost in two years of high school baseball.

“Tough day for people who don’t normally have tough days,” said Corona coach Andy Wise, who guided the Panthers to the Division 1 title last season and saw his team’s record drop to 28-3.

The Braves will play Trinity League rival Santa Margarita in Friday’s 7 p.m. Division 1 championship game at Cal State Fullerton.

Everything St. John Bosco needed to do to pull off victory happened. Left-hander Trevor Heishman gave up one hit in 6 1/3 innings with nine strikeouts. He struck out Corona’s hottest hitter, Anthony Murphy, three times.

The Braves refused to be intimidated by the 99-mph fastball of Hernandez, who came in with just four walks and 96 strikeouts in 48 2/3 innings and an 18-0 record in high school baseball. He struck out nine, walked three and gave up a run in the second inning on consecutive singles by Champlin and Macade Maxwell. St. John Bosco scored another run in the fifth on a Hernandez balk.

“He’s just another player like us,” Champlin said of the Braves’ attitude toward Hernandez, one of the top pro prospects in the nation. “We weren’t scared. We came out with confidence we were going to win from the time we stepped on the field.

Second-year coach Andy Rojo has St. John Bosco in the Division 1 final.

(Nick Koza)

In two years as head coach, Andy Rojo has taken the Braves to the Division 3 final (last season) and now the Division 1 final on Friday.

His batters made Hernandez throw 92 pitches in five innings and hit the ball hard when they needed. “The key for us we wanted to put the ball in play,” he said.

St. John Bosco has never won a section baseball title after all the success the football and basketball teams have had. But this 26-4 team won the Trinity League championship for the first time since 2017 and has beaten Santa Margarita two of three times this season.

And they’ve got Champlin ready to be the closer again on Friday.

“I haven’t had a blown save,” he said with the confidence of a true closer.

Santa Margarita 12, Crespi 0: Ben Finnegan had three hits and four RBIs and Brennan Bauer gave up two hits in five scoreless innings to send the Eagles into the Division 1 championship game.

Mater Dei 5, Fountain Valley 4: A three-run sixth inning propelled the Monarchs to the comeback win in the Division 2 semifinals. Lawson Olmstead broke a 4-4 tie with an RBI single. Brandon Thomas picked up the save in the seventh and will pitch in the championship game.

West Ranch 8, Etiwanda 7: Ty Diaz had a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning, culminating in a three-run comeback victory in the Division 2 semifinals. Etiwanda took a 7-5 lead with two runs in the top of the eighth. Diaz finished with three hits and two RBIs.

San Dimas 4, Beckman 1: The Saints advance to the Division 3 championship game. They will face Glendora, a 7-5 winner over Temecula Valley.

One may be the loneliest number, but No. 2 is what sent Shaquille O’Neal urgently mincing off the “Inside the NBA” stage last month while the cameras kept running.

O’Neal copped to the truth Thursday night during his 18th appearance on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon,” giving what might be more detail than anyone needed about that sudden departure in April.

First, he clung to the fib, saying, “I was drinking a lot of water that day. So I know I had the No. 2 run, but it was really a No. 1. So let’s just get that out of the way.”

He explained he was drinking olive oil at the time “to be sexy,” because he’d seen on Instagram that if he drank olive oil daily for 14 days, he would clean out his system and have a flat stomach. “So I was trying that.”

A laughing Fallon held his face in his hands.

“You know what,” O’Neal said. “I just made a mistake. I lied to you on national TV. It wasn’t a No. 1 run. It was a No. 2 run. I had to go bad. Oh, I had to go so bad.”

Fallon begged him to keep telling the lie. O’Neal asked whether the host had seen him squeezing his butt cheeks as he scooted away from the “Inside the NBA” desk.

Then Fallon showed a photo of what the crew did to O’Neal the next day: It put a blue porta-potty in studio on his side of the table.

Blessedly, the conversation then moved in a different direction.

Things were a bit more serious but no less amusing back in April when O’Neal got up while a co-host was in the middle of talking and — in a big hurry — walked awkwardly in front of his fellow panelists and out the stage door. Ernie Johnson Jr., Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley weren’t sure what was going on.

“You all right, big fella?” Barkley asked with a look of concern on his face.

As the camera (cruelly) followed him, O’Neal blurted to his co-hosts to “go ahead, keep talking” while one reminded him, “Hey, we’re on TV.”

“It’s that olive oil you’ve been drinking,” Barkley said. “Hey, take some matches with you.”

As the remaining hosts broke into giggles, Kenny Smith said, “After 40, you can’t hold it no more.”

“That wasn’t something planned, was it?” Ernie Johnson Jr. wondered.

Smith also noted that O’Neal had been drinking olive oil to clean out his system, saying, “Oh, he’s cleaning out his gut all right!”

“I did not like his gait as he left!” Johnson said.

And Barkley simply couldn’t move past the idea of the smell.

“Please turn his mic off, that’s all,” Smith quipped. Then, as Smith tried to return to talking about L.A. Clippers forward Kawhai Leonard, the team in TNT’s Studio J came through with the instant replay of Shaq bailing out. Instant. Freaking. Replay.

IN SLO-MO.

The three very professional analysts immediately began very professional analysis of O’Neal’s shambolic gait.

The big man returned fairly soon after that, mumbling something about drinking too much water and about Barkley talking way too long when he really needed to cut to a break.

“Sorry about that, America,” he said.

Seriously Shaq, you have absolutely no reason to apologize. As long as you remember the matches.

There are four big-time matchups Friday in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section Division 1 baseball playoffs. The intrigue involves which teams can win with No. 2 pitchers.

Top-seeded Corona won with ace Seth Hernandez on Tuesday but now must get past Big VIII League rival Norco on the road with Ethin Bingaman pitching against freshman standout Jordan Ayala. This is the game the Panthers might be most vulnerable.

St. John Bosco, the Trinity League champion, is playing at Villa Park in a noon matchup. Villa Park defeated Aquinas on Tuesday. Los Alamitos is playing at Santa Margarita in a matchup of teams that didn’t win league titles.

Mira Costa, with a 26-game winning streak, faces Mission League champion Crespi on the road in a 2:15 start at Hartunian Field. The Celts have No. 2 pitcher Tyler Walton ready to go.

The winners advance to Tuesday’s semifinals. …

The City Section Division III baseball championship will take place Friday at Stengel Field, with University playing Jefferson at 3 p.m. Then the Division II final has Port of Los Angeles playing Chavez at 6 p.m. …

Grant Leary of Crespi won the Southern Section individual golf title on Thursday, shooting a 66.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

Mexican corrido singer Gabito Ballesteros has always been a hopeless romantic. His newest album, “Ya No Se Llevan Serenatas,” or “They No Longer Perform Serenades,” tugs at those delicate heartstrings.

Released Thursday, the album pays tribute to romance in the digital era of smartphones and social media. Invoking modern-day references, like sending Instagram DMs and going to Disneyland, he puts his own spin on the traditional serenade, a ballad one typically sings below the windowsill of their lover. It’s the kind of profound romance that regional Mexican acts such as Joan Sebastian, Vicente Fernandez and Juan Gabriel honed for decades.

“I like to sing to women, bring them roses, be romantic, and I want to convey this to my audience,” said Ballesteros in a statement to The Times.

Sprinkled across the 21 tracks is a roster of star-studded Mexican homegrown talents, including longtime collaborator Natanael Cano, Tito Doble P, Christian Nodal, Neton Vega, Carín León, Oscar Maydon and Luis R Conriquez.

Colombian reggaeton superstar J Balvin is also featured in the Latin-EDM fusion track, “La Troka.”

Ahead of its release, the rising star teased his sophomore album on Instagram with a clip of him driving a classic Ford Mustang filled with dozens of red roses. Once parked, Ballesteros pulls out his guitar from the trunk as his joint song with Carín León, “Regalo de Dios,” begins to unfold in the background — a sign that Ballesteros is ready to pour his heart out to whoever that fortunate soul might be.

The song is one of the few pre-released tracks of the album, alongside poetic singles like “Cleopatra,” which compares a woman’s beauty to that of the famed Egyptian queen, and the agonizing track “Perdido,” which looks to fill the void of true love lost with vice.

The already popular, anxiety-riddled “7 Diás,” featuring Tito Double P, is also included in the track list; Ballesteros also performs an acoustic rendition of this heartbreak song on YouTube.

“This is a very important album because it tells a very different story than what [I] have been doing],” said Ballesteros. “The audience will get to learn more about my love and heartbreak.”

Ballesteros, who is originally from Sonora, Mexico, first gained recognition in 2020 with his breakthrough conjunto song “El Rompecabezas.” After obtaining his degree in industrial engineering in 2023, he joined his longtime friend Natanael Cano and Peso Pluma on the chart-topping hit “AMG,” which debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 92, marking the trio’s first appearance on the chart. Ballesteros later appeared on the chart that same year with the megahit “Lady Gaga” with Peso Pluma and Junior H,” which remained on the Billboard Hot 100 for 20 weeks, peaking at No. 35.

The release of “Ya No Se Llevan Serenatas” comes a year after Ballesteros launched his critically-acclaimed debut album, “The GB,” which landed at No. 65 on the Billboard 200. The 25-year-old singer— who is under Natanael Cano’s record label Los CT and Peso Pluma’s Double P Management— has quickly become a force in the new wave of corridos tumbados, amassing more than 50 million monthly Spotify listeners.

“If you’re in love, I would like for you to dedicate a song to your lover [from this album]. If you’re going through a breakup, listen to it and heal with the music,” Ballesteros said. “Everything is guided by love.”

The panel was flabbergasted when Britt Lower wasn’t nominated for her work in the first season of “Severance”; they have her near the top of the Round 1 list this time. But she may be in for misery as Kathy Bates barely edged her out for the No. 1 spot for her unique spin on “Matlock.”

“Fun fact: It’s been a full decade since an actress on a broadcast TV show won in this category (Viola Davis, for ABC’s ‘How to Get Away With Murder’),” says Kristen Baldwin. “Kathy Bates could (and should) break that dry spell.” Glenn Whipp agrees, quoting Bates’ character: “‘There’s a funny thing that happens when women age … We become damn near invisible.’ Unless, of course, you’re Kathy Bates, in which case, you become the odds-on favorite to win a third Emmy.”

But “while she missed out last time around,” writes Trey Mangum, “Britt Lower is also a top pick here.” Even “Matlock” booster Matt Roush says, while Bates’ performance requires constant trickery, “Don’t count out Britt Lower (‘Severance’) as the equally two-faced Helly R./Helena Eagan, a role with an even higher degree of emotional difficulty.”

At No. 3 is Bella Ramsey, stepping into the solo spotlight in one of TV’s buzziest shows. “‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 shifts its focus to Ellie, and Bella Ramsey has shined as they move from angsty young adult to goofball with a crush to grief-stricken warrior driven by revenge,” says Tracy Brown, also praising Ramsey’s featured guitar-and-singing skills.

More predictions: Drama actor / Drama series

1. Kathy Bates, “Matlock”
2. Britt Lower, “Severance”
3. Bella Ramsey, “The Last of Us”
4. (tie) Lashana Lynch, “The Day of the Jackal”
4. (tie) Melanie Lynskey, “Yellowjackets”
6. Keri Russell, “The Diplomat”
7. Kaitlin Olson, “High Potential”
8. Sharon Horgan, “Bad Sisters”
9. Keira Knightley, “Black Doves”
10. Zoe Saldaña, “Lioness”

Los Angeles Times

Lorraine Ali

1. Cristin Milioti, “The Penguin”
2. Michelle Williams, “Dying for Sex”
3. Cate Blanchett, “Disclaimer”
4. Julianne Moore, “Sirens”
5. Kaitlyn Dever, “Apple Cider Vinegar”

“Apart from Kathy Bates, the three names at the top of my list — Sharon Horgan as the eldest Garvey sibling in ‘Bad Sisters,’ Britt Lower as the duplicitous Helly R. in ‘Severance’ and Melanie Lynskey as the coldblooded butcher/soccer mom Shauna in ‘Yellowjackets’ — all delivered strong performances in their returning series.”

Entertainment Weekly

Kristen Baldwin

1. Kathy Bates, “Matlock”
2. Britt Lower, “Severance”
3. Melanie Lynskey, “Yellowjackets”
4. Bella Ramsey, “The Last of Us”
5. Keri Russell, “The Diplomat”
6. Keira Knightley, “Black Doves”

“Fun fact: It’s been a full decade since an actress on a broadcast TV show won in this category (Viola Davis, for ABC’s ‘How to Get Away With Murder’). Kathy Bates could (and should) break that dry spell with her delightful turn as the folksy-fierce Matty Matlock in CBS’ legal drama. Meanwhile, Keira Knightley deserves a nod for the suspenseful spy thriller ‘Black Doves’ (even if it is more of a comedy than a drama).”

Los Angeles Times

Tracy Brown

1. Bella Ramsey, “The Last of Us”
2. Kathy Bates, “Matlock”
3. Britt Lower, “Severance”
4. Melanie Lynskey, “Yellowjackets”
5. Kaitlin Olson, “High Potential”
6. Angela Bassett, “9-1-1”

“‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 shifts its focus to Ellie, and Bella Ramsey has shined as they shift from angsty young adult to goofball with a crush to grief-stricken warrior driven by revenge. Plus, they’ve shown that they’re just as proficient with a guitar as they are with weapons.”

Shadow and Act

Trey Mangum

1. Lashana Lynch, “The Day of the Jackal”
2. Kaitlin Olson, “High Potential”
3. Zoe Saldaña, “Lioness”
4. Britt Lower, “Severance”
5. Keri Russell, “The Diplomat”
6. Kathy Bates, “Matlock”

“The more time goes on, the more it seems like Kathy Bates will likely receive an Emmy nomination for a broadcast television show, and honestly, she has a great shot at winning. And while she missed out last time around, Britt Lower is also a top pick here.”

TV Guide

Matt Roush

1. Kathy Bates, “Matlock”
2. Britt Lower, “Severance”
3. Bella Ramsey, “The Last of Us”
4. Keri Russell, “The Diplomat”
5. Keira Knightley, “Black Doves”
6. Helen Mirren, “MobLand”

“Even if the voters pass on ‘Matlock’ as a series, they’ll have a harder time ignoring Kathy Bates as the crafty lawyer playing a long game. Don’t count out Britt Lower (‘Severance’) as the equally two-faced Helly R./Helena Eagan, a role with an even higher degree of emotional difficulty.”

Los Angeles Times

Glenn Whipp

1. Kathy Bates, “Matlock”
2. Britt Lower, “Severance”
3. Lashana Lynch, “The Day of the Jackal”
4. Bella Ramsey, “The Last of Us”
5. Keira Knightley, “Black Doves”
6. Sharon Horgan, “Bad Sisters”

“‘There’s a funny thing that happens when women age,’ Kathy Bates’ protagonist says early on in the ‘Matlock’ reboot. ‘We become damn near invisible.’ Unless, of course, you’re Kathy Bates, in which case, you become the odds-on favorite to win a third Emmy.”

Alyssa Lee of El Camino Real has achieved something few volleyball coaches can claim.

With El Camino Real’s boys team winning the City Section Open Division championship on Saturday after an upset over No. 1-seeded Venice, Lee has won City titles coaching El Camino Real’s boys, girls and beach volleyball teams, the Triple Crown of volleyball coaching.

“That’s very impressive,” said Granada Hills coach Tom Harp, who had Lee on his girls’ team when she graduated in 2009.

Harp, a future Hall of Fame coach in the City Section, said Lee is calm and comfortable on the bench and knows strategy well.

El Camino Real opens the state playoffs on Tuesday in Division 2 with a home game against Escondido Classical Academy.

Mira Costa is seeded No. 1 in Division 1…

The CIF Southern California tennis championships will be held Friday and Saturday at Claremont Club. Here’s the bracket…

Southern Section golf team championships are set for Monday and Tuesday. The individual championship will be Thursday. The City Section championships are Wednesday at Harding Golf Course.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

You can go ask any college football recruiter whether they’d be more impressed with a high school player who spends the majority of time in offseason seven-on-seven competitions or working on other skills in track and field? They’d always say track.

Darren Haggerty of Viewpoint High is an example of a football player who’s going to benefit from showing what he can do in track and field.

On Saturday, he pulled off career-best performances to win the Division 4 high jump at 6 feet, 6 inches and the long jump at 22-8 at the Southern Section championships at Moorpark High. He helped Viewpoint share the Division 4 title with Gardena Serra.

He was a little shocked afterward, not knowing he had it in him. He was considered Viewpoint’s best football player last fall as a sophomore, leading the team in receiving with 39 receptions for 674 yards and five touchdowns. He also had 37 tackles on defense. …

Quarterback Luke Fahey led Mission Viejo to the championship of the Millikan seven-on-seven tournament, beating San Diego Lincoln in the final. San Juan Hills won the tournament at Dana Hills and Charter Oak took its own tournament title. …

The semifinals are set for City Section Division I baseball on Wednesday at Stengel Field in Glendale. It will be No. 5 Verdugo Hills vs. No. 1 Banning at 6 p.m. and No. 11 Taft vs No. 2 Carson at 3 p.m.

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With UCLA’s bats quiet early, Kaitlyn Terry stepped into the batter’s box looking to ignite a two-out rally — and with one swing she brought the Bruins to life.

Terry, a right fielder and left-handed pitcher, hit a three-run home run in the second inning to jump-start UCLA’s 9-1 win over UC Santa Barbara in six innings in the opening round of the Los Angeles Regional on Friday.

The No. 9 Bruins (50–10) advanced to Game 3 of the regional, where they’ll face the winner of Arizona State and San Diego State at 2 p.m. PDT Saturday.

Before the season, coach Kelly Inouye-Perez stressed that a UCLA championship push had to start with securing a regional at Easton Stadium — and taking care of business once there.

UCLA is chasing its ninth Women’s College World Series berth in the past decade, but early on Friday, the path looked shaky. Instead of a confident march into the postseason opener, it felt like déjà vu for a moment — a flashback to the haunting 2023 regional, when the Bruins dropped their first game and ultimately fell short of a trip to Oklahoma City.

The Bruins squandered early opportunities uncharacteristic of the nation’s No. 2 run-scoring lineup.

Trailing in the second inning, Alexis Ramirez reached base on a hit up the middle, then stole second. After advancing on a groundout, she was caught in a rundown between third and home. Still, UCLA had a chance to even the score with runners on first and second, but Terry flied out to end the inning.

UCLA pitcher Taylor Tinsley delivers against UC Santa Barbara in the Los Angeles Regional on Friday.

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

Terry found herself in a similar situation two innings later, and she delivered.

With two outs in the fourth, Kaniya Bragg reached first on a hit-by-pitch. Batting for the first time this season, Taylor Stephens followed with a slow roller into right field — just soft enough for Bragg to beat the tag at third while Stephens stepped onto second.

On the next pitch, Terry crushed a home run to center field.

Taylor Tinsley, an All-Big Ten first team selection, gave up three hits and one walk while striking out one. Her only blemish came in the second inning, when she gave up a run on an RBI single by UCSB catcher Delaina Ma’ae.

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1. UCLA’s Jordan Woolery fields the ball at third base against UC Santa Barbara on Friday. 2. UCLA infielder Kaniya Bragg fields the ball. 3. UCLA’s Megan Grant celebrates after hitting a game-ending home run in the sixth inning. (Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

A pair of home runs in the sixth inning ended the game via the mercy rule. Jessica Clements hit a three-run home run. That was followed by a walk and steal from Savannah Pola, who was driven in by Jordan Woolery’s RBI single. Megan Grant ended the game with a two-run blast to left-center field.

UCLA, which finished its first season in the Big Ten tied for second with Nebraska, has won 26 games by mercy rule this season.