Burrows, who represented Northern Ireland at the 2022 Euros, said she was “relieved and appreciative” that Cliftonville’s challenge was successful.
“The original sanction was not only going to affect my ability to play the sport I love, but it also took a significant toll on my mental and social well-being,” added the former Blackburn and Linfield player.
“The stress of being accused of something I knew I didn’t do was incredibly emotionally difficult, and it placed strain on my relationships both on and off the pitch.
“I’m proud to represent both Cliftonville and Northern Ireland, and I’ve always tried to conduct myself with professionalism and respect for the game.
“I’m thankful the challenge process acknowledged the full context of the incident, and I now look forward to moving on and continuing to give everything for my club and country.”
What was more important, however, was that they didn’t lose their two-way star.
In the Dodgers’ 5-2 defeat to the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park, Shohei Ohtani left the mound alongside a trainer in the fourth inning with what the team later said was only cramping — a worrying scene in the moment, quickly alleviated by a seemingly benign injury announcement.
Ohtani remained in the game as a designated hitter, going 0-for-5 on the night.
The rest of the Dodgers’ lineup didn’t do much better, with Freddie Freeman’s two-run home run in the top of the fourth inning representing their only scoring.
It was a half-inning later that Ohtani’s injury scare occurred.
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UCLA NEWSLETTER
We have a new newsletter! It’s called UCLA Unlocked, and yes, you guess it, it’s about UCLA athletics, from football to basketball to baseball to you name it, it will be covered here.
Get informed and entertained about everything Bruin sports, from takeaways on the latest big game to recruiting buzz. We’ll also remember some of the greatest athletes, coaches and games that made UCLA sports so special.
The newsletter will be interactive, including polls and questions about UCLA sports old and new. It’ll also cover the school’s tradition-rich Olympic sports, highlighting one each week.
The newsletter will be emailed to you every Monday morning.
The Angels acquired relievers Andrew Chafin and Luis García from the Washington Nationals in a trade for left-hander Jake Eder and minor league first baseman Sam Brown.
The Angels announced the deal to bolster their bullpen on Wednesday. The team also designated left-hander José Quijada for assignment to make room on its 40-man roster.
The 35-year-old Chafin joins his eighth major league team after going 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA in 26 appearances for Washington this season. Left-handed hitters are batting just .147 against him.
The Angels have one of the majors’ highest bullpen ERAs despite the presence of closer Kenley Jansen, who has 20 saves and a 2.93 ERA in another strong season.
Nathan Eovaldi limited the Angels to a run in seven innings, Adolis García hit a two-run homer in the eighth and the Texas Rangers beat the Angels 6-3 on Wednesday night.
Eovaldi (9-3) helped the Rangers avoid a series sweep and snap the Angels’ three-game winning streak. He allowed six hits and struck out four.
Marcus Semien was three for five with an RBI and two runs. He doubled and opened the scoring on Wyatt Langford’s single in the fourth, and had an RBI single in the sixth. Langford was two for five with a double.
For most players, getting to a second contract is challenging. And careers that extend well beyond that milestone are uncommon in a business that churns through talent.
So when Ahkello Witherspoon began his career in 2017, he could not envision that he would be preparing for his ninth season.
Witherspoon, 30, is the most veteran player in a Rams secondary that remains unchanged in personnel from when the Rams advanced to the NFC divisional round.
Gates, who will be enshrined Saturday in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, is the only player to reach that pinnacle without a single snap of college football. He was a basketball star at Kent State, a half-hour up the road from Canton, Ohio, and never seemed to give football a second thought, even though he was a two-sport high school phenom in his hometown of Detroit.
“I never in a million years when he was playing basketball at Kent State thought he would be a professional football player,” said Steve Sefner, the school’s play-by-play announcer when the 6-foot-4 power forward was routinely dominating taller opponents.
“He had an elite first step, point-guard skills, making reads, passing,” recalled Anthony Wilkins, now a basketball assistant coach at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and then Kent State’s co-captain with Gates. “We could put the ball in Tone’s hands and literally run the offense through him.”
From Ben Bolch: It was 68 degrees and overcast, a cool coastal breeze wafting across the practice fields, when UCLA commenced its first off-campus football training camp in nearly a decade.
San Bernardino, this was not.
With 55 newcomers dotting a roster of 105, not to mention eight new assistant coaches, the Bruins’ camp that started in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning was more about togetherness than toughness in the triple-digit temperatures of the Inland Empire.
Every offensive player was matched with a roommate from the defense or special teams. A series of bonding exercises was planned inside and outside the nearby team hotel. Everything the Bruins do over the next 2 ½ weeks will be of the get-to-know-you variety.
“I have a lot of tough guys, but it’s more of the connection,” coach DeShaun Foster said. “There’s a lot of new coaches and players, so I just wanted to find a way to make us be able to connect a little bit more, you know? To be able to eat three meals with each other and just get close.”
From Ryan Kartje: Eight weeks ago, on the first day of USC football’s summer workout program, Trumain Carroll hoped to drive home one particular message.
How you do one thing, he told the team, is how you do everything.
Carroll had just been hired as USC’s new strength and conditioning coach, replacing Bennie Wylie, who was abruptly let go in April. The late start for Carroll left him with only so much time to lay a foundation. But this lesson was especially critical. Not only was it one of his core beliefs as a strength coach, it was also one of the main reasons he was brought to USC, where discipline, especially late in games, had often unraveled.
Carroll knew, that first day, that he needed to make clear how much details mattered. So when the team was lacking effort during warm-ups, he made players start again. And again. Soon enough, before the workout even started, they were out of time.
1932 — France beats the U.S. 3-2 for its sixth consecutive Davis Cup championship.
1934 — Britain, led by Fred Perry and Bunny Austin, defeats the U.S. 4-1 at Wimbledon to win the Davis Cup title.
1942 — Jockey Bill Turnbull wins seven of nine races at Rockingham Park in Salem, N.H.
1973 — Julius Erving, the American Basketball Association’s leading scorer, is traded by the cash-strapped Virginia Squires to the New York Nets for forward George Carter and cash.
1983 — Jan Stephenson beats JoAnne Carner and Patty Sheehan by one stroke to win the U.S. Women’s Open.
1993 — Mike Aulby becomes the third player in PBA history to win a tournament by rolling a 300 game in the title game. Aulby beats David Ozio 300-279 in the Wichita Open.
1994 — Sergei Bubka sets a world pole vault record for the 35th time in his career at a meet in Sestriere, Italy. Bubka soars 20 feet, 1¾ inches, adding a half-inch to his mark set in Tokyo in 1992.
2000 — Dorothy Delasin becomes the LPGA’s youngest winner in 25 years by beating Pat Hurst on the second extra hole to win the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic. The 19-year-old Delasin is the youngest winner on the tour since Amy Alcott took the Orange Blossom Classic at age 19 in 1975.
2005 — Grant Hackett becomes the first swimmer to win four straight world titles in the same event, capturing another 1,500-meter freestyle. The Aussie stretches out his own record for world championship medals to 17.
2007 — All-Star Kevin Garnett is traded from the Minnesota Timberwolves to Boston for five players and two draft picks. The Celtics obtain the former MVP and 10-time All-Star from Minnesota for forwards Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes and Gerald Green, guard Sebastian Telfair and center Theo Ratliff and two first-round draft picks.
2011 — Yani Tseng wins the Women’s British Open for the second straight year, beating Brittany Lang by four strokes and becoming the youngest woman to capture a fifth major title. The 22-year-old top-ranked Taiwanese shot a 3-under 69 to finish at 16-under 272.
2012 — Michael Phelps breaks the Olympic medals record with his 19th, helping the U.S. romp to a 4×200-meter freestyle relay victory at the London Games. With 19 medals spanning three Olympics, Phelps moves one ahead of Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, who got her haul in 1956, 1960 and 1964.
2012 — The team of Gabrielle Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Alexandra Raisman, Kyla Ross and Jordyn Wieber lives up to all the hype, winning the first U.S. Olympic title in women’s gymnastics since 1996.
2021 — Katie Ledecky wins the women’s 800m gold in Tokyo. This is the third consecutive Olympics she has won the race.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1930 — Lou Gehrig drove in eight runs with a grand slam and two doubles, and the New York Yankees outlasted the Boston Red Sox 14-13.
1932 — Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium opened and Lefty Grove and the Philadelphia A’s beat the Indians 1-0 before 76,979 fans.
1934 — The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Cincinnati Reds 8-6 in 18 innings at Cincinnati as Dizzy Dean and Tony Freitas both went the distance.
1954 — Joe Adcock hit four home runs and a double to lead the Milwaukee Braves to a 15-7 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. Adcock’s 18 total bases set a major league record at the time. Adcock homered in the second inning off Don Newcombe, doubled in the third and homered in the fifth off Erv Palica. He connected off Pete Wojey in the seventh and off Johnny Podres in the ninth. Adcock saw only seven pitches and his double off the left-center field fence just missed going out by inches.
1961 — The All-Star Game ended in a 1-1 tie at Fenway Park because of heavy rain.
1981 — The second baseball strike ended after 42 days.
1990 — Nolan Ryan, 43, won his 300th game, reaching the milestone in his second try, as the Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 11-3.
2002 — Mike Mussina became the second pitcher in major league history to give up six doubles in one inning, during the New York Yankees’ 17-6 loss to Texas. Hall of Famer Lefty Grove allowed that many with Boston in 1934 against Washington.
2003 — John Smoltz broke his own record as the fastest pitcher to record 40 saves by pitching a scoreless ninth in Atlanta’s 7-4 win over Houston. Last year, he got his 40th save on Aug. 8, en route to breaking the NL record with 55.
2007 — The New York Yankees tied a franchise record by hitting eight home runs, including two by Hideki Matsui, in a 16-3 rout of the Chicago White Sox. New York last hit eight homers in a game in a doubleheader opener at the Philadelphia Athletics on June 28, 1939.
2010 — Carlos Gonzalez hit a game-ending home run to complete the cycle, and Colorado rallied to a 6-5 win after blowing a three-run lead in the eighth inning to the Chicago Cubs.
2011 — Ricky Nolasco scattered 12 hits, Emilio Bonifacio homered and Florida handed the Atlanta Braves the 10,000th loss in franchise history. With the 3-1 loss, the Braves become the second big league team with 10,000 losses. The Phillies reached that mark in 2007.
2015 — New York’s Mark Teixeira homered from both sides of the plate for the record 14th time, hitting his 10th grand slam and a two-run homer that led the Yankees past the Chicago White Sox 13-6.
2021 — Seby Zavala becomes the first player in MLB history to record his first three home runs in the same game.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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Ireland international Curtis Campher has become the first male player to take five wickets from five balls in a professional match.
The all-rounder, 26, did so for Munster Reds in their Inter-Provincial T20 Trophy win over the North-West Warriors in Dublin.
The Warriors were chasing 189 but collapsed from 87-5 to 88 all out thanks to Campher’s sensational spell.
The Reds captain’s first wicket came when he bowled Jared Wilson with the penultimate delivery of the 12th over. Graham Hume was then trapped lbw to conclude the over.
Returning in the 14th, the South Africa-born pace bowler completed the hat-trick when his Ireland international team-mate Andy McBrine was caught at deep mid-wicket.
Robbie Millar was then caught behind before Josh Wilson was bowled for the final wicket.
Campher, who previously took four wickets from four balls against the Netherlands at the 2021 T20 World Cup, was playing his second match since returning from a a finger injury that caused him to miss Ireland’s ODI and T20 series against West Indies this year.
Zimbabwe Women all-rounder Kelis Ndhlovu previously took five wickets in five balls in a domestic under-19 T20 last year.
Like last weekend in Perth, the Lions toiled in the early exchanges, the Reds setting about them with a vengeance, the outstanding centre Hunter Paisami leading the charge.
The Lions grew into the game and completely bossed from late in the first half, but they had their issues before the floodgates opened.
The tourists were wasteful, failing to find their range and dropping ball left, right and centre.
There was the old chestnut of a botched restart reception; there were forced passes and hesitant defence. It wasn’t great. They knocked on eight times to the Reds’ one in the opening 40 minutes, some of them with the hosts struggling to hold them out.
First blood went to the Reds, a bust through the Lions midfield by Paisami giving them field position, some heavy carries taking them deeper still. When the line beckoned, Toomaga-Allen lunged and scored.
Harry McLaughlin-Phillips banged over the extras and the Suncorp rocked to the sound of Reds on the march.
The Lions responded when Daly put Freeman over and Russell tied it up with the conversion, but it was not a cue for the Lions to take control.
Rather, it was the precursor for another Reds try, sparked by Porter getting done on the floor. Paisami was involved again before Kalani Thomas’ grubber kick for Josh Flook down the left.
Van der Merwe hesitated in dealing with the bouncing ball and Flook stole in – 12-7 to the Reds.
The imperfections, and perhaps desperation, in the Lions game was clear with a couple of missed opportunities, but they eventually started to make stuff stick.
Porter drove over after a close-range tap penalty from his Leinster and Ireland front-row pal Ronan Kelleher. Russell converted.
Next, Van der Merwe finished off a terrific move in the corner with the help of Ollie Chessum and Jack Conan. Russell launched the conversion from somewhere close to Caxton Street. A pearler.
At the break, the Lions led 21-12. Could have been better, could have been worse.
It improved early in the new half when smart work from Jamison Gibson-Park drew the heat and then slipped an inside pass for Itoje to crash over.
Russell, who could have kicked them over with his eyes closed, did it again – 28-12 Lions. Getting there.
Farrell made big changes at that point, replacing his front-row and his half-backs.
Not many fireworks from the Russell-Gibson-Park axis but more than enough to get excited about.
The rest is a sea of red. Morgan, doing his mightiest to make a statement, which he did, went over from an Alex Mitchell pass. The Lions were now playing with an intensity that the Reds could not deal with.
Freeman got a second, with Morgan heavily involved at the start of that play, then Jones gathered a daft chip ahead from Tim Ryan and ran more than half the length of pitch to score.
A final try came in the last breath, Ringrose scampering over to bring up the half-century.
It was a pleasing night’s work for the Lions, but the sight of Daly in pain in the aftermath was a troubling one.
Like last weekend with Tomos Williams, the Lions are sweating on a medical call.
In a stadium that has in its day danced to the tune of many different teams from many different sports – the Kangaroos and the Jillaroos, the Reds and the Roar, the Matildas, the Broncos and the Dolphins – it’s the Lions that will fill the place on Wednesday in Brisbane.
Formerly the site of a burial ground and then Lang Park sports stadium, named after a particularly fiery Presbyterian minister from Greenock in Renfrewshire, the Suncorp stands on some interesting terrain in the inner city.
When people say there’s an elephant in the room in this place they’re literally talking about an elephant. Carley, a circus animal, was a beloved performer on this land in the 1950s, so much so that they buried her here after the poor thing performed her last trick for the entertainment of the masses.
The Queensland Reds – coached by Les Kiss who for six years was an assistant with Ireland and for another three was the director of rugby with Ulster – will be looking to do a different kind of burial.
Much of the preamble to the Lions’ second game on Australian soil has, unsurprisingly, centred around the half-back partnership of Scotland’s Finn Russell and Ireland’s Jamison Gibson-Park, two players that serve as a constant reminder that rugby, though a playground for big beasts, can still be artistic and beautiful.
Their combination is one that will have people shifting forward in their seats with quickening pulses. Rugby is forever in danger of eating itself with its inexorable march towards grunt and aggression, but these two remind you of why you might have fallen in love with rugby in the first place.
Not many have ever had their rugby heart stolen by a one-dimensional big banger. But Russell and Gibson-Park and their potential to thrill? That’s different.
They’ve never played together, but Wednesday is the night it happens and if it’s all right then we’re going to be seeing a whole lot more of it in the Saturdays to come.
They’re very different people – Russell gregarious and charismatic, Gibson-Park quiet and laidback – but they’re one and the same when it comes to how the game should be played: fast and furious, off the cuff and adventurous.
Scrum-halves are supposed to be loud and bossy, but Gibson-Park isn’t either of those things. His Lions and Ireland coach Andy Farrell calls him horizontal, such is his unflappable personality.
His speed of thought is electrifying, his accuracy when firing passes that are so on the money that they can eliminate two and three defenders in an instant is unerring.
His quick taps bamboozle defences, his support lines mess with their heads, his ability to scan a field and know in an instant where the space is is a large part of the reason why Ireland have been so consistent over so many years. He’s a totem of that team – tiny but towering at the same time.
It’s said that there is only one Antoine Dupont, but that’s not really true. There’s one and three-quarters and the three-quarters is Gibson-Park. At his best, he’s very much in the same conversation as the great Frenchman.
And now we get to see him play with Russell, the great conductor at 10, a figure of growing authority on the back of a confidence-boosting and trophy-laden season with Bath.
The double threat is what Lions’ fans have wanted to see. Normally a coach wouldn’t necessarily play his first-choice 10 on Saturday and Wednesday, but Farrell is making an exception in Brisbane because he, as much as anybody else, is mustard keen to see how these two will gel. Why wait? Just crack on.
They’ve had a few training sessions but no game time together. Will the lack of familiarity get in the way or will it be chemistry from minute one? Intriguing.
