The Pride defeated Akron in the first game of a best-of-three series on Thursday. The winner advances to the championship round against either the Tennessee Diamonds or regular-season champion Chicago Bandits.

The Pride received a big boost last weekend as they got back franchise pitcher Cat Osterman, who appeared in two of last weekend’s games against Akron as a reliever. It marked the first time Osterman had pitched since getting injured in the gold medal game of the World Championships on July 2 in Venezuela. The Pride will have Osterman, along with Sarah Pauly, who was second in NPF this season in earned runs average with 1.98, and rookie Danielle Lawrie this weekend. Lawrie was part of the University of Washington’s NCAA National Championship in 2009.

On offense, the Pride will depend on Natasha Watley, who hit .402 on the season, and Jessica Mendoza to lead the way. Mendoza came back to play competitively this season after taking a year off because of the birth of her son. She came back strong in 2010, hitting .296 with five home runs and 22 RBIs.

The Pride is coached by Tim Walton (Florida), and assistants Beth McClendon (Florida International) and Renee Luers-Gillispie (UCF).

This weekend’s NPF Championship Series marks the end of the road for legendary softball player Jennie Finch, who announced last month her intentions to retire from the sport following the season. Finch will hope to go out on top with the Bandits, who are led by star pitcher Monica Abbott. Abbott finished the regular season tops in the league with a 0.79 ERA and 146 strikeouts. She was part of the Pride’s runner-up team a year ago as USSSA fell to Osterman and the Rockford Thunder in the championship series. Abbott and Osterman were traded for each other during the offseason.

– More USSSA Florida Pride –

History of professional softball in Central Florida at USSSA Florida Pride

Visit ProFastpitch.com to following along to the National Pro Fastpitch postseason.

– (Contact Orlando Sports Central at JC@OrlandoSportsCentral.com) –

Butera made starts in three of the four games in place of American League MVP Joe Mauer, who was dealing with a sore shoulder. And he took advantage of the playing time as he went 4-for-10 in the series, hitting his second homerun of the season on Aug. 3 off Rays starting pitcher Jeff Niemann in the top of seventh inning to tie the game.

Drew Butera (Photo by Wayne Kryduba, Minnesota Twins)

Butera has been used in the lineup this season for his defense skills. In games that he’s caught, Twins pitchers have posted a 3.50 earned run average while primarily being teamed up with Twins starter Carl Pavano.

“He’s a crucial part of this team,” said Pavano. “We work well together. He frames the ball very well, calls a good game. He’s everything you need in a catcher.”

There’s still so much work to be done for the young backstop, though.

“My main focus is not to lose anything defensively, put down the right fingers, and try to control the running game,” said Butera. “For them to say they like throwing to me, that’s part of my goal and definitely shows that my work is paying off.”

Butera is in his rookie season with the Twins after making the roster as the No. 2 catcher out of Spring Training.

“He been doing a great job,” said Mauer of Butera. “He handles the pitching staff great. He can handle himself in this level, he’s proven that to everyone.”

When your backing up a four-time all-star, three-time batting champion and the face of the Twins organization it’s hard to get noticed and to get playing time. But Butera has had his moments. He made his Major League Baseball debut on April 9 against the Chicago White Sox and got his first major league hit against the Cleveland Indians on April 22.

The highlight of the year for Butera came on June 19 against the Philadelphia Phillies as he hit his first major league homer in a 13-10 win in 11 innings.

Butera signed with UCF out of Bishop Moore High School in the fall of 2002 after passing on a contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, who drafted him in the 48th round of the MLB Draft. He had a great career as a Knight as he made the starting lineup immediately and helped lead UCF to the 2004 Atlantic Sun Regular Season Championship and a berth into the NCAA Tournament. UCF reached the NCAA Regional Championship Game in Tallahassee that year by upsetting No. 7 Florida State before eventually being eliminated by the Seminoles.

UCF finished with 47-18 record that year as Butera hit .282 on the season. In 2005, Butera had his best season as he hit .325 and was a Johnny Bench Award Semi-finalist. He would go on to be drafted in the fifth round by the New York Mets.

Now he’s in the majors, looking to get better everyday while staying involved in a playoff race. The Twins are currently battling it out with Chicago in the AL Central Division where they enter the weekend with a four-game lead over the White Sox.

– (Contact Orlando Sports Central at JC@OrlandoSportsCentral.com) –

“Nick played like a top-notch AFL quarterback,” said Predators Head Coach Pat O’Hara. “The kid is a competitor. We challenged him this week. He’s capable of doing this week in and week out.”

Hill went 20-for-31 for 231 yards and six touchdowns through the air while running for two more just one week after facing criticism from teammate Kenny McEntyre.

“He played a great game,” said McEntyre afterwards. Following last week’s loss the league’s all-time leader in interceptions was quoted as saying that Hill had to get a lot better.

“What I said was wrong,” explained McEntyre. “It’s never one person in a sport. Nick and I solved that problem and we played a great game.”

T.T. Toliver caught eight passes for 88 yards and three touchdowns despite facing one of the toughest scoring defenses in the Arena Football League. In fact, it was the Preds defense that shined though by forcing three turnovers that led to scores.

The Preds jump out to a 22-0 lead in the first quarter thanks in part to two turnovers by the Sharks in their first two possessions, including one that resulted in a safety. Orlando never looked back from there as they avenged an earlier 57-31 loss in Jacksonville on April 16.

The win tightens the South Division race as the Sharks drop to 7-3 and the Predators improve to 5-5 on the season. The Tampa Bay Storm move into a tie atop the standings with a 7-3 mark while the Alabama Vipers follow close behind at 5-5. Up next for the Predators is a road game at Chicago on June 26 before returning home July 3 to face Cleveland.

– More AFL News –

At halftime of Friday’s game, AFL Commissioner Jerry Kurz announced the return of three former franchises for the 2011 season. The two previous AFL champions, the Philadelphia Soul and San Jose SaberCats, are back on board along with the Kansas City Brigade. The moves bring the number of teams in the AFL to 18 in all.

– (Contact Orlando Sports Central at JC@OrlandoSportsCentral.com) –

– Photos by Chris Schubert –

The Florida Gators, seeded No. 3 in the tournament, advanced to the field of eight for the sixth time in program history and first time since 2005. They defeated the Miami Hurricanes 4-3 in 10 Innings on Saturday night in front of a large crowd of 5,783 at McKethan Stadium in Gainesville.

The Hurricanes committed seven errors in the game, including one in the top of the 10th by right fielder Chris Pelaez, who misplayed a fly ball hit by freshman shortstop Nolan Fontana, out of West Orange High School. Fontana would end up scoring the game-winning run on a RBI double by Austin Maddox.

Lake Brantley High School alum Greg Larson entered the game in the bottom of the 10th with one on base and one out. The sophomore proceeded to catch freshman Michael Broad looking on strikes and then force sophomore Rony Rodriguez to ground out to Fontana at shortstop, who fired a bullet across the diamond to Preston Tucker at first base for the final out. Larson collected his third save and was greeted by teammates as the celebration began.

The Hurricanes made nine errors in their two games of Super Regional play, which as a result denied local kids such as freshman Steve Ewing out of University High School and Ethan Bornstein from Winter Park High School a chance to make it to Omaha. The Gators opened Super Regionals with a 7-2 win on Friday night.

Fontana and Larson join sophomore Ben McMahan and senior Clint Franklin as players from the Central Florida area with spots on the Florida roster. McMahon played his high school ball at Bishop Moore while Franklin played at Timber Creek.

Joining the Gators at the World Series are the Florida State Seminoles, who are making the trip for the 20th time in program history and 14th time under head coach Mike Martin. The Seminoles defeated Vanderbilt 7-6 in the decisive Game 3 of the team’s Super Regional matchup at Dick Howser Stadium in Tallahassee.

FSU, like the Gators, have four players from the Orlando area on its roster including senior outfielder Ohmed Danesh out of Dr. Phillips High School. Junior infielder Stuart Tapley and freshman Corben Madden both played baseball at Boone High School. Junior pitcher John Gast hails from Lake Brantley, where he was a teammate with Florida’s Larson from 2005-07.

For Gast, Tapley, and Danesh, this marks their second trip to Omaha in three years as FSU advanced in 2008, going 0-2 after losing to Stanford and Miami. The Seminoles open play this time around against TCU while Florida takes on No. 6 UCLA. The two state rivals could meet up early on as both are in the same bracket.

– More Local Players In College World Series –

Senior second baseman Mike Freeman out of Edgewater High School and sophomore shortstop Brad Miller from Olympia High School helped Clemson advance to the World Series. The Tigers take on No. 1 Arizona State to start the week’s final round of elimination play. Junior utility player Robert Beary out of Apopka started in 22 games for South Carolina, playing in 41 games on the year. The Gamecocks get underway against Oklahoma.

Culpepper scored a career high 39 points, 25 coming in the second half as he seemingly could not miss while UCF was unable to make a shot. The Knights went 6-for-32 from the field in the second half and finished the game shooting 32-percent as Speraw was denied win No. 275, which would put him ahead of the late Torchy Clark for most in program history.

“I thought we had a really immature response to what happened in the second half,” said Speraw, whose Knights were outscored 52-18 in the second half to drop to 10-9 on the season and 2-3 in C-USA.

“We had five one-on-one games out there rather than one five-on-five game,” he said. “We didn’t execute well, which translated to us not scoring and them getting off to a great start. And then our lack of scoring affected our energy level on defense. And then it really popped.”

For Culpepper, the nine three’s he drained ties him with Robert Vaden of UAB and Charlotte’s Demon Brown and Brendan Plavich atop the C-USA single game list as he helped the Miners build on the momentum they brought into the game after winning at Memphis on Wednesday night. That win ended the 64-game conference win streak for the Tigers.

“I’ve never had a game like that since I’ve been at UTEP,” Culpepper said. “In the first half I came out and hit a couple of three’s, and something told me that I should keep shooting because it was going to be a good night.”

With the win UTEP improved to 13-5 overall and 4-1 in C-USA while the Knights must now regroup before heading to Dallas to take on SMU on Wednesday, where Speraw will coach his 500th game at UCF and take another shot at winning No. 275.

Whiteside had a triple-double, scoring 14 points with 14 rebounds and 10 blocks as Marshall outscored UCF, 46-31, in second half to improve to 14-2 overall and 3-0 in Conference USA while UCF dropped to 9-7 overall and 1-1 in conference play.

“I think we lost our intensity that we had in the first half. We could of started to build on that lead but it was little stuff that hurt us,” sophomore guard A.J. Rompza said. “In the second half they were getting every loose ball, they went to the glass harder then us.”

The Knights played a great first half, shooting 58-percent from the field as they led by as many as 12 at one point. But following the halftime performance by the Blue Man Group, who performed with the UCF Band, the Knights shot just 37-percent in the second half while Marshall shot 52-percent for the game. The Herd went on a 20-6 run early in the second half to come back from their deficit and eventually take a lead they would not relinquish.

Marshall dominated the free throw line going 21-for-30, including 15-for-21 in the second half, while UCF only mustered seven trips the to the line the entire night.

“When they are shooting 30 and you are shooting seven, that is tough to overcome,” said UCF Coach Kirk Speraw.

The Knights were led by freshman Marcus Jordan who scored 19 points to lead the way in just his second career start, while Rompza chipped in with 12 points, six assists and three steals in defeat.

Speraw needs just one win to tie the late Torchy Clark for the most wins in school history with 274 all-time. But Speraw and the Knights will now have to regroup and play a complete and consistent 40 minutes as they head into a tough road trip against one of the preseason conference favorites in Tulsa on Saturday, who is 11-0 at home this season. UCF then travels to Houston on Jan. 20.

“I told our guys that every conference game is going to be this way,” Speraw said. “We need to understand that and be ready for that. We’ve got to be more consistent from beginning to end with our execution and effort.”

The 9,460 fans in attendance surpassed the 8,727 that were made it out on opening night against Massachusetts in November. The all-time record stands at 9,825 fans from a season ago when the Knights hosted Memphis.

Wade, who was held to 6-of-22 shooting on the night, dribbled to the right and crossed to the left near the free thrown line before letting go of a 15-foot fade away that would fall short. But Beasley would soar in to grab the rebound and dunk it through. Beasley ended up with 15 points and 12 rebounds but it was the last 2 points that he scored that would come with some controversy. Magic center Dwight Howard and his teammates pleaded to officials for an offensive goaltending call, to no avail.

“You don’t expect an air ball from D-Wade,” Howard said. “Matt (Barnes) had good position, he just out jumped him. We thought it was (offensive) goaltending. We can’t do anything about it now.”

Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy attributed the loss to not blocking out on that last play.

“We got a miss from Wade and nobody rebounds the ball, no block out, no real focus,” said Van Gundy.  “One rebound right there ends the game.”

Barnes had the responsibility of blocking out Beasley on that final play and showed his frustration at the end of the game as he tossed the basketball into the stands.

Asked afterwards in locker room if he thought he might have committed offensive goaltending, Beasley replied, “I was actually thinking it and kept looking directly at the ref, but he was running back down court.

“When it reached my hands I was just thinking ‘dunk it’ because I was so close to the basket,” he said.

Wade joked afterwards in the locker room about the missed shot being a planned pass to Beasley all along, but acknowledges it was a short shot and a great play by his teammate.

“I am going to stop lying, that was a great play by Mike. Very athletic play” said Wade, who scored 16 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter.

The Magic looked like they were going to extend their winning streak to six games after Vince Carter hit a three pointer over Wade with 14 seconds left to give the Magic a 98-95 lead. But the Heat cut that lead to 98-97 with 10.6 seconds left as Heat forward Udonis Haslem tipped in a missed three-point attempt from Wade. Once again, no box out from Orlando. Then Jason Williams, who had a big night against the team that he won an NBA title with in 2006 and finished with 25 points and 8 assists, missed two free throws with 8.6 seconds to go which set up the dramatic finish. The Magic as a team missed 13 free throws in the contest.

The game had playoff intensity in the stands as well as on the court as things got testy in the second quarter when Heat center Jermaine O’Neal and Howard got tangled up. A technical was called on O’Neal after shouting a few words and walking towards Howard. The officials got between the two of them and Van Gundy walked onto the court to make sure things didn’t escalate even more.

The win was the first for the Heat in Orlando since 2006 and could ignite some new bad blood and excitement that’s been lacking between the two in-state division rivals and their respective fan bases. With that intensity during a pre-Thanksgiving game, imagine what it would be like if they met later in the year with a division title on the line, or even in the playoffs.

–– More Orlando Magic Coverage ––

– Tim Povtak at Fanhouse

– Andrew Melnick at Howard the Dunk

– Team page at HoopsWorld

– SB Nation’s Third Quarter Collapse

The Knights started the Classic with a home win against Howard on Tuesday night, 68-59, as guard Taylor Young led the Knights with 15 points and freshman forward Keith Clanton added 10 points and 10 rebounds off the bench in 25 minutes in front of 5,216 at the UCF Arena.

The Knights then played their next three games in Daytona, starting things off with one of the program’s biggest wins as they knocked off Auburn, 84-74, in front of a pro-UCF crowd dressed in black and gold. The win marked UCF’s first-ever victory over a team from the Southeastern Conference. Junior forward A.J. Tyler scored a career-high 19 points for the Knights.

“We had to come out and play strong, especially against an SEC Team,” said sophomore guard A.J. Rompza. “They are one of the better teams in their conference. We knew we had to come out and play strong, and we knew we had to come out and play as a team.”

The Knights jumped out on Auburn and took a 15-3 lead in route to a 41-24 advantage at halftime. The Knights eventually withstood a couple of Auburn runs in the second half as they went 8-for-8 from the free throw line late in the contest to help preserve their first triumph in 28 tries over an SEC school.

“It was a tough, hard-fought game,” said Speraw. “It’s a good win for this team. History? I don’t know. I’m just worried about this team.”

The Knights followed the Auburn win though with a loss to Niagara, 63-46, as turnovers did in UCF, who turned the ball over 23 times and shot only 31-percent from field in defeat.

UCF bounced back on Sunday with a nine-point win over Drake, 59-50, to go 3-1 in the tournament and improve to 4-1 on the season. The win to close out the tournament was also No. 350 all-time for Speraw. Sophomore guard Isaac Sosa led the Knights with 15 points as UCF shot 51-percent from the field while holding Drake to 31-percent from the floor before ending the game on a 15-4 run to pull away for good.

Up next for the Knights is a home game against Albany on Saturday at 5 p.m.

–– More UCF Knights Basketball Coverage ––

– Photos and coverage at UCF Sports

– UCF vs. Auburn and Niagra at Central Florida Future

– UCF postgame quotes at Orlando Sentinel

– UCF vs. Auburn at UCF Today

– UCF vs. Niagra at Orlando Sentinel

– UCF vs. Drake at Sports News

– UCF around the Web at UCF Insider

– UCF News and Notes

Monday night’s 97-91 win over the Charlotte Bobcats marked the return of forward Rashard Lewis from his 10-game suspension. But as it turns out, point guard Jameer Nelson was injured in that same game as he tore the lateral meniscus in his left knee which needed surgery to repair it. It came as a surprise considering Nelson doesn’t know how or when he hurt it, except that it happened at some point during that game against the Bobcats. Nelson is expected to be out for up to 4-6 weeks.

Jason Williams got the start in Nelson’s place on Wednesday night against Oklahoma City and the Magic responded by blowing out the Thunder 108-94. Six Magic players finished in double figures including Lewis, who was one assist away from his first career triple-double. Afterwards head coach Stan Van Gundy said he was pleased with Lewis’ play and that when his team plays like they did in that game they are very tough to beat.

The Magic then posted their most impressive win of the season on Friday night by beating the Boston Celtics, 83-78, in the first meeting between the two teams since Orlando won Game 7 of their second-round playoff series in Boston last season. Lewis declared the game a “statement game” and the Magic made their statement against one of the teams they figure to have to go through to get back to NBA Finals.

Vince Carter led the way with 26 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, and helped hold the Celtics to 34-percent shooting from the floor. “This was a big game for us, a confidence booster,” Lewis said. “We rode Vince a lot tonight.”

The Magic left Boston for Toronto and won their fifth in a row as Carter scored 24 points in his first game against the Raptors, his original club, as a member of the Magic.

As the Magic prepare to take on the Miami Heat (8-5) on Wednesday at Amway Arena, questions remain. Can Williams  run the team for a long period of time with Anthony Johnson as a backup, or will the Magic eventually need to make a move for a point guard?

Only time will tell. But despite injuries, and even questions about the defensive toughness of the Magic, Orlando finds themselves tied for the league’s best record at 11-3 overall.

–– More Orlando Magic Coverage ––

– Zach McCann at Orlando Magic Daily

– Tim Povtak at Fanhouse

– Andrew Melnick at Howard the Dunk

– Don VanDemark at Magical Hoops

– Team page at HoopsWorld

– SB Nation’s Third Quarter Collapse