Warriors think playoff matchup with Kings would be ‘special’

Chris biderm An

THE SACRAMENTO BEE

SACRAMENTO — Weeks ago, it looked like Friday’s game between the Kings and Golden State Warriors could have been a high-intensity regular-season bout with real playoff stakes. Instead, with the third seed in the Western Conference all but wrapped up, Sacramento decided to rest All-Stars De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis along with key rotation players Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk.

The result was a 119-97 win for the Warriors over a Kings team that played lineups which haven’t been used all year, with players accustomed to garbage time, zapping the luster of a Northern California showdown that could have been.

But it did help set the stage for a possible meeting in the first round of the upcoming playoffs. Because, with the win, the Warriors took a step toward earning the No. 6 seed, which would mean the first Interstate 80 postseason series in history. The two teams have never made the playoffs in the same season. The Kings played their first season in Sacramento in 1985-86.

“That’d be special for Northern California,” Warriors guard Klay Thompson said. “Kings got great fans. We got great fans. Mike B’s (Brown) got them boys playing together and hard. That would be really cool just for Northern California, which is a basketball hotbed at the moment. And it would be nice for the travel. That’d be very nice.” a birdie on hole 13. Doris Sundly got closest to the pin on hole 10 at 10’8”. Broke 100: Thea Rock, 91; Pam Fashing, 97; Denise SargentNatour, 99. Ace of the Month: Thea Rock with a net of 72.

Golden State needs to win Sunday against the tanking Portland Trailblazers while the Los Angeles Clippers need to beat the same Blazers and then the Phoenix Suns– who will presumably continue sitting key rotation players after locking up the No. 4 seed – to clinch the No. 5 seed.

There are a couple caveats that could get in the way of a Kings-Warriors series, of course. The Clippers could decide they would rather play the Kings in Round 1 than the Suns, who have won all five of their games with Kevin Durant in the lineup after adding him at the trade deadline. Los Angeles could rest key players and split one of their final two games if they’d prefer the sixth seed.

Flight 1: 8 players

First place: Denise Sargent Natour, 30 putts

Second place: Pam Fashing, 32 putts

Third place tie: Sandy Smith and Mitch Ybarra, 33 putts

Flight 2: 8 players

First place: Marsha Berry, 32 putts

Second place Lynn Traver, 34 putts

Third place tie: Jan Benner and Jackie Evans, 35 putts

Flight 3: 7 players

First place: Darl McCarthy, 35 putts

Second place: Jill Smith, 38 putts

Third place: Donna Nunes, 39 putts

Oilers took slick for Sharks in home finale

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks wanted to finish off its home schedule on a positive note Saturday and see Erik Karlssonscore two points to etch his name alongside some of the NHL’s all-time greatest offensive defensemen.

Neither happened, as the Sharks fell behind by three on goals by Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman, and Derek Ryan and never recovered in a 6-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday in San Jose’s final game of the season at

SAP Center. McDavid’s goal was his NHL-best 63rd of the season and also gave him a league-leading 150 points, as he became the first player to reach that mark since Mario Lemieux had 161 for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1995-96.

The goals by McDavid and Ryan came off Sharks turnovers, something that has plagued them all season, particularly at home.

Tomas Hertl scored and James Reimer finished with 30 saves .

Local

From Page B6 walks during his solid complete game. Vacaville improved to 8-7 overall and is now in a three-way tie atop the Monticello Empire League with Vanden and Rodriguez at 6-3.

Drew Lammon, Nathan Schnell and Brenden Murphy all had two hits apiece for the Bulldogs. Lammon had a triple.

Drew Carrington and Luke Johnson drove in the runs.

Amari Bryant had a solid outing on the mound for Fairfield. Bryant worked five innings, scattered seven hits, allowed one earned run and two walks, and struck out five. Christian Rambeau pitched two innings in relief with two strikeouts.

Fairfield fell to 7-10 overall and 1-8 in the MEL.

Bryant and Zack O’Reilly and the hits for the Falcons. Pat O’Reilly drove in Fairfield’s only run.

Softball

Denina, Rodriguez defeat Fairfield

FAIRFIELD — Brooklyn Denina pitched a complete game, scatting six hits and striking out 11 batters, as the Rodriguez High School softball team earned a 6-1 win over Fairfield on Thursday.

Denina allowed one unearned run and walked four batters in the win. The Lady Mustangs improved to 4-2 overall and 3-0 in the Monticello Empire League.

Jaedyn White went 4-for-4 with a double and an RBI for the Rodriguez offense. Denina was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Jade Babas also had two hits. Katelyn Kilgore and Za’raya Garcia drove in runs.

Fairfield fell to 4-9 overall and 0-6 in the MEL. Individual statistics for the Falcons were not made available. Fairfield was coming off a 21-8 win over Winters on Wednesday.

Vacaville scores tiebreaker in 8th

VACAVILLE — A very competitive softball showdown between Vanden and Vacaville high schools ended when the Bulldogs scored a run in the bottom of the eighth inning for a 9-8 win Thursday over the visiting Vikings.

The game went back and forth throughout and featured four home runs. Vacaville improved to 8-1 overall and 5-0 in the Monticello Empire League. Vanden fell to 3-4 overall and 3-2 in the MEL.

Ashlyn Wilson belted two home runs for Vacaville and drove in three runs. Makayla Freshour was 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs. Aubrie Gibson and Laila Dean also had two hits apiece with Gibson adding an RBI.

Maalia Cherry went 3-for-4 for Vanden with a home run and three RBIs. Daniela Ontiveros hit two doubles and drove in two runs. Kiah Silva singled and doubled. Isabella Cueva also had two hits.

Will C. Wood secures

11-1 win over Armijo

VACAVILLE — Grace Barajas went 3-for-4 at the plate and drove in five runs Thursday in leading the Will C. Wood High School softball team to an 11-1 win over visiting Armijo in five innings.

Aubrey Redline and Karley Sampson had two hits apiece and each drove in a run. Danica Walker had a double. Wood

Masters

improved to 1-3 overall and 1-2 in the Monticello Empire League. Sampson and Maddie Farnham combined on a four-hitter with four strikeouts.

Armijo fell to 1-3 in the MEL. No individual statistics were made available for the Royals.

Boys Tennis Rodriguez rolls to 9-0 win over Vanden

FAIRFIELD —

The Rodriguez High School boys tennis team won its 12th consecutive match Thursday, beating Vanden 9-0.

Evan Wadsworth, Danton Hsueh, Josh Williams, Theo Keyser, Brandon Wei and Justin Wei all earned singles victories. The Mustangs gave up only seven games in the singles matches, which were all decided in straight sets.

The Rodriguez doubles teams of Paul Lee-Ian Huey, Patrick ReillyAndre Perriard and Drake Bennett-Conner McKimmie rolled and allowed only four games in their straight-set victories.

Rodriguez is now

From Page B6 with defending champion Scottie Scheffler trailing by 10.

It had already been a long day when the horns blew at 3:15 p.m. Earlier that morning, 39 players had to finish their second rounds in a chilly drizzle, after which Koepka maintained a two-stroke lead on Jon Rahm and a four-shot edge on amateur Sam Bennett, who

Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group Giants pitcher Sean Manaea pats catcher Blake Sabol on the chest protector after retiring the Royals in the second inning, at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Saturday.

Giants

From Page B6 second-worst in baseball. n Along with Sabol, the two battery mates had been looking forward to the opportunity to link up since spring training, when Sabol’s mother visited and cooked Samoan food for some of her son’s teammates. While both players were born in the United States, Sabol’s mother was born Western Samoa while Manaea’s father was born in the eastern islands of American Samoa, as detailed by a story in The Athletic from March. n Sabol, too, made his mark on the game when he stumbled in foul territory before making a diving catch for the second out in the eighth inning.

Brandon Crawford and Thairo Estrada turned a smooth double play, and Lamont Wade Jr. made a difficult play at first base to help Manaea escape the fourth inning.

The only damage came off a hanging changeup that Bobby Witt Jr. smoked over the left-field fence for a solo shot in the sixth inning.

Manaea walked off the mound in the sixth inning with a 4-1 lead before Stripling entered.

Stripling immediately allowed a solo shot to Franmil Reyes, then served up three more runs in the eighth on a three-run shot by Salvador Perez.

The Royals plated their eventual winning run on a wild pitch by Camilo Doval in the ninth.

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Janric Classic Sudoku

BACK ISSUES By Gary

12-0 in the Monticello Empire League and Vanden is 6-6.

Boys Golf Strachen, Vacaville drive past Vanden

FAIRFIELD — Quinn Strachen led the Vacaville High School boys golf team with a 3-over-par 39 in a 229-240 win over Vanden Thursday at Paradise Valley.

Ben Wilhite followed Strachen with a 40 and Isaac John shot a 43, among the Bulldogs’ top scores.

Rohan Kamath led the Vikings with a 42 and was followed by Aiden Co (43) and Nolin McClaskey (49) among the Vikings’ best nine-hole rounds.

Will C. Wood picks up win over Fairfield

FAIRFIELD — Heath Bradford shot a round of 42 at Rancho Solano and the Will C. Wood High School boys golf team posted a team score of 245 in a win over Fairfield on Thursday.

Myles Bradford shot a 45 for the Wildcats and Dustin Austin had a has resurrected memories of Ken Venturi 67 years ago, when he contended deep into the weekend as an amateur.

Never before had two players opened a Masters third round under par by double-digits – Koepka at -12, Rahm at -10 – but it was clear as the rain picked up that no one was going to scale the leaderboard this day. Only four players in the top 14 picked up strokes to par in the afternoon and that Koepka had one birdie all day – an up-anddown from four feet on No. 2 – and

47 among the top scores. Fairfield didn’t field enough players to post a team score.

College

Solano wins series, beats Napa Valley

ROCKVILLE — Kevin Parker went 3-for-4 at the plate with two doubles and three RBIs as the Solano Community College baseball team earned a 12-1 win over Napa Valley Friday.

Dylan Trammell pitched six strong innings for the win. He allowed just two hits, one earned run and two walks to go with five strikeouts. Jacob Reguera threw three innings for the save. Solano won two out of three in the series and improved to 13-16 overall and 7-5 in the Bay Valley Conference.

Miles Meadows, Alex Gaela and Ryan Mitchell all hit doubles. Jaxson Bates drove in three runs, while Caleb Morant, Meadows, Gaela, Conner Ross and Victor Vega each had one RBI apiece.

Solano will be back in action Tuesday with a 2:30 p.m. home game against Los Medanos.

still increased his lead by two shots should be no surprise. Rahm sloshed into a pair of bogeys – an errant sand shot on No. 4 and a three-putt from 88 feet on No. 5 – and later implied it might have been worse. Koepka answered with two pars and doubled his lead. He might get a stroke back, perhaps two, right away Sunday. Koepka’s first shot will be an 11-foot putt for a sand save on No. 7 while Rahm will have a nine footer for birdie. If Rahm was happy, Koepka sounded relieved.

Larson & Amy Ensz

4/9/23

Difficulty level: GOLD Fill in the blank cells using numbers 1 to 9. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and 3x3 block. Use logic and process of elimination to solve the puzzle. The difficulty level ranges from Bronze (easiest) to Silver to Gold (hardest).

Solution to 4/9/23: