NEW YORK (AP) — Azzi Fudd is on her way to Dallas as the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft with a $500,000 payday waiting for the former UConn star. Fudd will pair again with former Huskies teammate Paige Bueckers, who was the Wings’ No. 1 pick last year. The new collective bargaining agreement that was ratified last month gave huge pay raises to rookies. Fudd will make nearly seven-times what Bueckers earned last season as the top choice. UCLA had quite a night with five players drafted in the first round breaking the record held by the 2002 UConn team and six overall.
NEW YORK (AP) — The party isn’t over for UCLA’s national champions. The Bruins are having another big celebration at the WNBA draft. Lauren Betts, Gabriela Jaquez and Kiki Rice were taken with picks Nos. 4-6 on Monday night, barely a week after helping the Bruins win their first NCAA championship. UCLA became the first team to have five first-round selections, and the first with six players selected in one draft. The 6-foot-7 Betts was selected by the Washington Mystics, with Jaquez then taken by the Chicago Sky. The expansion Toronto Tempo made Rice their first draft pick with the No. 6 selection. Angela Dugalic and Gianna Kneepkens were also taken in the first round.
NEW YORK (AP) — Mike Trout and Aaron Judge turned their baseball game into a heavyweight slugfest Monday night, each hitting two home runs at Yankee Stadium. Trout's second homer gave the Angels a two-run lead in the eighth inning, but the Yankees came back to win 11-10. Trent Grisham tied the game in the ninth with his second homer, and José Caballero scored on a wild pitch to win it. It marked the first time in 70 years that a pair of three-time MVPs each hit two homers in the same game. New York ended a five-game losing streak, and Judge praised Trout's performance, calling him one of baseball's greatest players.
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — The Las Vegas Raiders are expected to draft Fernando Mendoza with the first pick in the NFL draft. They hope he becomes their franchise quarterback. Recent history shows that quarterbacks taken first overall often face challenges. Only Eli Manning has won a Super Bowl with his original team this century. Just three others have even made the big game, each losing in their only appearance. Analysts say the pressure and lack of continuity can be tough on young quarterbacks.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Diego Pavia’s confidence can be seen by some outsiders as sheer arrogance. That confidence has taken him from a junior college in New Mexico to the Southeastern Conference and then New York as the Heisman Trophy runner-up. His next target is the NFL, where critics point to Pavia's height as a reason his draft position is in question. Being 5-foot-10 usually is just too small to play quarterback in the NFL. Pavia says anyone thinking he’s too short should just turn on the tape of him playing in the SEC. Only a trio of quarterbacks that height have started in the NFL since the 1970 merger.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Rory McIlroy has become the fourth player to win the Masters two years in a row, joining Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods in this elite group. McIlroy reflected on the difficulty of winning the Masters, saying it’s a challenging journey. He struggled with motivation last year after achieving the Grand Slam. However, he's in a good place now, having won his sixth major. McIlroy emphasizes that this win is part of his ongoing journey. He plans to use a similar preparation strategy for future majors, inspired by Nicklaus. The next major starts May 15.
The United States is familiar with Australia, Paraguay and Turkey heading into their Group D matchups. The U.S played all three opponents in friendlies last year, losing 2-1 to Turkey in June and defeating Australia and Paraguay by 2-1 scores last fall. Under the new format with the field expanded from 32 teams to 48, the top two teams in each of 12 groups advance along with eight third-place teams.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James probably thought he was done playing this particular role. After so many seasons in which James valiantly carried otherwise ordinary teams to extraordinary achievements, the greatest scorer in NBA history was not even the Los Angeles Lakers’ focal point this year. And then Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves both went down in the Lakers’ first game of April with significant injuries likely to sideline them for several weeks. Just like that, James was alone in the spotlight once again this month, the Lakers’ fading postseason hopes resting on the 23-year NBA veteran who has already done it all.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel didn’t make an appearance at the team’s pre-draft news conference Monday. But a front-office executive says the coach is going about his job as usual preparing for next week’s NFL draft despite the recent scrutiny regarding the nature of his relationship with a reporter. Last year Vrabel spoke with reporters in a news conference setting before the draft but opted not to on Monday. Though reporters did bump into Vrabel, who briefly greeted them, during a tour of the team’s new facility after Patriots vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf's news conference had concluded.
Famed ESPN broadcaster Dick Vitale is facing another battle with cancer. Vitale said Monday that biopsy results had confirmed a diagnosis of melanoma in his lung and liver cavity, which will have him starting immunotherapy. It marks his fifth battle with cancer. That fight sidelined him from the airwaves for two years before his return shortly before March Madness in 2025. In a statement from ESPN, the 86-year-old announcer affectionately known as “Dickie V” says he's “fully confident I'm going to make it 5 for 5" in beating cancer.
Finals
INTERLEAGUE
Final Baltimore 9 Arizona 7
Final Cleveland 9 St. Louis 3
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Seattle 6 Houston 2
Final Minnesota 13 Boston 6
Final N.Y. Yankees 11 L.A. Angels 10
Final Texas 8 Athletics 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Philadelphia 13 Chicago Cubs 7
Final Pittsburgh 16 Washington 5
Final Miami 10 Atlanta 4
Final L.A. Dodgers 4 N.Y. Mets 0
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final Florida 3 N-Y Rangers 2
Final OT Tampa Bay 4 Detroit 3
Final SO Philadelphia 3 Carolina 2
Final Dallas 6 Toronto 5
Final San Jose 3 Nashville 2
Final St. Louis 6 Minnesota 3
Final Buffalo 5 Chicago 1
Final SO Colorado 2 Edmonton 1
Final Los Angeles 5 Seattle 3
Final Vegas 6 Winnipeg 2