HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Cape Henry Collegiate announced that Justyce Swango Melendez, an assistant coach for the last two seasons, will be the head coach for the Dolphins’ girls, succeeding Lance Hurdle.
Melendez played for two Princess Anne state championship teams before competing for Georgetown and Lenoir-Rhyne, where she served as a team captain and earned her bachelor’s degree in business marketing.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
JMU’s Dobbs nominated for Good Works Team
James Madison linebacker Jacob Dobbs was named a nominee for the 2024 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, as announced by Allstate and the Wuerffel Foundation.
Dobbs joined the Dukes in January after a stellar five-year career for Holy Cross, in which he started all 43 games and was a two-time FCS first-team All-American. His 432 tackles were the most in Holy Cross history.
BASEBALL
Pilots sweep doubleheader in regular-season home finale
The Peninsula Pilots closed their regular-season home schedule in fine fashion Friday night, pounding Tri-City 10-5, 14-2 in a doubleheader before 3,578 at War Memorial Stadium in Hampton.
The Pilots (34-12) will finish the regular season Saturday night at Morehead City before returning Sunday for Game 1 of a best-of-three Coastal Plain League Petitt Cup semifinal series against the Wilmington Sharks.
Peninsula won the East Division’s first-half title on the last possible day to clinch a playoff berth, then ran away with the second-half championship. The Sharks (26-18) have clinched the division’s second-best overall record and thus will face the Pilots.
In Game 1, Carlos Pena was 2 for 2 with a home run and four RBIs, Jevin Relaford was 2 for 4 and scored twice, Grayson Fitzwater scored three runs, and Henry Garcia was 2 for 4 with a run and three RBIs.
Seven Peninsula pitchers threw an inning apiece. Brian Ereu, Darrell Fletcher-Knight, Olvis Genao and Dylan Morrill shut out the Chili Peppers in their innings.
In Game 2, seven Pilots — Cole Koonce, Marcus Dux, Mitchell Wittkamp, Nate Varnier, Jacob Flicek, Gardner Meeks and Caden Plummer — combined to pitch a two-hitter and survived seven walks. Wittkamp, who struck out all three batters he faced, gained the victory.
The Chili Peppers (18-29) went ahead 1-0 in the first inning, but Peninsula went ahead to stay with a four-run second and took a 12-2 lead in the fifth.
The Pilots had 18 hits, including a home run by Fitzwater and a double by Trey Morgan, who was 3 for 5 with three runs and two RBIs. Relaford was 4 for 5 with three runs and two RBIs, Corbin Shaw was 4 for 5 with four RBIs and a run, Fitzwater and Jorsixt Jimenez each had two hits, two runs and two RBIs, and Luis Delacruz was 2 for 2 with a run.
COLLEGE TENNIS
ODU, NSU players gain academic honors
Six Old Dominion women’s players, four men’s players and both teams as a whole were recognized as 2023-24 Division I Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athletes.
Alexandra Viktorovitch, Allison Isaacs, Lidiia Rasskouskaia, Maury High graduate Mya Byrd, Sofia Johnson and Victoria Matasova all had grade-point averages of 3.5 or better on the women’s squad. Aryan Saleh, Jakob Cadonau, Maxime Mareschal-Hay and Thomas Nelson accomplished that on the men’s team.
The Norfolk State men’s and women’s squads also earned team academic honors.
Amber Fuller, Irina Iurea, Laura Ruiz and Sabina Iurea were the women’s ITA Scholar-Athletes, while Antoni Pankowski, Boris Lunin and Jakub Solarski earned the accolades on the men’s side.
COLLEGE WOMEN’S GOLF
ODU reveals schedule
Old Dominion announced its schedule, which will include four fall tournaments, beginning with Purdue’s Boilermaker Classic Sept.2-3.
ODU will host the fourth annual Evie Odom Invitational on Oct. 4-6 at Princess Anne Country Club in Virginia Beach.
The Monarchs will play five spring tournaments before the Sun Belt Championship at Lakewood Golf Club in Point Clear, Alabama, from April 14-17.
HOCKEY
Admirals bring back McLean, Iverson
The Norfolk Admirals re-signed defenseman Andrew McLean for the 2024-25 season. The 29-year-old Waterford, Michigan, native had eight goals, 25 assists and a plus-19 rating in 65 games last season.
Earlier this week, the Admirals re-signed forward Keegan Iverson for the 2024-25 season. The Minneapolis native had six goals, five assists and a career-high 169 penalty minutes for them last season. Coach Jeff Carr called Iverson “a major piece of our leadership group” in a team release.
BASKETBALL
7 Cities Pro-Am tourney bracket set
Six teams are in the bracket for the Hampton Roads 7 Cities Pro-Am Basketball League’s one-day championship tournament Sunday at Norview High in Norfolk.
The first round will feature NewRunz against ECG at 11 a.m., followed by Team Brown against Harvey Lindsay at 12:30.
In the semifinals, First Class Real Estate will meet Sunday’s first victor at 1:45 p.m., followed by the Tidewater Wildcats against Sunday’s second winner at 3. The championship game is planned for 4:15.
