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MADISON — Janesville Craig waged a 2½-hour battle with Madison West and came away with a 17-8 victory in Big Eight Conference softball here Monday.
A pair of West pitchers walked 13 and hit four batters. The Regents committed six errors.
Craig High pitcher Mandy Smith allowed 12 hits, but she notched nine strikeouts and walked none. The Cougars committed four errors.
The teams combined for 23 hits, but only one was for extra bases.
“It was not pretty, but it’s a win,” Craig coach Dan Bayreuther said.
Smith hit a two-run triple in the first inning and scored on an error to put Craig up 3-0 in the first inning. West scored five runs on three hits and three errors in the third inning to take a 5-4 lead.
The Cougars scored twice in the fifth for a 6-5 lead and added seven runs in the sixth to to lead 13-8 lead after six innings.
Craig’s Gabrielle Cassady, Anna Fagerli and Smith had three RBIs apiece. Cassady had three hits in four at-bats to lead Craig’s 11-hit assault.
“It was just a wild game,” Bayreuther said. “Fortunately for us, we came out on top.’’
Craig (8-8, 6-7) hosts Sun Prairie at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Dawson Field.
CRAIG 17, WEST 8
Janesville Craig 310 027 4—17 11 4
Madison West 005 003 0—8 12 6
Smith and Cassady; Ginsberg, Steinman (4), Ginsberg (5), Steinman (7) and McNet-Emmerich.
Leading hitters—Cassady (JC) 3×4, Fagerli (JC) 2×6, Mortenson (JC) 2×6, Freeman (JC) 2×3, Lorence (MW) 2×4, Corkery (MW) 2×4, DiCarlo (MW) 2×4, Chitwood (MW) 2×3. 3B—Smith (JC).
SO—Smith (JC) 7, Ginsberg (MW) 8, Steinman (MW) 2. BB—Ginsberg 9, Steinman 4.
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Investment group buys biodiesel plant DANVILLE — An investment group has bought a stalled eastern Illinois biodiesel plant and plans to begin production by early next year. Blackhawk Biofuels said it bought the plant in Danville from Biofuels Company of America, whose owners included agribusiness giant Bunge. The sale price wasn’t immediately available. Blackhawk is based in Freeport, about 30 miles west of Rockford. Blackhawk’s Quentin Davis said work previously stopped on the plant with construction almost completed. He wasn’t sure why. The state of Illinois provided $4.8 million of the more than $30 million in construction costs and is backing part of Blackhawk’s financing. Davis said the plant will produce up to 45 million gallons of biodiesel a year and employ 15 people. R. Kelly jury chosen as sides argue over race CHICAGO — Jury selection was completed at R. Kelly’s child pornography trial Thursday, despite contentious exchanges when prosecutors and defense attorneys accused each other of trying to stack the panel along racial lines. Sixteen jurors, …[viewing 1079 of 4551 characters]

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BOSTON, March 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — In its 23rd year as principal sponsor of the Boston Marathon, John Hancock Financial today announced its elite team of 31 marathon runners from eight countries set for the 112th running of the race on Monday, April 21.
Headlining the field are defending champions Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot of Kenya and Lidiya Grigoryeva of Russia.
Back to challenge Cheruiyot and Grigoryeva are past champions Rita Jeptoo, Timothy Cherigat and Margaret Okayo. Cheruiyot and Okayo are the current course record holders.
Also set to challenge the defending champion’s are last year’s second- place finishers Jelena Prokopcuka and James Kwambai.
The Men’s Field
Cheruiyot, the champion in 2003, 2006 and 2007, seeks to become the first Kenyan man to claim four Boston Marathon crowns. Cheruiyot also won Chicago in 2006, Milan in 2002 and was named the inaugural World Marathon Majors Series Champion.
Kwambai, a past marathon winner in Brescia and Beijing, shadowed Cheruiyot until mile 25 last year before the champion surged for the win. Cherigat, who won a tactical race in 2004, has five starts in Boston and the experience to secure another title.
Chasing the trio is a talented pack led by Patrick Ivuti of Kenya, the 2007 Chicago champion; Stephen Kiogora of Kenya, last year’s third place finisher; Gashaw Asfaw of Ethiopia, the 2006 Paris winner and Abderrahime Bouramdane of Morocco, the 2007 runner up in Seoul and Ottawa. Added to the mix are Christopher Cheboiboch, the 2007 Las Vegas winner; William Kiplagat, the 2007 Lake Biwa runner-up and 2:07 marathoner Shadrack Kiplagat. All three runners are from Kenya.

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From Mirror reports
AUSTIN, Texas — Woodbury’s Brian Sell won the AT&T Austin Half-Marathon on Sunday in 1 hour, 4 minutes, 11 seconds.
Sell, a Northern Bedford High School and St. Francis University graduate, is a member of the U.S. Men’s Marathon Team that will compete in this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
Sell’s pace was 4:54 per mile. His Hanson-Brooks teammates, Todd Snyder, Mike Morgan, Luke Humphrey, Michael Reneau and Patrick Moulton, finished second through sixth.
BG names Kasun coach
Bishop Guilfoyle High School has named Bob Kasun its new boys volleyball coach.
Kasun also coaches the girls volleyball program at BG.
The Lady Marauders finished 10-6 in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference this season (13-7 overall), and split with or defeated three Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association state-ranked teams at tournaments this past season.
‘‘Our girls volleyball program has made very good progress over the past three years,’’ Bishop Guilfoyle athletic director Richard Hatch said. ‘‘We’re hoping for the same progress with our boys program.’’
Kasun also coached the Cambria Heights girls volleyball program to the PIAA Class AAA Final Four in 1986.
Kasun is the president of the Altoona Volleyball Club and was recently honored with the USA Volleyball Robert L. Lindsay Memorial Award for his contributions to volleyball.

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