sports briefs
Former Pittsburgh NFL journalist Clayton dies
Longtime NFL journalist John Clayton died Friday following a short illness. He was 67.
The Seattle Seahawks, through Clayton’s family, announced the death in a statement. Clayton worked for the team in recent years as a sideline reporter on radio broadcasts.
Nicknamed “The Professor,” Clayton spent more than two decades covering the Pittsburgh Steelers for the The Pittsburgh Press and the Seattle Seahawks for The News Tribune in Tacoma. Clayton moved to ESPN in 1995, becoming one of the lead NFL writers for the company. Clayton appeared on TV and radio for ESPN and worked at the company for more than 20 years.
Clayton was awarded with what is now known as the Bill Nunn Memorial Award by the Professional Football Writers of America in 2007. The award is presents annually for long and distinguished reporting on football.
“The PFWA mourns the passing of John Clayton. John was the PFWA’s 19th president (1999-2000) and the organization’s 2007 Bill Nunn Jr. Award recipient,” the organization said in a statement. “‘The Professor’ was a friend to so many in our business. Our condolences to his wife Pat, family, colleagues and his many friends.”
Clayton also hosted regular sports radio shows in Seattle for KJR-AM and KIRO-AM throughout his career.
In college softball
The Washington & Jefferson softball team split a pair of games on Monday afternoon at the Spring Games at the Sleepy Hollow Complex in Leesburg, Fla. The Presidents suffered a 7-4 loss in Game 1 against Middlebury College. W&J responded with a 5-4 victory in game two to gain the split.
Middlebury built a 7-0 lead over the W&J going into the top of the seventh inning but the Presidents did not go quietly. The Presidents recorded four runs on three hits and took advantage of two errors in the final frame.
W&J had to rally to pick up the game two victory. The Colonels built an early lead by scoring four runs on five hits in the top of the second. The Presidents quickly answered back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame. W&J took advantage of an error and two walks to load the bases with no outs. One runner scored on a double play and Kacey Scears came home on an error by the catcher that made it 4-2.
The Waynesburg University baseball team traveled to La Roche on Sunday for a nine-inning showdown with the Redhawks. The Yellow Jackets recorded one of their most impressive wins in recent memory as they rolled past the traditional national powerhouse by a final score of 12-4.
The victory ended Waynesburg’s (4-8) five-game losing streak against La Roche (4-7) that stretched back to the 2016 season.
In MLB
Star shortstop Carlos Correa agreed over the weekend to a $105.3 million, three-year contract with the Minnesota Twins, a person familiar with the negotiations told the Associated Press.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement was subject to a successful physical.
The move ends Correa’s seven-season tenure with the Houston Astros. He will earn $35.1 million annually under the deal and can opt out after the 2022 and 2023 seasons to become a free agent again.
Correa picking the Twins was a surprise, given they have lost 18 consecutive postseason games and finished last in the AL Central a year ago at 73-89.
His average salary becomes baseball’s fourth-highest behind New York Mets pitcher Max Scherzer ($43.3 million), Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole ($36 million) and Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout ($35.5 million).
A two-time All-Star who was the first pick in the 2012 amateur draft, Correa led the Astros’ turnaround. Houston lost more than 100 games each year from 2011-13, then won its first World Series title by beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games in 2017.
The Astros went on to AL pennants and World Series losses in 2019 and last year, gaining infamy for their cheating scandal that was revealed after the 2019 season.