Sports briefs
Wild Things add another pitcher
The Wild Things have added another relief pitcher for the 2022 Frontier League season by signing righthander Bryan Quillens.
Quillens played last summer with the Atlantic League champion Lexington Legends. An native of Austell, Georgia, Quillens appeared in 35 games for Lexington and struck out 47 batters in 37 innings.
“Bryan has a power arm. He brings flexibility to our staff as he can pitch in many different roles. He trains with (Wild Things pitcher Daren) Osby in the offseason and Daren tells me Q’s stuff is electric,” said Washington manager Tom Vaeth. “We are excited to have him in camp with us. He’s coming off his rookie year in the Atlantic league where he gained much-needed experience and is eager to come to the Frontier League and the Wild Things to continue his development.”
Quillens pitched in the United Shore Professional Baseball League briefly following his second of two years at Eastern Kentucky in 2019. At EKU, Quillens had a 5-5 record in 38 games with 49 strikeouts in 74 innings.
The Wild Things will kick off their 20th Frontier League season May 13 at home against the New York Boulders.
In boxing
Tyson Fury’s world heavyweight title defense against Dillian Whyte will take place April 23, the WBC champion said Tuesday while announcing a social-media blackout until after the all-British fight.
Details of the fight haven’t been announced by either boxer’s promoter.
However, Fury took to Twitter to reveal the date of the bout, hours after saying Whyte had signed a contract.
The fight is set to be held in Britain.
Fury (31-0-1, 22 knockouts) hasn’t fought since his dramatic 11th-round knockout of Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas in October, which completed their entertaining trilogy.
Miami thumps Pitt
Charlie Moore and Kameron McGusty each scored 19 points and Miami beat Pittsburgh 85-64 on Tuesday night.
Moore was 7-of-10 shooting and had five assists. Sam Waardenburg and Jordan Miller scored 12 points apiece for Miami (20-8, 12-5 Atlantic Coast Conference).
The Hurricanes are tied with North Carolina for third in the conference standings, a half-game behind Notre Dame and 1 1/2 games behind first-place Duke with less than two weeks left in the regular season. The top four teams earn a double-bye into the quarterfinals of next month’s conference tournament.
Moore hit a 3-pointer 29 seconds into the game to open the scoring and Miami led the rest of the way. Waardenburg added a 3 before McGusty, Miller and Wong each scored in the lane to make it 14-2 about 3 1/2 minutes in, and Moore hit a turn-around jumper at the buzzer to give the Hurricanes a 20-point lead at halftime.
John Hugley led Pittsburgh (11-17, 6-11) with 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting and seven rebounds. Jamarius Burton scored 10 of his 12 points in the final 9 minutes.
Miami had 12 steals – including three apiece by McGusty and Miller — and scored 30 points off 20 Panthers’ turnovers.
The Hurricanes shot 55% (32 of 58) from the field and hit 9 of 20 (45%) from 3-point range.
Women get equal pay in soccer
U.S. women’s national team players who spent years battling for pay equity lauded as historic an agreement by U.S. Soccer to pay $24 million to settle a discrimination dispute with the team, as well as a commitment to equalize pay and bonuses to match the men’s team.
“I think we’re going to look back on this moment and just think, ‘Wow, what an incredible turning point in the history of U.S. Soccer that changed the game and changed the world, really, forever,'” star midfielder Megan Rapinoe said.
The two sides announced a deal early Tuesday that will have players split $22 million, about one-third of what they had sought in damages. U.S. Soccer also agreed to establish a fund with $2 million to benefit the players in their post-soccer careers and charitable efforts aimed at growing the sport for women.
The proposal went further, with American soccer’s governing body pledging to equalize pay – including World Cup bonuses. It effectively brings to a close the gender discrimination lawsuit players filed in 2019.
But there’s one more hurdle: Collective bargaining agreement with the players’ unions. Negotiations with the women continue following the Dec. 31 expiration of the last CBA, with a deadline set for March 31.
The settlement was a victory for the women, whose fans chanted “Equal Pay!” when they won their second straight World Cup title in France in 2019.
“I just think it’s so difficult sometimes to talk about and to articulate the kind of discrimination, abuse, inequity and disrespect that so many women feel so often in their job,” Rapinoe said. “And I think we were able to start to put a voice to that, put a face to it, put talking points to it and put a sort of movement behind it.”
The agreement was also a success for federation President Cindy Parlow Cone, a former player who became head of the federation in March 2020.
“Now we can start to work with the players in growing this game because not only are they the best players in the world, they’re the best ambassadors for our sport,” Cone said. “I’m so glad we got this done. And I’m so looking forward to just working together and turning the page.”
Cone replaced Carlos Cordeiro, who quit after the federation made a legal filing in the case that claimed women had less physical ability and responsibility than male counterparts. Cordeiro is currently seeking to regain the job from Cone when the USSF National Council meets on March 5 to vote on a four-year term.
The legal battle began when five American stars, including Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn and Alex Morgan, filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in April 2016. The players sued three years later, seeking damages under the federal Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
The sides settled the working conditions portion in December 2020, dealing with issues such as charter flights, accommodations and playing surfaces. They were scheduled to argue on March 7 before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in an attempt to reinstate the equal pay portion thrown out by a U.S. District Court.
The players and the federation asked the appeals court on Tuesday morning to take the case off its calendar. The $22 million will be split into individual amounts proposed by the players, subject to the district court’s approval.
“Every generation has taken on that fight to close the gap and every generation has left this program better for that fight, and we as the current players are thrilled that this fight has led to the closing of that gap,” Sauerbrunn said. “There are a lot of on-field accomplishments like World Cups and Olympics, league championships, but this will really stand out as one of the most meaningful moments.”
Cone said the federation’s method of equalizing World Cup bonuses has yet to be determined. The federation has until now based bonuses on payments from FIFA, which earmarked $400 million for the 2018 men’s tournament, including $38 million to champion France, and $30 million for the 2019 women’s tournament, including $4 million to the champion U.S.
“Until FIFA equalizes it themselves, we need both the men’s PA and the women’s PA to come together with US Soccer to find a solution to equalize it,” Cone said.
The men have been playing under the terms of a CBA that expired in December 2018. The women’s union was at the bargaining table on Tuesday afternoon.
The U.S. women have won four World Cups since the program’s start in 1985, while the men haven’t reached a semifinal since 1930.
“It’s really been incredible to stand alongside all these women on the national team and feel like we are making a difference, not only for ourselves, but for the next generation, for the women we stand alongside across sport and workforces,” Morgan said. “I feel like it’s just been exponentially bigger than I could have ever anticipated, in a good way.”