NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The National Pro Fastpitch League and CBS Sports Network have signed an agreement making CBS Sports Network the exclusive television home of NPF for the second consecutive season and expands the overall coverage package of NPF action.

 

CBS Sports Network will continue to provide exclusive coverage of the NPF’s regular season competition featuring 8 weeks of Monday and Tuesday night live primetime telecasts. Regular season coverage will take place from 7 different cities in 5 different states.  In addition to regular season coverage, CBS Sports Network will carry live action of every single Championship Series game in 2015 from the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama.

Leading the way in 2015 coverage, CBS Sports Network will air the NPF College Draft Presented by Bownet in a live telecast on April 1 at 6:30 pm EST. The addition of the Draft to the NPF broadcast schedule will mark the first time in League history for live television coverage. 2015 NPF College Draft Presented by Bownet, will take place at the CMA Theatre in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, located in Nashville, TN.

“We are extremely proud to continue our partnership with CBS Sports Network for the second year in a row,” said NPF Commissioner, Cheri Kempf. “We realize there is a very broad audience following the sport of fastpitch softball, and we look forward to expanding the coverage of the very highest level of competition the sport has to offer in 2015.”

The 2015 NPF College Draft Presented by Bownet, the NPF regular season competition and the NPF Championship Series are all produced by the NPF in conjunction with Guenther Productions, an Orlando-based production company.

The NPF regular season coverage will begin June 8 at 7:00 pm EST, with the defending Cowles Cup Champions, USSSA Pride visiting the league’s newest team addition, the Dallas Charge. The teams will square off at the home field of the Charge, The Ballfields at Craig Ranch in McKinney, TX, a suburb of Dallas.

— Courtesy of Gaye Lynn Wilson (NPF)

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s senior economic adviser gave Canada and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a symbolic pat on the back Sunday for how the federal government has been “hanging tough” on the diplomatically delicate extradition case of senior Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou.

Larry Kudlow said he’s “proud” of how Canada has handled the Meng matter — a tacit acknowledgment of the diplomatic bind the U.S. Justice Department created for the federal Liberals in December when they asked that the chief financial officer and telecom scion be arrested and held in Vancouver, pending extradition.

Meng, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, is at the centre of a sprawling U.S. indictment unsealed last month that accuses the growing tech juggernaut of misrepresenting its ownership of a Hong Kong-based subsidiary between 2007 and 2017 to circumvent U.S. sanctions against Iran. She and the company are facing 13 counts of conspiracy, fraud and obstruction of justice.

Watch: Trudeau says ‘rule of law’ followed in Meng Wanzhou case

“I’ll just say how proud I am of Prime Minister Trudeau, and Canada, for hanging tough on Huawei,” said Kudlow, director of the U.S. National Economic Council.

He acknowledged the grief the case has caused Canada since Meng, who remains under house arrest in Vancouver pending an extradition hearing, was detained at the city’s airport in early December: two Canadians have since been detained in China, ostensibly for national security reasons, while a third — convicted by a Chinese court of drug trafficking — is facing the death penalty.

“That’s why I’m so proud of Prime Minister Trudeau for staying with the rule of law and assisting the United States. I’m very proud of him.”

Kudlow made the comments following an appearance on a free-trade panel at the winter meeting of the National Governors Association in Washington alongside federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau. And it wasn’t the only instance that he dropped the prime minister’s name.

As world leaders were gathering last year in Argentina, where Trump, Trudeau and former Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto signed the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the prime minister approached Kudlow in an effort to move past the animosity that had erupted six months earlier at the G7 meetings in June in Quebec.

Trump, apparently piqued by Trudeau’s hard-line rhetoric on tariffs and trade, unleashed a Twitter tirade that denounced the prime minister as “dishonest” and “weak,” refusing in the end to sign on to the agreed-upon end-of-summit communique. Kudlow called Trudeau’s comments a “betrayal,” while U.S. trade adviser Peter Navarro suggested he deserved a “special place in hell.”

The dust-up left Canada-U.S. relations, already strained over the ongoing NAFTA talks and a burgeoning cross-border tariff war, at their lowest point in recent memory — until Trudeau crossed the corridor to reach out to Kudlow.

“He came up to me — this is a true story — after the USMCA ceremony, he walked across the hall to come up and grab my hand and give me a hug,” Kudlow said. “I asked him if we could please turn the page on any of that stuff that occurred last spring, and he said, ‘Absolutely,’ and then we started having some policy discussions.

“Justin just grabbed my hand and gave me a bear hug, and I was thrilled.”

Asked whether the animosity has similarly diminished between the two leaders, Kudlow said: “I think it’s partly happened.”

Trump floats possibility of dropping charges

On Friday, Trump himself floated the possibility — again — that the U.S. could drop criminal charges against Huawei, as the president wrapped up two days of negotiations at the White House aimed at resolving America’s own ongoing trade dispute with China.

“We’re going to be discussing all of that during the course of the next couple of weeks,” Trump said at the White House during an Oval Office meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s special envoy, Vice Premier Liu He.

“We’ll be talking to the U.S. attorneys. We’ll be talking to the attorney general. We’ll be making that decision. Right now, it’s not something we’ve discussed.”

Late Sunday, Trump announced he would hold off on a dramatic spike in tariffs on Chinese exports, originally scheduled for Friday, pending the outcome of U.S.-China trade talks that he said on Twitter have “made substantial progress.”

“Assuming both sides make additional progress, we will be planning a Summit for President Xi and myself at Mar-a-Lago to conclude an agreement.”

The Coalition has provided a first look at Gears Pop! gameplay, which offers a condensed real-time strategy experience with a few special Gears of War touches.

Revealed in a developer video, you can watch a single PvP match between studio head Rod Fergusson and lead game designer Tyler Bielman. Though a “soft” launch is coming soon, a wide release of the game will come sometime in 2019 for iPhones and Androids.

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“The object of the game is to play out your units and push forward and take down the outposts and the leader at the opposite end of the field,” said Bielman.

You progressively take cover attempting to get to the other end of the field: destroying an enemy outpost at the other end will net you a single point. A power bar at the bottom of the screen fills up in discrete segments, with each unit costing a certain ammount of these segments to play.

Teams can be comprised of famous human characters like Marcus Fenix, JD Fenix, Kait, etc., but can also include Locust units for greater team diversity. All units, of course, are in cute, Funko Pop! proportions – massive heads and all. Specific characters have special abilities: Marcus takes cover faster than other units, JD has a “down but not out” ability and Kait can run past enemy units to directly attack outposts. The more field you’ve taken, the further up you can spawn units.

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“Ultimate abilities” are in the game and can offer tactical advantages, like using the Hammer of Dawn to eviscerate enemy units – though after using one, it will have to recharge over time. With a minute left in a match, the bar will begin filling more quickly for both players. If the game is tied after the three minutes are over, players go into sudden death and the first player to score a point wins the match.

Gears Pop! was announced at E3 2018 alongside Gears Tactics and Gears 5 (which most definitely won’t be called Gears of War 5). For more on Gears 5, check out how its tone reminds us of God of War (in a great way).

Colin Stevens is a news writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

SALEM, Va. — By becoming the first Division III team to win three straight NCAA softball championships, the Tufts Jumbos have earned the right to be mentioned alongside such softball powerhouses as UCLA, Cal State Bakersfield and Cal State Northridge.

 

The Jumbos finished the season a perfect 51-0 and closed the year on a Division III-record 53-game win streak with two wins Monday over Texas-Tyler in the NCAA Championship Series. Tufts won game one of the best-of-three series 2-0 and rallied from two runs down in the sixth to score a 7-4 victory in game two.

Tufts hasn’t lost since falling 2-1 to Salisbury in the opening game of the NCAA Championship Series on May 26, 2014.

In the three NCAA divisions, only UCLA (1988-90) in Division I and Cal State Northridge (1983-85) and Cal State Bakersfield (1988-90) in Division II have won three straight crowns.

The Jumbos rallied from two runs down in the top of the sixth, scoring four times to claim a lead it would not relinquish. Cassie Ruscz hit an one-out homer to left to get Tufts on the scoreboard, pinch hitter Raina Galbiati drove in two runs with a single to center and Christina Raso doubled home another run.

Texas-Tyler (50-5) fought right back in the bottom half, getting one run back on Shelby Shelton’s single down the left field line before four-time NFCA All-American and Tournament Most Outstanding Player (for the third straight year) Allyson Fournier struck out fellow All-American Vanessa Carrizales to escape a bases-loaded jam.

The previous inning Jackie Mendez hit the first home run off Fournier this season, a solo shot to left with two outs, which was the first earned run she allowed in 54.2 innings. Mendez also scored the first Patriot run, coming all the way around from first (she got on with a two-out walk) when Carrizales reached on a throwing error.

Ruscz added some insurance in the top of the seventh with her second homer to left in as many innings.

KK Stevens homered to lead off the bottom of the seventh, and Texas-Tyler loaded the bases with two out, but Fournier induced a fly out to left to end the contest.

Fournier finished with six strikeouts, but walked five and allowed nine hits in the win. Counterpart Alaina Kissinger scattered six hits and allowed one run over five innings for the Patriots, while All-American Kelsie Batten was the losing pitcher in relief, allowing four hits and five runs in two-thirds of an inning, but only two of the runs were earned, as Texas-Tyler made three of its five errors in the sixth.

In the opening game, Fournier struck out seven and walked two in a two-hit shutout and Gracie Marshall went 2-for-2 and Bri Keenan drove in both Jumbo runs.

With one out in the fifth, All-American Raven Fournier singled to right and Samantha Siciliano walked. Marshall followed with a single to center to load the bases.

Keenan then singled to left center to score both Fournier and Siciliano.

Whitney Burt and Stevens provided Texas-Tyler’s two hits, while fellow All-American Kelsie Batten allowed five hits and struck out three in the first 4.1 innings before Alison Kissinger allowed nothing over the final 1.2 innings.

Jumbo teammates Michelle Cooprider, Keenan and Ruscz joined Fournier on the All-Tournament team, while Batten, Christa Hartnett — who had ESPN SportCenter’s No. 1 Top Play in Sunday’s win over Salisbury — and Mendez were selected for the Patriots.

Tufts matched Linfield’s 51 wins in the Wildcats’ 2011 title run for the most by a team in a season in Division III history. Texas-Tyler, meanwhile, had the second-most wins in a Division III season.

School is almost out, and soon we’ll be enjoying all that is wonderful about spending those long summer days with our kids. Whether your summer itinerary includes lots of beach days, trips to museums and cultural events, road trips, a big family vacation, or even just chilling at home, it helps to be prepared.

Here’s how you can get the summer started off right, and keep on top of things until school starts up again.

Covering the basics

Because last summer’s swimsuit likely isn’t going to fit your kid anymore, it’s a good idea to make a list of their summer essentials and buy them before you actually need them. You don’t want to be caught scrambling on that first trip to the beach/pool/cottage when your kid can’t squeeze into their old shorts. Also, depending on how rough your child is on their things, you might discover that even if the shorts fit, they may no longer be in wearable condition.

Take time to go through your kids drawers and to work out what they need. Going through the clothes with your kids will also help you decide whether they actually need new things, or if they just want them. Just asking kids, especially those who are more fashion-aware, may result in you spending more than is needed.

Well-stocked summer supplies

We’ve all been in that situation where we’ve had to buy an emergency bottle of sunscreen or bug-spray at a place that charges premium prices, and it’s hugely frustrating. You either end up paying double the price for your usual brand, or your only choice may be a fancy sunscreen you’ve never heard of that sets you back even more, just because you’re in a pinch. The same could be said for other summer fun essentials, like sand toys, hats, flip-flops and more.

Be smart this year, and stock up on summer essentials now, so you can use the brands you trust, shop the stores you like and pay the prices you expect. And don’t get caught in the same situation next summer! If you see an end-of-season summer clearance, stock up on sale items or summer styles a size or two up for your kids now so you don’t have to pay full-price.

Beat Backyard Blues

If you have a backyard, keep a basket of everything your kids need near the door they are using to go in and outside. That way they can help themselves to towels, sunscreen, a hat and flip flops when they are heading out the door. Every so often add something new to the basket, like sidewalk chalk or bubbles, to keep things fresh and exciting. This works well in small spaces too — just adjust the contents of the basket to match the outdoor space and activities that best suit your needs.

Screen-free boredom busters

The battle to keep kids off screens is something most parents struggle with, and it only gets worse over the summer when the kids don’t have school and their regular activities to distract them. Advance planning here can help too.

Clever parents set limits on screens that are manageable and easy to enforce. Depending on the age of your kids, this could include no screens until they’ve fulfilled certain tasks — cleaned their room, read for 20 minutes, played outside for 30 minutes, etc. — or by allowing them a certain amount of screen time per day/week, divvied up however they decide.

If you’d like your kids to read more over the summer, you could order them a gift of a series of books to work their way through, or join a summer reading program at your local library. Library reading programs often offer incentives to those who read a certain number of books, such as theme park tickets or meal vouchers, and this is something that you could easily emulate at home.

For kids that are too young to read solo, you could stock up on age-appropriate art supplies, stickers, and colouring books that’ll keep them busy. This way, you still get time to yourself without resorting to screens.

Plan ahead – for summer and back to school!

Take inventory of what your kids have and know what they’ll need for the upcoming year. Being organized and planning ahead will allow parents to make the most of their time this summer and scoop up school savings.

Most stores will begin having school savings beginning in July, so slowly check items off your list to relieve that last-minute school shopping that can be extremely stressful.

A little planning and preparation will help ensure parents, and kids, get the most out of summer, with the least amount of spending surprises.

INDIANAPOLIS – The NCAA Division II Softball Committee has selected the 64 teams that will participate in the 2015 NCAA Division II Softball Championship. Four teams will participate at each of 16 regional sites in double-elimination tournaments. Regional competition will take place May 7-9 or May 8-10. Winners will advance to the super regionals May 15-16. The finals will be held May 21-25 at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and will be hosted by the University of Central Oklahoma and the Oklahoma City All Sports Association.

 

In the 2014 championship, West Texas A&M University captured its first national championship title with a 3-2 victory against Valdosta State University.

REGIONAL BRACKETS | FINALS BRACKET (OKLAHOMA CITY)

Here’s a list of the 22 automatic qualifiers: 
California Collegiate Athletic Association: California State University, Monterey Bay
Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference: Caldwell University
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association: Saint Augustine’s University
Conference Carolinas: Limestone College
East Coast Conference: Queens College (New York)
Great American Conference: East Central University
Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference: Wayne State University (Michigan)
Great Lakes Valley Conference: University of Missouri-St. Louis
Great Northwest Athletic Conference: Montana State University Billings
Gulf South Conference: Shorter University
Heartland Conference: St. Mary’s University (Texas)
Lone Star Conference: West Texas A&M University
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association: University of Central Missouri
Northeast-10 Conference: Southern New Hampshire University
Northern Sun Intercollegiate Athletic Conference: Winona State University
Pacific West Conference: Dixie State University
Peach Belt Conference: University of North Georgia
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference: California University of Pennsylvania
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference: Regis University (Colorado)
South Atlantic Conference: Catawba College
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference: Tuskegee University
Sunshine State Conference: University of Tampa

— Courtesy of NCAA.com

SITES/PAIRINGS:

*Denotes host institution

Atlantic 1 Regional at California, Pennsylvania

1. California (Pa.)*  35-10

8. Saint Augustine’s 20-12

4. Charleston (W.Va.) 36-12

5. Gannon 28-14

 

Atlantic 2 Regional at Buckhannon, W.Va.

2. West Virginia Wesleyan 35-8

7. Seton Hill 31-13-1

3. West Chester 41-14

6. Concord 33-17

 

Central 1 Regional at Sioux Falls, S.D.

1. Augustana (S.D.)* 43-13

8. East Central 32-14

4. Central Oklahoma 40-18

5. Winona State 46-12

 

Central 2 Regional at Warrensburg, Mo.

2. Central Missouri* 44-14

7. Missouri Western State 36-19

3. Henderson State 41-13

6. Arkansas Tech 40-20

 

East 1 Regional at Garden City, N.Y.

1. Caldwell 34-12-1

8. Pace 25-15

4. Adelphi* 25-19

5. Wilmington (Del.) 31-16

 

East 2 Regional at Manchester, N.H.

2. Southern New Hampshire* 31-6

7. St. Anselm 22-11

3. Queens (N.Y.) 35-14

6. LIU Post 30-15-1

 

Midwest 1 Regional at St. Louis, Mo.

1. Missouri-St. Louis* 44-6

8. Wayne State (Mich.) 42-17-1

4. Grand Valley State 32-15

5. Southern Indiana 37-9

 

Midwest 2 Regional at Indianapolis, Ind.

2. Indianapolis* 42-12

7. Trevecca Nazarene 38-8

3. Ashland 38-8

6. Truman 33-14

 

South 1 Regional at Valdosta, Ga.

1. Valdosta State* 46-7

8. Tuskegee 13-18

4. Shorter 36-15

5. Alabama-Huntsville 39-14

 

South 2 Regional at Florence, Ala.

2. Rollins 37-11

7. Tampa 28-11

3. North Alabama* 35-12

6. Florida Tech 35-17

 

South Central 1 Regional at Canyon, Texas

1. West Texas A&M* 44-9

8. Tarleton State 30-20

4. Cameron 39-16

5. Angelo State 33-15-1

 

South Central 2 Regional at San Angelo, Texas

2. St. Mary’s* (Texas) 42-9

7. Texas Woman’s 28-20-2

3. Metro State 42-14

6. Regis (Colo.) 31-17

 

Southeast 1 Regional at Dahlonega, Ga.

1. North Georgia * 43-9

8. Limestone 30-13

4. Catawba 29-15

5. Anderson (S.C.) 39-13

 

Southeast 2 Regional at Milledgeville, Ga.

2. Georgia College* 44-9

7. Armstrong State 30-14

3. GRU Augusta 32-12

6. Carson-Newman 35-13

 

West 1 Regional at Seaside, Calif.

1. Cal State Monterey Bay* 47-10

8. Montana St. Billings 29-21

4. Humboldt State 41-17

5. Sonoma State 39-19

 

West 2 Regional at St. George, Utah

2. Dixie State* 44-7

7. Saint Martin’s 41-18

3. California Baptist 40-9

6. Chico State 28-20

If sex education were anything like the typical hormonal teenager learning about it in classrooms, it would probably be hunched over in its desk right now, hoping it hasn’t sweated through the armpits of its shirt from all the attention it’s getting.

First, there was the uproar from more socially-conservative folks and concerned parents over Ontario’s revised curriculum in 2015, which included the concepts of gender identity, sexual orientation and masturbation. Then last week, there was outrage from the curriculum’s supporters as new premier Doug Ford rolled back the curriculum to its 1998 version, which many have said puts LGBTQ children in danger.

As Ontario’s education minister goes back and forth on what students will actually be taught in the classroom, we don’t expect that sex education will be out of the spotlight anytime soon (cue sex education sinking even lower into its chair, wondering if its forehead is shiny).

And all of this attention got us thinking about how we learned about sex back when we were too humiliated to ask our parents or teacher about the hair down there or whether you could get pregnant in a hot tub. Books. Perhaps we read them by flashlight under the covers of our beds, or confidently out in the open, while munching on a fruit roll-up and waiting for the “Sun In” we’d sprayed in our hair to dry.

Either way, the 1970s and ’80s were a veritable goldmine of books that gave us many of the answers we didn’t even know we needed at the time (whether they were official sex ed books or not).

While the books of our childhood nostalgia don’t address many of the important sexual issues faced by kids today such as gender identity, same-sex marriage and sexting, they were informative and awkward and certainly worthy of a delve into our past.

With that, here are some of our favourite sex ed books from our childhood, and what they taught us.

1. “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.”

Author: Judy Blume

Published: 1970

What it’s about: Blume’s classic young adult novel tells the story of Margaret Simon, a sixth-grade girl without any specific religious affiliation due to her parents’ interfaith marriage. After moving to a new town, she’s anxious to fit in with her new friends as they form a secret club to discuss boys, bras, and periods.

What it taught us: Periods are normal, boobs happen (eventually), don’t slut shame.

Memorable quote: “We must, we must, we must increase our bust.”

Bonus: The cover was recently updated for a social media generation, which might help convince your kids to read it when “Trust me, it’s cool” doesn’t work.

Buy it: At Indigo

2. “Free To Be You And Me”

Author: Marlo Thomas and Friends

Published: 1972

What it’s about: A compilation of inspirational stories, songs and poems to empower children to be who they want to be and empathize with those who are different.

What it taught us: Celebrate individuality, challenge stereotypes, and it’s all right to cry.

Memorable quote: “It’s all right to cry, little boy. I know some big boys that cry too.”

Buy it: At Indigo

3. “Where Did I Come From?”

Author: Peter Mayle

Published: 1973

What it’s about: A guide to the reproductive process from intercourse to birth, no holds barred, written with a sense of humour, and with, um, graphic cartoon illustrations.

What it taught us: It’s all natural, baby.

Memorable quote: “These bumps have a lot of names. Some call them the bosom (which you say like bozum). Other people call them titties or boobs. (Don’t ask us why).”

Buy it: At Amazon.ca

4. “Changing Bodies, Changing Lives”

Author: Ruth Bell

Published: 1981

What it’s about: A candid collection of the real experiences of hundreds of teens, as well as illustrations, checklists and resources — all to help teens make informed decisions about sex, love, friendship, and their bodies.

What it taught us: Teens are constantly hot and bothered.

Memorable quote: “It seems like everyone else has the script. Everyone else knows what’s happening and I look around and say, Duh.”

Buy it at: Amazon.ca

5. “Deenie”

Author: Judy Blume

Published: 1973

What it’s about: Yet another classic by Judy Blume, this novel tells the story of a seventh-grade pretty girl whose life is turned upside-down when she’s diagnosed with scoliosis and must wear a back brace from her neck to her hips.

What it taught us: How to be comfortable in your own body, and that masturbation is A-OK.

Memorable quote: “I have this special place and when I rub it I get a very nice feeling. I don’t know what it’s called or if anyone else has it but when I have trouble falling asleep, touching my special place helps a lot.”

Buy it at: Indigo

6. “Flowers in the Attic”

Author: V.C. Andrews

Published: 1979

What it’s about: A Gothic novel about four children kept in their cruel grandmother’s attic for years, and the forbidden love/lust that blossoms there between brother and sister as they go through puberty.

What it taught us: We learned a lot about desire and sex and sexy desire and why none of that should ever happen WITH YOUR FRIGGING SIBLING. OMG.

Memorable quote: “Love doesn’t always come when you want it to. Sometimes it just happens, despite your will.”

Bonus: It was made into a 2014 Lifetime movie.

Buy it at: Indigo.

7. “The Joy of Sex”

Author: Alex Comfort

Published: 1972

What it’s about: This book is definitely meant for adults, but most kids at some point sneaked a peek at their parents’ version of this guide to helping couples discover the pleasure of sex.

What it taught us: It will be good some day.

Memorable quote: “If you don’t love your body, change your mind; if your partner doesn’t love your body, change your partner.”

Buy it at: Indigo

8. “Sweet Valley High” series

Author: Francine Pascal

Published: Debuted in 1983

What it’s about: On the surface, the series follows the charmed lives of California twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield as they go to high school, pool parties, and dances. But the extremely popular franchise also delved into themes of love, lust, drug use, and sexual assault.

What it taught us: Never trust a college guy, drugs will kill you, victim-blaming is alive and well.

Memorable quote: “If letting my hair down means attracting guys like Scott, forget it. I’d rather be mousy.”

Buy it at: Amazon.ca

In 2017, box office numbers fell to a three-year low. In 2018, folks returned to their beloved theatres in droves, making it a year for blockbuster movies to make a comeback. And some definitely conquered, while others, not so much.

Hollywood tuned into the fact that diverse casts = diverse audiences = $$. It was a year that celebrated varied storylines and characters who move us. But it was also a year of surprising losses.

Here’s a round-up of the biggest box-office hits and flops of 2018.

HIT: “Black Panther”: On a budget of US$210 million, Ryan Coogler’s superhero film — the first to feature a predominantly black cast — grossed more than US$700 million domestically (third highest all-time, not accounting for inflation) and US$1.3 billion worldwide. It became the first movie to top the weekend box office five times in a row since “Avatar.”

MISS: “Solo: A Star Wars Story”: Not everything Disney did in 2018 was perfect; “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” and “A Wrinkle in Time” also fizzled. But few disappointments were more acutely felt than the extensively retooled Han Solo spinoff directed by Ron Howard after original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were jettisoned. On a production budget of at least US$250 million, the heavily promoted spinoff grossed US$392.9 million worldwide.

It did worse than every previous “Star Wars” film, and the negative reaction from fans and critics forced Disney to reconsider its future plans for the franchise.

HIT: “A Quiet Place”: With just a US$17 million budget, John Krasinski’s horror thriller grossed US$340.7 million worldwide. The Paramount Pictures release was the biggest original hit of a year typically dominated by sequels, superheroes and reboots. Of course, “A Quiet Place” will get its own sequel, slated for release in 2020.

MISS: “Mortal Engines”: One of the year’s worst bombs arrived just as 2018 was coming to a close. The Peter Jackson-produced US$100 million fantasy, from Universal, opened with a mere US$7.5 million last weekend. Young Adult fantasies aren’t selling like they used to, especially when they come with big budgets and a 27 per cent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

HIT: “Crazy Rich Asians”: Rom-coms have for years been largely absent from theatres, but the Warner Bros. adaption of the bestselling novel grossed US$238 million worldwide on a US$30 million budget. As the first studio release in 25 years to feature a predominantly Asian-American cast, it was another example of how diversity sells at the box office.

MISS: “The Happytime Murders”: Who could have foreseen that an R-rated puppet comedy would disappoint? The STX Entertainment release starred one of the most bankable stars in comedy, Melissa McCarthy, but it has managed only US$27.5 million worldwide on a US$40 million budget.

HIT: “Incredibles 2”: Success is usually expected of Pixar; all but one of their 20 releases has opened No. 1 (and the one that didn’t, “Inside Out,” grossed US$857.6 million globally). But even by their high standards, Brad Bird’s “Incredibles” sequel was a massive hit. With US$1.24 billion in worldwide sales from a US$200 million budget, “Incredibles 2” ranks second behind only “Frozen” among animated movies in ticket sales.

MISS: “Robin Hood”: Just as audiences didn’t want another “Girl in With the Dragoon Tattoo,” they had little interest in more Robin Hood. The Taron Egerton-led return to Sherwood Forest, released by Lionsgate, cost US$100 million to make but made out with just US$72.9 million worldwide.

HIT: “Halloween”: Horror continued to dominate the box office — the “Conjuring” spinoff “The Nun” also ranked as one of the year’s most lucrative hits. But Blumhouse’s “Halloween” sequel, 40 years after the original, grossed US$253.5 million worldwide on a budget of just $10 million. Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, 60, it now holds the record for best opening weekend for a film with a female lead over 55.

MISS: “London Fields”: It cost a modest US$8 million to make, but the long-delayed Martin Amis adaptation starring Amber Heard was among the most widely ignored films of the year. After being held up for years by lawsuits, it opened with just US$160,000 on 613 screens — a per-screen average of US$262. It ranks as among the worst performing wide releases ever.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For the third time this season, Oregon grabbed the top spot in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll, announced Tuesday by the Association.

 

Receiving 18 first place votes and 786 points, the Ducks (44-5) returned to their familiar spot after sweeping then-No. 18 California in convincing fashion over the weekend. Oregon opened with a 5-2 win on Friday night and then outscored the Bears 26-1 in a pair of run-rule victories (9-0 / 17-1) on Saturday and Sunday. The victories extended a pair of winning streaks for the Ducks, who have won 14 straight and 11 consecutive Pac-12 games.

The Gators (49-5) picked up the final 14 first-place nods and are just six points (780) behind the Ducks in the No. 2 position. In the first of two tightly contested SEC series, five total runs decided the outcome of all three games in Columbia, Mo. UF edged then-No. 11 Missouri 7-6 and 9-6 in the first two contests, before the Tigers salvaged game three, 3-2 in eight innings, snapping the Gators’ 17-game winning streak. With those two wins, coupled by an Auburn defeat on Sunday, UF claimed its fifth SEC regular season title and the top seed at the league tournament.

The third, fourth and fifth ranked programs stayed put for a second straight week. Riding a 17-game winning streak, No. 3 Michigan (48-6) was crowned Big Ten regular season champions for the eighth consecutive season. The Wolverines swept through Penn State in their league series (8-0, 14-2, 10-2) for the outright league title and will face either Maryland or the Nittany Lions in their first Big Ten tournament game.

The Crimson Tide (41-11) swept their final SEC series with three road wins at Arkansas (9-1 / 14-2 / 1-0) and will be the third seed at the conference tournament. The Sooners (45-7) picked up three non-conference victories before entering the final week of Big 12 play. OU topped North Texas (6-2) on the road, thanks to Lauren Chamberlain’s go-ahead grand slam and NCAA-record 91^st career home run. The Sooners then shut out Utah Valley State (13-0 / 14-0), which saw freshman Paige Parker twirl her fourth perfect game of the series in the finale, matching a Division I single-season record.

UCLA and Auburn shifted up one spot each to No. 6 and 7, respectively as LSU fell two spots to No. 8. In a battle of Tigers, the orange and blue Tigers of Auburn earned two hard-fought one-run (2-1 / 1-0) wins in Baton Rouge, La. Before the purple and gold Tigers of LSU came out on top in the finale, 7-1. With the two triumphs, AU finishes second in the SEC, its highest finish ever. By virtue of its game-three triumph, LSU, the host of the 2015 SEC Tournament, slid into the fourth seed and earned the final first-round bye in the single-elimination tournament.

Rounding out the top 10 are No. 9 Florida State (42-12) and No. 10 Louisiana-Lafayette (37-8). There was some shifting throughout the rest of the poll, but all 25 teams remained the same for the third straight week 

The regular season winds down this week with several conference tournaments and culminates with the announcement of the 64-team field for the 2015 Women’s College World Series on Sunday at 10:00 p.m. ET.

The USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches, one representing each conference.  Current 2015 records are shown and first-place votes are in parentheses.

USA Today/NFCA Division I Softball Poll – May 5, 2015

Rank

Team

2015 Record

Totals

Prev. Rank

1

Oregon (18)

44-5

786

2

2

Florida (14)

49-5

780

1

3

Michigan

48-6

733

3

4

Alabama

41-11

688

4

5

Oklahoma

45-7

642

5

6

UCLA

44-8

638

7

7

Auburn

46-9

617

8

8

LSU

44-10

577

6

9

Florida State

42-12

532

9

10

Louisiana Lafayette

37-8

496

10

11

Tennessee

39-13

470

12

12

Minnesota

46-8

449

13

13

Missouri

38-13

441

11

14

Georgia

39-13

371

14

15

UCF

46-7

360

15

16

Baylor

37-13

298

17

17

Arizona

37-15

286

16

18

James Madison

44-6

261

19

19

California

35-16

220

18

20

Washington

38-14

193

20

21

Notre Dame

40-12

144

23

22

Texas A&M

38-17

95

25

23

South Alabama

35-10

87

22

24

Arizona State

32-19

72

24

25

Kentucky

29-23

59

21

 

New to Poll: None

 

Dropped out: None 

Others Receiving Votes: North Dakota State (42), Utah (26), Texas (13), USC Upstate (9), Kansas (5), Western Kentucky (4), South Carolina (3), Cal State Northridge (1), Hofstra (1), North Carolina State (1).