ICYMI – The Little League World Series Champions: Hawaii

Fall sports are picking up and we have a hand full of sports about to enter their playoffs. The WNBA, despite having 8 teams make it, does a fun atypical format where the top four seeds get byes 1-2 rounds in.

Little League World Series

· Hawaii emerged from the final group of US candidates which included: Georgia, New York and Michigan down the stretch. This was their third championship (as a State) the previous two occurring in 2005 and 2008. They won 3-0 over Seoul, South Korea who emerged from Japan, Puerto Rico and Canada down the stretch to come out of the International bracket.

· Japan beat Georgia 8-2 to take the Bronze Medal in the third place game.

NFL (Preseason)

· The staff released their top 100.

· NHB has you covered with preseason reports.

· Last week was WR Week, we dig into TE this week. T

Tennis

· US Open is underway. Mens favorites: Novak Djokovic (+250), Rafael Nadal (+350), Roger Federer (+400); Womens favorites: Serena Williams (+500), Simona Halep (+700) and Angelique Kerber (+700)

· Largest purse in US Open history on the line ($3.8MM to winner; $1.85MM to runner-up)

MLB (77% of the way into the season)

· Remember all of the Ronald Acuna hype earlier this year, well he has 13 runs, 11 RBIs, 4 stolen bases and a .375 avg over the last two weeks.

· Melky Cabrera (19% owned) has 10 runs, 12 RBIs and a .390 avg over the last 14 days.

· Clayton Kershaw with a win, 1.57 ERA and 25 K/BB over the last 23 innings.

· German Marquez (47% owned) with 2 wins a 1.29 ERA and 0.71 ERA over his last 21 innings pitched.

WNBA (Playoffs!)

· Round 1 saw the Mercury and Sparks advance to play the Mystics and Sun.

· Round 2 saw the Mercury and Mystics advance to play the Dream and Storm.

· Semifinals the Mystics won a nailbiter 87-84 over the Dream (Elena Delle Donne with 32 points), Meanwhile the Storm barely took game 1 over the Mercury 91-87 (Breanne Stewart, Natasha Howard and Jewell Loyd all with 20+pts for the Storm).

Soccer

· EPL Week 3

o Manchester City tied Wolverhampton Wolves, Arsenal beat West Ham United 3-1, Liverpool beat Brighton and Hove Albion 1-0 and Chelsea beat Newcastle United 2-1.

o Clean sheets from Liverpool, Huddersfield Town and Cardiff City

o Five way tie for league lead in goals: Sergio Aguero (Man City), Richarlison (Evertone), Sadio Mane (Liverpool), Aleksander Mitrovic (Fulham) and Roberto Pereyra (Watford)

· NWSL – One week left until playoffs

o North Carolina Courage, Seattle Reign and Portland Thorns have clinched. Last spot is up between Chicago Red Stars, Utah Royals FC and Houston Dash.

· MLS – the season is about 76% done.

o Sporting Kansas City with a win over Minnesota United FC, New York Red Bulls with a win over DC United, Atlanta United FC remains atop the league with a win over Orlando City SC.

PGA – (Bryson DeChambeau gets his 2^nd win of the year)

· He won by four strokes. Tony Finau, Billy Horschel, Cameron Smith, Ryan Palmer, Aaron Wise, Adam Scott, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Cantlay finished out the top 10 on the leaderboard.

· Notable players ousted from the playoffs: Charl Schwartzel

Boxing

· Isaac Dogboe held on to the Super Bantamweight with a first round KO over Hidenori Otake (to remain undefeated)

College

· Mens soccer is underway! No 2. Indiana beat No 3. North Carolina in the 88^thminute.

· Five NCAAF games in the books: wins by the Massachusetts Minutemen, North Carolina A&T Aggies, Rice Owls, Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Wyoming Cowboys.

Other

· The sports world mourns the death of John McCain a Naval Acadmey Boxer and avid admirer for Arizona sports.