By HO HOFFMAN
Special to The Gazette
MEDINA — It took Me-dina’s baseball team four-plus innings to get its hit-ting shoes on, but when the Bees finally did, it was lights out for Akron Fire-stone in a Hudson Division I Sectional opener.
Trailing by a run enter-ing the fifth frame, Medina exploded for eight runs on nine hits [...]

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By RICK NOLAND
Assistant Sports Editor
BOSTON — When Zydrunas Ilgauskas was undergoing foot surgery after foot surgery from 1998 through 2000, it was hard to picture the Cavaliers center breaking any records that had to do with longevity.
Ilgauskas, however, became Cleveland’s all-time leader in playoff appearances Wednesday night when he stepped onto the floor for Game [...]

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By RICK NOLAND
Assistant Sports Editor
BOSTON — While the shooting woes of Cavaliers small forward LeBron James have gotten a lot of attention, Cleveland entered Game 5 Wednesday at TD Banknorth Garden doing an equally good job on Boston’s Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.
Pierce, who averaged a team-high 19.6 points in the regular season, began the [...]

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By RICK NOLAND
Assistant Sports Editor
BOSTON — This time, there was no Game 5 magic for LeBron James and the Cavaliers.
James finished with a very respectable 35 points, but had only two over the first 14 minutes of the second half as the Boston Celtics rallied from a big first-half deficit and won 96-89 Wednesday night [...]

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By CHRIS ASSENHEIMER
Staff Writer
CLEVELAND — The Indians still can’t hit, but they can pitch. Boy, can they pitch.
Cleveland’s arsenal of dominant arms continued to carry the team Wednesday night at Progressive Field, with ace C.C. Sabathia the latest starting pitcher to lift the Indians to victory in a 2-0 shutout of the A’s.
The win moved [...]

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By CHRIS ASSENHEIMER
Staff Writer
CLEVELAND — The Indians will play their first interleague series of the season in Cincinnati this weekend. Don’t count manager Eric Wedge among those that will celebrate the event.
Like the majority of American League managers, Wedge isn’t fond of the head-to-head matchups against the NL.
“You lose a hitter when you go there [...]

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By ADAM FERRISE
Special to the Gazette
TWINSBURG — In a team sport like softball, individuals are not supposed to make an impact quite like Wadsworth’s Stacey Ladd.
The Grizzlies starting pitcher struck out 15 and hit her first career grand slam in fifth-seeded Wadsworth’s 17-1 upset win over second-seeded Twinsburg Wednesday at Howard Price Field in [...]

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By SCOTT PETRAK
Staff Writer
BEREA — The first game is four months away, but the 2008 Browns debuted Wednesday.
In the second practice of organized team activities — the first open to the media — Derek Anderson took the snaps as the starting quarterback, receiver Donte Stallworth lined up opposite Braylon Edwards with the first team and [...]

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By ADAM FERRISE
Special to the Gazette
Medina’s boys and girls track teams head into the inaugural Northeast Ohio Conference Meet in similar positions.
They both went through the dual meet season, which accounts for half of the overall league title, undefeated until their last dual, which they both lost by small margins to Solon.
Both teams were [...]

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By ADAM FERRISE
Special to The Gazette
Lance Currens and his Wadsworth boys track team have been here before.
For the second consecutive year, the Grizzlies lost a late season dual against Copley, which left them in second place entering the Suburban League Meet.
Last year, Wadsworth came away as co-champions of the SL with a first-place [...]

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