Overtime

Minor League Baseball

Big innings doom Jackets in Rome

In Rome, Ga., the Rome Braves used a four-run third and a five-run fifth to blow out the Augusta GreenJackets 11-3 on Friday.

Augusta starter Ben Thurmond gave up six runs (three earned) in 2q innings, while converted reliever Mike Musgrave gave up five (four earned) in 2w innings.

The GreenJackets (30-28) dropped to 5 games back of first-place Kannapolis (34-21) in the South Atlantic League Southern Division.

College Basketball

Cincinnati chooses Kennedy as coach

In Cincinnati, Andy Kennedy was hired as interim head coach at Cincinnati on Friday, two days after Bob Huggins was forced out as the Bearcats' basketball coach.

Kennedy had been Huggins' top assistant and served as recruiting coordinator the past four years. Before that, he spent five years as an assistant at Alabama-Birmingham, where he is the school's No. 2 career scorer.

"This has been a very difficult time for men's basketball at the University of Cincinnati," Kennedy said. "I have been given the charge to move this program forward, to put the focus back on our student-athletes."

Cycling

Armstrong receives backing from USA

Lance Armstrong received strong backing from cycling's domestic governing body, which said accusations against the seven-time Tour de France champion are "completely without credibility."

"Preposterous is a strong word, but it is warranted in this case," said Gerard Bisceglia, chief executive officer of USA Cycling.

Armstrong has denied reports in the French media this week that he used a banned blood booster in his first tour victory in 1999.

"Lance Armstrong is one of the most tested athletes in the history of sport, and he has come up clean every single time," Bisceglia said. "This kind of years-ago testing of a single sample with new technology is completely without credibility."

Although Armstrong has not said if he'll pursue legal action, Bisceglia said USA Cycling will support him in whatever way he chooses to "denounce these accusations."

Tennis

Mauresmo rallies to reach final match

In New Haven, Conn., Amelie Mauresmo rebounded from a sluggish start and endured a grueling second set to defeat Anabel Medina Garrigues, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 to advance to the final of the Pilot Pen tournament.

The second-seeded Mauresmo is playing in just her second tournament since losing to top-seeded Lindsay Davenport in the Wimbledon semifinals. It is the first time Mauresmo has reached a final here.

Davenport faced unseeded Anna Chakvetadze in her semifinal and won, 6-3, 6-3. It's her fifth trip to the title match in New Haven, where she has never won a title. She'll also reclaim the world's No. 1 ranking Monday, which she lost this week to Russia's Maria Sharapova.

In the men's bracket, seeded players continued to fall. Unseeded Victor Hanescuo upset fourth-seeded Tommy Robredo 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 to advance to the semifinals. Hanescuo's win guarantees that at least one unseeded player will be in the men's final.

Olympics

Softball ousted by only a single vote

In London, softball came within a single vote of staying in the Olympics after 2008, according to results of July's secret IOC ballot released.

The sport received 52 votes in favor and 52 against, with one abstention, in the July 8 vote of the International Olympic Committee in Singapore, said International Softball Federation president Don Porter.

Softball needed a majority of 53 votes to stay on the Olympic program. Instead, it was dropped from the 2012 London Games, along with baseball.

Softball and baseball are the first sports dropped from the games in 69 years.