East Mecklenburg must forfeit 2007 football season

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — East Mecklenburg High School’s football team must forfeit its 2007 season after an investigation found that a volunteer coach at the school was involved in recruiting three players.

The Charlotte Observer reported Thursday that three East Mecklenburg employees also were disciplined, including head varsity football coach Greg Hill, who has been suspended from team-related duties until Sept. 2.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials said the three players involved have been declared ineligible, and the volunteer has been removed from all coaching duties and can no longer assist with any athletic programs in the system.

In addition to forfeiting its season, East Mecklenburg must pay $7,038 in fines and repayment of gate receipts. The North Carolina High School Athletic Association also has placed the football program on probation for one year.

RiverDogs announcer to leave

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Charleston RiverDogs are losing their play-by-play broadcaster.

The Class A team announced Thursday that Josh Maurer would leave Aug. 1 to become manager of broadcast properties at the University of Massachusetts. Maurer will also be the lead announcer for UMass football and basketball games.

Maurer had called RiverDogs games since 2005. He also called games for Charleston Southern.

RiverDogs general manager Dave Echols said Danny Reed, currently part of the club’s announcing team, will finish the season for Maurer.

WNBA suspends 10 players and Mahorn for skirmish

The WNBA punished so many players for their roles in this week’s skirmish that the league is staggering the suspensions by alphabetical order.

“None of us can recall an incident like this,” WNBA president Donna Orender said Thursday during a conference call.

The league suspended Detroit assistant coach Rick Mahorn and 10 players following the dustup between the Shock and the visiting Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday.

Shock forward Plenette Pierson was suspended for four games, the harshest penalty, for initiating and escalating the altercation.

“In our opinion, Plenette was the aggressor,” said Renee Brown, the WNBA’s chief of basketball operations and player relations

Mahorn was suspended for two games, as were Shannon Bobbitt and Murriel Page of the Sparks, for the incident at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Sastre keeps Tour lead, Burghardt wins 18th stage

SAINT-ETIENNE, France — Carlos Sastre of Spain retained the overall lead and Marcus Burghardt of Germany won the 18th stage of the Tour de France as the race left the Alps on Thursday.

Sastre leads CSC teammate Frank Schleck of Luxembourg by 1 minute, 24 seconds. Bernhard Kohl of Austria is third, 1:33 behind, and Cadel Evans of Australia is fourth, 1:34 back.

Burghardt and Carlos Barredo of Spain finished with more than a 6-minute lead on the main pack, including the top title contenders, after the 122-mile ride from Bourg-d’Oisans to Saint-Etienne.

The German raised his fists in the air and clapped as he crossed the finish line, while Barredo banged his handlebars in frustration. They finished in 4:30:21 through low mountains.

Former major league named Furman’s pitching coach

GREENVILLE, S.C. — A former Citadel pitcher who played on four major league clubs has been named Furman’s pitching coach.

Britt Reames takes over for Brent Shade, who accepted a similar position at Mercer after four seasons with the Paladins. Furman coach Ron Smith made the announcement this week.

Reames is from Seneca, about 40 miles from Furman’s campus.

Reames played six seasons in the majors with St. Louis, Montreal, Oakland and Pittsburgh. He was 2-1 with 2.88 earned run average over 40 2-3 innings in 2000, his debut season with the Cardinals. Reames picked up the win in St. Louis’ playoff series-clinching victory over Atlanta that fall.

Reames was 18-7 in four years at The Citadel. He’ll be inducted into his alma mater’s athletic hall of fame Nov. 1.

Giuliani’s son sues Duke over golf team dismissal

RALEIGH, N.C. — The son of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is suing Duke University, claiming his golf coach manufactured accusations against him to justify kicking him off the team to whittle the squad.

Andrew Giuliani, a 22-year-old who will be a senior this fall, contends he had dreams of becoming a professional golfer and was dismissed without cause from the golf team in February without a chance to defend himself. He said in a statement Thursday that he sued “to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else at Duke.”

Duke spokesman Michael J. Schoenfeld said the university would “vigorously defend this lawsuit” and insisted on fairness for all participants in its sports programs.

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