Alex Verdugo struck out a remarkable 18 batters in six innings -- facebook.com/arizonadailystarSahuaro (Tucson, Ariz.) High junior southpaw Alex Verdugo recorded 18 strikeouts in six innings, and his coach pulled him out of a tie game in the Division II state quarterfinals.

“Believe me," Sahuaro coach Mark Chandler told azcentral sports. "I’m thinking to myself, ‘If we end up coming on the wrong end of this, that’s going to be the headline.’”

It took a single up the middle from 9-hole hitter Owen Sanchez to snap a 3-3 seventh-inning tie against Nogales (Ariz.) High and send the Cougars (27-5) into the state semifinals. In the end, Verdugo struck out 18 and didn't get the win on the mound.

Verdugo induced a couple groundouts -- in the fourth and sixth innings -- but still retired the side on a pair of dropped third strikes, according to the azcentral sports game story. His pitch count climbed over 100 in the sixth inning, so Chandler removed his star pitcher -- just as he had did during a Verdugo no-hit bid two years ago.

"All that’s great and fine," Chandler told the online publication, "but he’s got a future and we want to facilitate that as much as possible."

That future appears bright. Perfect Game USA ranks Verdugo as the No. 58 prospect in the Class of 2014. He had 15 strikeouts earlier in the year, according to azcentral sports, but he had no idea of his total when his coach went to the bullpen on Tuesday.

“I wasn’t counting them all in my head," he said, "but I kind of figured that I had a lot.”

Joshua Melvin looks sufficiently surprised for being booked for Silly String — Jupiter Police

It all started as a lighthearted prank at a powder puff football game, but ended with a 20-year-old in jail for Silly String.

As farcical as that may sound, it accurately describes what occurred near Palm Beach, Fla. on Tuesday, when a recent high school graduate was arrested for aggravated battery after he allegedly sprayed a Jupiter (Fla.) High staff member in the face with Silly String.

According to the Palm Beach Post, Joshua Melvin was one of four men who raided an annual Jupiter powder puff football game -- competed between girls rather than guys, without pads – and rushed onto the field wearing a ski mask and wielding a can of Silly String. Because a Jupiter staff member couldn’t tell what was inside the aerosol can that Melvin was carrying, he or she chased after the man to try and tackle him. When that staff member got close, he or she got a face full of Silly String.

There was no word of injury to the Jupiter staff member. In fact, if he or she was affected by the Silly String, that might be a notable first for the classic novelty product. In case anyone doesn't realize what Silly String looks and acts like when shot out of a can, you can check it out in the video directly below.

According to the Post, Melvin and his cohorts, who were quick enough to jump a nearby fence and escape, were only attempting to spray coaches and players in an act of lighthearted mischief.

No matter how many saves come out of the bullpen for the South Sacramento (Calif.) Valley High baseball team in 2013, none can compare to the one that the team pulled off Wednesday afternoon after a team practice.

Members of the Valley High baseball team, which saved a girl trapped under a car — KCRA screenshot

As first reported by Sacramento TV news outlets KXTV and NBC affiliate KCRA, members of the Valley baseball team sprung into action after seeing a mother accidentally run over her own daughter in the parking lot. The mother was dropping off her daughter for an after school program when she accidentally hit the car in front of her, panicked and threw the auto into reverse. The rapid shift pinned her daughter under the car and rendered her immobile, all while putting her health in peril should the mother try and drive forward again.

As soon as the players heard screams for help they raced over, with a total of 16 varsity and junior varsity members of the Valley squad combining to lift the car up while Valley coach James Millholland pulled the trapped girl out from under the car.

"We all just ran out there as a team," varsity coach James Millholland told KCRA. "No one was saying much, and then the guys got around the car and just lifted it up. There was very little talking."

Both Sacramento-based television networks cited reports from the hospital saying that the girl had not suffered any significant injuries, with the players’ quick thinking saving the day, and her long term health.

"I think we did a good job. It kind of bothered me throughout school today," Valley player Jack Danho told KXTX. "It was still in my head. I was traumatized, but our quick thinking saved her life."

Kountze cheerleaders paint a Biblical 'run through' sign — Associated Press

In September, it took a legal injunction to ensure that a group of high school cheerleaders could continue to display religious quotes on motivational signs that their school’s football team would run through.

The story was borne out of the piety of a region, in this case a section of Texas that finds itself firmly in the state’s bible belt. The cheerleaders at Kountze (Texas) High held up signs emblazoned with Biblical verse for the hometown Tigers to run through. After their right to do so was challenged, the cheerleaders rapidly filed suit to gain a temporary injunction against the state.

That injunction was granted, and has since set the stage for a variety of Kountze activities that use cheerleader-made signs. Now, the cheerleaders can display their Biblical signs without concern, after a ruling by Texas District Judge Steven Thomas found that the cheerleaders should be able to use whatever text they like on pregame signs.

The case for the cheerleaders was argued by a Plano, Texas-based nonprofit law firm called the Liberty Institute, though the firm was hardly alone; popular local celebrities such as Texas governor Rick Perry and attorney general Greg Abbott have also been outspoken supporters of the cheerleaders’ case.

Still, as noted by the Online Sports Guys blog, the Kountze case is hardly the first to deal with freedom of religious expression related to a pregame routine at a prep sporting event. In fact, there have been two relatively similar scenarios in the state of Georgia in recent years alone, in the form of both Ridgeland (Ga.) High and Haralson County (Ga.) High's disputes with the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

While the ruling appears to have cleared the way for future use of Biblical verse in high school sports, some civil rights groups have already spoken out to insist that they will continue to fight against the use of any religious text in or connected with a scholastic event.

"High school football games are a quintessential school event and cheerleaders are a key part of that event," Martin B. Cominsky, Southwest Regional Director of the Anti Defamation League told Houston ABC affiliate KTRK. "This decision flies in the face of clear U.S. Supreme Court and other rulings. The religious banners blatantly convey a message that the school supports and promotes one religion over any other. Not only is that inappropriate, the court should have found it unconstitutional."

On Saturday, the life of longtime Utah soccer referee Ricardo Portillo came to a tragically premature end, days after he was violently and cowardly punched in the head by a goaltender for a team in a game he was officiating. Now, the teen responsible for the referee’s death may find himself put behind bars for a number of years in connection with one shameful weak-minded moment.

Family and friends mourn Ricardo Portillo at his funeral Wednesday — Associated Press

As reported by the Associated Press and a variety of other Utah news outlets, the unnamed high school student who attacked Portillo will be charged with homicide by assault. The court-appointed prosecutor in the case, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, also insisted that the state will attempt to try the attacker as an adult. The teen will turn 18 in October, giving the court reasonable grounds to seek to charge him as an adult.

Should the 17-year-old be tried as an adult he would face a penalty of up to five years in prison if convicted.

While the charges facing the teen are significant, they could have been much worse as well. After much analysis, the court determined that they could not accurately expect to gain a conviction if they charged the goalie with murder or manslaughter.

Perhaps it was simply good fate, or his abundance of faith. Maybe it was his incredible fitness. Whatever was the deciding factor, one of Florida’s most talented three sport athletes just feels lucky to still be alive.

As reported by the Orlando Sentinel, Orlando (Fla.) Christian Prep three-sport (football-basketball-volleyball) star Mike Walmer somehow survived a one-car accident en route to school on Friday morning in which he was ejected from his car and traveled 65 feet in the air. More remarkable still, the starter on a recent Class 2A boys basketball state finalist, eventually emerged from the accident without any serious injuries whatsoever, and was back in school on Monday.

"While I was in midair, I asked God to please help me before I hit the ground," Walmer told the Sentinel. "I was bracing myself for the fall. And I felt like God just grabbed me and laid me down to the ground as soft as he could."

As MaxPreps noted, Walmer’s indestructibility in the wreck was particularly ironic given the fact that he was known as a hard-nosed grinder on the basketball floor. Walmer didn’t suffer a single broken bone while being flung 65 feet through the air and landing on the pavement, but did break his nose during basketball season.

Walmer, a senior who contributed to OCP’s varsity basketball and volleyball teams for all four seasons, was well enough after the weekend to attend an awards banquet at which he was named the school’s student athlete of the year. While that physical condition may have helped him bounce back quicker, his basketball coach made it clear that it took something more to keep him safe during his terrifying accident.

Yoshihide Kiryu might not roll off the tongue like Usain Bolt, but the 17-year-old Japanese sprinting sensation is lightning fast just the same.

In a startling performance that left everyone in his dust, Kiryu covered 100 meters in 10.01 seconds at the Mikio Oda Memorial in Hiroshima, Japan, tying the junior world record on April 29, according to the Hurriyet Daily News (h/t Huffington Post).

He clocked his record-breaking time in a qualifying heat, and then won the final in 10.03 seconds, defeating 20-year-old Olympian Ryota Yamagata by one-hundredth of a second.

“It’s like a dream," he told the Japanese media. "Honestly, I am surprised.”

Perhaps he shouldn't be too surprised. Kiryu broke the world youth 100-meter record as a 16-year-old twice last year, breaking the tape in 10.21 seconds in October and 10.19 seconds in November, according to the New Strait Times.

Kiryu’s performance late last month tied Trinidad and Tobago's Darrel Brown -- who won four silver medals at the World Championships from 2001-09 -- and American Jeff Demps -- a 4x100-meter silver medalist at last summer's London Olympics and a member of the New England Patriots this past NFL season. They were a year older than Kiryu when they recorded their 10.01-second times.

Next up for Kiryu: The Japanese record. Kiryu reportedly wrote "9.96 seconds" on a blackboard in his classroom at Rakunan (Kyoto, Japan) High, which would break the current national record of 10.00 seconds set by Koji Ito in 1998.

“There is a 100 percent chance that the time will dip below 10 seconds this year,” said Ito, who now serves as sprint director for the Japan Association of Athletics Federations.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a more impressive array of dunks than those orchestrated at the Ballislife All-American Dunk Contest. Maybe the NBA's dunk contest might actually be exciting in a couple years, especially if Zach LaVine is involved.

Of all the ridiculous dunkers at the Ballislife competition, the 6-foot-4, 170-pound UCLA commit was the most remarkable, probably finding a few new future fans during his first impression on Los Angeles-area basketball nuts in Long Beach, Calif.

Sure, New Mexico-bound forward Tim Myles can jump over things. Chairs, teammates, you name it, he'll throw down a monster two-handed dunk over it.

Miami football commit Derrick Griffin can dunk, too. No doubt about it. Although, his teammate's soccer-style alley-oop is arguably just as impressive. Bend it like broham.

Likewise, Oregon-bound Jordan Bell and future Marquette Warrior Deonte Burton contort themselves mid-air in ways the pretzels at the snack bar only wish they could.