Sports

(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) — The family of the girl who was critically injured in a car crash last year involving former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid slammed prosecutors for agreeing to a plea deal in exchange for a lower prison sentence.

Reid, 37, pleaded guilty Monday to driving while impaired in connection with the Feb. 4, 2021, incident. Reid was driving his pickup truck near Arrowhead Stadium and struck two vehicles that were stopped on the side of the highway.

Five people were injured in the crash including then 5-year-old Ariel Young. She suffered “life-threatening injuries” and a “severe traumatic brain injury, a parietal fracture, brain contusions and subdural hematomas,” according to court documents.

Reid, who faces up to four years in prison as part of his deal, apologized in court for his actions. Ariel’s family and the other victims, however, slammed him and prosecutors for not going to trial.

“The five victims of this crime are outraged the prosecuting attorney is not seeking the maximum sentence allowable by law,” Tom Porto, the attorney for the victims, said in a statement.

Prior to taking the guilty plea, Reid, the son of Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, was expected to begin trial on Sept. 26. He had faced up to seven years in prison.

Reid, who was also injured in the crash, had a blood alcohol content of 0.113 and was driving 84 miles an hour at the time of the incident, according to court documents. At the time of the crash, he was the team’s linebackers coach.

Reid was released by the Chiefs shortly after the incident.

This was not the first time that Reid has been in trouble with the law over a driving-related incident.

He pleaded guilty to simple assault and flashing a gun at another driver in a road rage incident in 2007, according to Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, court records, and served prison time. While in prison, he also pleaded guilty to a charge of driving under the influence of a controlled substance from a separate incident, according to court documents.

Reid was ticketed for speeding in 2014 and 2018 and paid both fines.

During Monday’s plea hearing, Reid said he regretted what he did and “made a huge mistake,” according to ABC affiliate KMBC. He then faced Ariel’s family and said, “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone that night,” KMBC reported.

When the judge asked the family if they had anything to say, Felicia Miller, Ariel’s mother, said, “My family and I are opposed to the plea deal. I don’t think he should receive it.”

Reid’s sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 28.

In November 2021, the Chiefs and Porto announced that the team worked out a plan to help pay for Ariel’s medical care.

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(NEW YORK) — While he didn’t make it to this year’s U.S. Open championship, Frances Tiafoe’s tennis journey still looks very bright.

The 24-year-old American was a breakout star of this year’s tournament after he beat tennis legend Rafael Nadal to advance to the quarterfinals.

Tiafoe spoke in an interview with ABC News on Good Morning America Monday about his journey to one of tennis’ biggest stages.

While he said he felt “a ton of different emotions” through his run, he hailed the Grand Slam as “the best two weeks of my life.”

“Probably the best thing [was] seeing the first lady Michelle Obama after the match,” he said of his semifinal match with Carlos Alcaraz. “I was on the one changeover and I looked and she looked at me — and then when they announced her and seeing the crowd erupt, that was pretty impactful.”

He was the first Black American man to reach the semifinals of the U.S. Open since 1972. The last player to do so was Arthur Ashe, the namesake of the stadium where Tiafoe and Alcaraz battled.

“It’s truly a blessing. All the work that my parents did over the years and having them see that and be a part of that is crazy. And to be in the same sentence as Arthur Ashe in anything is unbelievable and something no one can ever take from me. So I’m going to remember that forever,” Tiafoe explained.

Tiafoe said he hopes to continue to move the sport forward for others as a role model.

“My whole life I’ve wanted to pave a way so people like me can also play the game of tennis and just be great leaders as well as great individuals,” he said.

Tiafoe lost in five sets against Alcaraz; their match lasted four hours and 19 minutes. The 19-year-old Spanish phenom advanced to the final and won the tournament.

“I feel I let you guys down,” Tiafoe said after the match, addressing the crowd during an on-court interview. “This one hurts. This one really, really hurts — I’m going to be back — and I will win this thing one day.”

Tiafoe credited picking up a racquet to his father, who was the head of maintenance at a tennis center in Maryland.

Tiafoe, whose parents immigrated from Sierra Leone amid war in the 1990s, grew up outside of Washington, D.C., with his brother, Franklin.

“My parents are everything,” Tiafoe told ABC News. “We wouldn’t be doing this interview, all achievements, I wouldn’t have them without them. I’m just so thankful for them, and them instilling in me hard work and understanding — being humble and grateful for everything that comes your way. They shaped me to the person I am today.”

In 2020, Tiafoe won the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award, the ATP’s award for off-court impact.

Tiafoe added that being an inspiration is “what it’s all about.”

“We all have a certain gift and to use that gift to inspire so many people to do great things in life,” he said.

As for the fate of the sport, Tiafoe said he thinks “American tennis is in a great place.”

“You’ll see some Grand Slam champions soon,” he said, mentioning Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, who he said are “playing great tennis.”

“I’m super excited to be in that conversation,” Tiafoe said.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

INTERLEAGUE
Seattle 8, Atlanta 7

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Boston 1, Baltimore 0
Kansas City 4, Detroit 0
NY Yankees 10, Tampa Bay 4
Cleveland 4, Minnesota 1
Houston 12, L.A. Angels 4
Texas 4, Toronto 1
Oakland 10, Chi White Sox 3

NATIONAL LEAGUE
St. Louis 4, Pittsburgh 3
Philadelphia 7, Washington 5
NY Mets 9, Miami 3
Milwaukee 7, Cincinnati 6
Arizona 12, Colorado 6
LA Dodgers 11, San Diego 2
San Francisco 4, Chicago Cubs 2

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Baltimore 24, NY Jets 9
Chicago 19, San Francisco 10
Cleveland 26, Carolina 24
Indianapolis 20, Houston 20 (OT)
Miami 20, New England 7
New Orleans 27, Atlanta 26
Philadelphia 38, Detroit 35
Pittsburgh 23, Cincinnati 20 (OT)
Washington 28, Jacksonville 22
Kansas City 44, Arizona 21
LA Chargers 24, Las Vegas 19
Minnesota 23, Green Bay 7
NY Giants 21, Tennessee 20
Tampa Bay 19, Dallas 3

WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Las Vegas 67, Connecticut 64

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(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Minnesota 4 N.Y. Yankees 3
Chi White Sox 14, Oakland 0

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Washington 11, St. Louis 6
Cincinnati 4, Chi Cubs 3
Milwaukee 2, San Francisco 1
Miami 6, Philadelphia 5
Milwaukee 4, San Francisco 2

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Buffalo 31 L.A. Rams 10

WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Connecticut 72, Chicago 63

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

INTERLEAGUE
Atlanta 7, Oakland 3

AMERICAN LEAGUE
NY Yankees 5, Minnesota 4
NY Yankees 7, Minnesota 1
Chi White Sox 9, Seattle 6
Detroit 5, LA Angels 4
Tampa Bay 1, Boston 0
Toronto 4, Baltimore 1
Kansas City 2, Cleveland 1
Houston 4, Texas 3

NATIONAL LEAGUE
NY Mets 5, Pittsburgh 1
NY Mets 10, Pittsburgh 0
Colorado 8, Milwaukee 4
LA Dodgers 7, San Francisco 3
Philadelphia 4, Miami 3
Cincinnati 7, Chi Cubs 1
St. Louis 6, Washington 5
San Diego 6, Arizona 3

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Cincinnati 1, New York City FC 1 (Tie)

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — With an impressive and powerful performance at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens on Wednesday, Frances Tiafoe is smashing his way through the U.S. Open tournament, proving it’s his time to shine — and making history in the process.

Tiafoe’s fast and furious play saw him finish his latest match with 18 aces and a roaring crowd as he defeated the No. 9-seeded Andrey Rublev in straight sets 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-0), 6-4 in the men’s quarterfinal. The 24-year-old advances to the semifinals, ending a 16-year drought for American men’s tennis in the U.S. Open semifinals.

The last time an American men’s tennis player reached the semifinals was Andy Roddick in 2006. (Roddick made it to the finals but was defeated by Roger Federer.) Following two significant upsets in the tournament so far, Tiafoe is also the first Black man from the U.S. to reach the semifinals since Arthur Ashe in 1972.

“The training is paying off,” Tiafoe said during a post-match interview with ESPN. “I’ve been putting in the time, and it’s starting to show.”

Tiafoe, wearing Serena Williams’ GOAT sweatshirt following his dominating defeat, is proof that the Williams sisters’ impact goes far beyond the next generation of Black female tennis players, but also has an inspiring effect on young Black men, as well.

Tiafoe, currently the No. 22 seed, had a shocking and emotional upset against the No. 2-ranked superstar Rafel Nadal, abruptly ending the veteran’s run in the fourth round on Monday.

But the journey to center court was no small feat for the 24-year-old.

A son of Sierra Leone immigrants who fled home from a war in the 90s and laid roots In Maryland, Tiafoe’s father worked as a maintenance man at the College Park’s Junior Tennis Champions Center in Maryland, converting an office into a home for Frances and his twin brother Franklin. This gave Frances access to the tennis facility and coaches — a place where Frances found his opportunity to play and love the sport.

Now a fan favorite, Tiafoe awaits his next opponent, either Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz; they are set to face off later Wednesday evening, and one will meet him at center court in the first major Grand Slam semifinal of his career.

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(SEATTLE) — Sue Bird said her goodbyes to fans Tuesday night as the Seattle Storm lost to the Las Vegas Aces in Game 4 of the WNBA Semifinals.

The 97-92 loss marked the end of the 41-year-old guard’s legendary two-decade career in Seattle. She wrapped up the night with eight points and eight assists.

Bird began her career in 2002 when she was chosen by the Storm as their first overall pick in round one of the WNBA draft. She closes out her time in the league with four WNBA championships and five Olympic gold medals.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

INTERLEAGUE
Atlanta 10, Oakland 9

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Tampa Bay 8, Boston 4
Cleveland 4, Kansas City 1
Baltimore 9, Toronto 6
Texas 4, Houston 3
LA Angels 5, Detroit 4 (10)
Seattle 3, Chi White Sox 0
Minnesota at NY Yankees (Postponed)

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Pittsburgh 8, NY Mets 2
Philadelphia 3, Miami 2
St. Louis 4, Washington 1
Chi Cubs 9, Cincinnati 3
Colorado 10, Milwaukee 7
San Diego 6, Arizona 5
LA Dodgers 6, San Francisco 3

WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Connecticut 104, Chicago 80
Las Vegas 97, Seattle 92

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LOS ANGELES) — It’s been a long time in the making — 27 years to be exact — but the girls’ softball team at James A. Garfield Senior High School in East Los Angeles brought home a championship trophy and plaque for the first time since 1995 earlier this summer.

If you were following the team this past spring, you would probably have never guessed that the Lady Bulldogs would come out on top. The victory was unexpected and a long shot because after all, they were on a losing streak and had lost all of their preseason games.

But Karla Bernal, the head softball coach and a physical education teacher at Garfield, never lost faith in her young players.

“It did start pretty rocky and it was really discouraging for our players because we did play a tough preseason game. We were playing top schools and schools that compete at a high level and unfortunately, we didn’t get any wins in our preseason and we went 0 and 7,” the 26-year-old coach told ABC News’ Good Morning America.

Bernal, who’s also a Garfield alumna herself, said she knew the team had talent and the potential to win. They just needed to put things into perspective and not get discouraged by their past record.

She recounted telling the high schoolers before the playoffs, “‘You know what? They seeded us 20 [out of 22]. No one expected us to actually make the playoffs so we have nothing to lose.'”

“‘We just need to go in there, keep doing what we’ve been doing, that’s believing that we belong and believing that we can compete at this level, not letting our failures define who we are, and always putting our teammates first because when we do that, we are going to get the results out,'” she continued.

The Lady Bulldogs had a lot of challenges to overcome during their season, which ran from January to June. They had player injuries and morale issues to work through and then their big disadvantage was that they had no home field to play on as their field was under reconstruction.

“Some schools, they have their own field and you’re on your field, you’re in your batting cages if they have batting cages throughout the fall … from August to December. We didn’t have that. We were actually practicing in our football field, on our outdoor basketball courts, on our tennis courts,” Bernal explained.

“This team never had to face anything like that. And also, coming back from COVID, we [were] still transitioning from those obstacles and those struggles that they had to go through as a person. So it was hard for my team knowing that we couldn’t get field time,” she added.

Arnie Carrillo, whose two daughters were on the Garfield team this past season, put it simply.

“It seemed like everything that could go wrong, did go wrong,” he said.

Despite it all, the Lady Bulldogs kept practicing and squeezed in field time at nearby East Los Angeles College, which loaned their softball field to the teen players.

Their turning point came at their play-in game, which the Lady Bulldogs had to win in order to qualify for playoffs.

“We came into a play-in game and it seemed like everything that went wrong started to go right and so we went on a run where we upset the no. 5 team, the no. 3 team, the no. 1 team, and then we ended up in in the championship game, and what a beautiful day, what a beautiful moment,” Carrillo recalled.

“I think the fact that the odds were against us, once playoffs started, it just lit something up for my team,” Bernal said. “I think they just started believing in their capability and their preparation and they just took off and represented our school really well.”

Garfield’s Bulldogs would go on to win 5-3 against the Panthers of Gardena High School, who at the time were the defending champions in the division.

One of Carrillo’s daughters, pitcher Nadia Carrillo, helped secure the Bulldogs’ victory by driving home the double runs that clinched their title.

For Carrillo, who like Bernal, is a Garfield alumnus, watching his two daughters thrive in softball has been especially meaningful. Back in 1995, he was in the stands watching Garfield win their championship and softball has become an important bond for the family.

“It comes back full circle with me being there in ’95. And then, in 2022, almost 30 years later,” Carrillo said. “My daughters are part of something beautiful as far as winning a championship for your community.”

Carrillo is now hosting an online fundraiser to get the Lady Bulldogs their well-deserved championship rings.

“It wasn’t an easy feat and so now, that puts us into trying to commemorate them with the rings, to have something that said, ‘You know what? I was a part of this program at this certain time of Garfield’s existence,'” he said.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

AMERICAN LEAGUE
NY Yankees 5, Minnesota 2
Toronto 7, Baltimore 3
Tampa Bay 4, Boston 3
Toronto 8, Baltimore 4
Chi White Sox 3, Seattle 2
Houston 1, Texas 0
Cleveland 6, Kansas City 5
LA Angels 10, Detroit 0

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Washington 6, St. Louis 0
Milwaukee 6, Colorado 4
Arizona 5, San Diego 0
San Francisco 7, LA Dodgers 4
NY Mets at Pittsburgh (Postponed)

TOP-25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Clemson 41, Georgia Tech 10

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