From staff and wire reports
Opening ceremonies were held in the Little League Softball World Series on Wednesday in Portland, Ore., as well as an ice cream social and skills competition.
Rowan Little League plays the first of its four pool games today. The 11-12-year-old Rowan girls take on Canadian champion Layritz, Victoria, B.C. Rowan’s game will be at 4 p.m. in Oregon, which will mean a 7 p.m. start locally for people in Rowan and Mooresville who are following the action.
There are two five-team pools in the World Series with the top two teams from each pool advancing to televised semifinals.
The teams that do not advance to the semifinals will play a fifth game against one of the teams from the other pool.
Other first-round games today are Texas vs. Uganda; Washington vs. The Philippines and host Oregon vs. Puerto Rico.
Southeast champ Rowan’s pool includes West champ Washington, Central champ Iowa, Canada and Asia-Pacific champ The Philippines.

Prep football
North Rowan’s football team scrimmaged at South Rowan on Wednesday.
New South Rowan coach Daniel Yow was impressed with the Cavaliers’ experienced defense.
“North’s defense is really strong and they may be as stout as anyone we’re going to see all year,” Yow said. “They’re fast, they’re athletic and it was just a great test for us to see someone like that.”
North got to the edge at times with its speed, Yow said, but overall he was pleased with the progress his team has made and said the Raiders held their own at times.
“I’ve probably said it 100 times already, but we’re just really young right now,” Yow said.
North Rowan’s first-year head coach Ben Hampton was happy.
“It went well, we played with a lot of intensity on defense and we flew around,” Hampton said. “We turned up the tempo and got after it.It was nice to line up against some different faces other than ourselves.”
Yow said the Raiders got a couple of players banged up, but no one sustained an injury that is expected to keep them out any length of time.
South Rowan will be part of a major jamboree at Mooresville on Friday. The Raiders will be matched up at 8 p.m. with West Iredell for basically a half of live football. Carson will take on St. Stephens at 7 p.m. Salisbury is matched up with Marvin Ridge at 5 p.m.
North Rowan is in the CarolinaPreps.com Jamboree at Rocky River on Friday. The Cavaliers will battle highly touted Cuthbertson at 4:30 p.m.
Wonders
The annual Battle for the Bell game between A.L. Brown and Concord is coming up on Aug. 20, at 7:30 p.m. at A.L. Brown.
It will be the first-ever Thursday Night Football Game of the Week, and Time Warner Cable will televise it live across North Carolina.
Gates will open at 5 p.m.
Tickets are $6. Advance tickets will be sold from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. next Wednesday and Thursday at A.L. Brown’s Bullock Gym.
There’s also a competition with Concord to see who can bring the most canned goods for Cooperative Christian Ministry.
There will be an activity bus parked in the horseshoe area of A.L. Brown where canned food will be collected for CCM.

There will be a community pep rally next Tuesday at A.L. Brown from 7-9 p.m.

American Legion
The American Legion World Series begins today in Shelby with three games.
Two-time defending champion New Jersey plays Oregon at 12:30 p.m.
Connecticut plays Michigan at 4 p.m.
Nebraska plays Hawaii at 7:30 p.m.
Southeast champion South Carolina is still undefeated and opens play on Friday at 7:30 p.m. against Michigan.
The format is pool play with the eight teams split into two four-team division.

Intimidators
Michael Suiter extending his hitting streak to 21 games with a go-ahead single in the sixth inning, and the Intimidators added to the lead for a 3-1 win over Hickory on Wednesday at L.P. Frans Stadium. Kannapolis (23-22 second half, 58-56 overall) snapped afour-game losing skid as Suiter extended a hitting streak that is the longest in Intimidators history.
Spencer Adams (9-5) matched the longest outing of his career with seven scoreless innings, limiting the Crawdads to four hits while striking out four.
Jose Brito tossed a perfect eighth and allowed an unearned run in the ninth for his third save.
Mason Robbins finished the game 2-for-4 with two run-scoring hits.
The Intimidators wrap up the three-game series on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Local golf
Ben Childress shot 41-42 — 83 and finished in third place in the 11-under division at the Tournament of Champions.
The tournament was played at Mill Creek in Mebane.
Ben shot a two day 41-42-83.

Southeast football
Southeast Middle seventh-and-eighth grade football will will have equipment pickup on Friday, Aug. 14, from 6-8 p.m.
All players should meet in the team room behind the gym.
Practice will start on Monday Aug. 17, from 6-8 p.m. and will run all week .
Players should bring cleats, T-shirt and shorts and and a current physical if the have not already turned one in.
Contact Southeast Middle School at 704-638-6484.

College football
CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson linebacker Korrin Wiggins is out for the season after tearing a knee ligament in a team scrimmage Wednesday.
Wiggins hurt himself trying to recover a fumble in the session at Memorial Stadium. Wiggins was only one of four returning players who started at least six games on Clemson’s No. 1 defense from a year ago.
The school said that Wiggins, of Durham, North Carolina, tore an ACL. Clemson’s policy is not to identify specifics in injuries, such as left or right knee.
Wiggins is expected to sit out this season as a redshirt and return next year with two years of eligibility remaining.
He had 40 tackles and two interceptions for the Tigers last year, starting in the team’s nickel back formation.
BYU
PROVO, Utah — BYU tight end Colby Jorgensen is recovering from surgery Wednesday, a day after he fractured and dislocated his neck in practice.