NORTH RIDGEVILLE, Ohio — The Saxonburg Slammers 10-and-under travel team finished third at the Nations Baseball Select Division National Championships recently.

Saxonburg defeated the No. 2 seed Stars Baseball Club 18-12, then defeated eventual runner-up and No. 3 seed West Holmes (Ohio) 7-0.

The Slammers fell to top-seeded and eventual champion Ohio Glaciers in the winners bracket final, then lost to West Homes 15-1 in the losers bracket to finish in third place.

John Jerich batted .556, Jackson McKee .500, Dallas Hays .444 and Dominick Bucko .421 over the four games. Hays and Anthony Tedrow were the winning pitchers for the Slammers.

HERMITAGE — Brett Rinker of Slippery Rock carded a 75 to capture the King's Restaurant Junior Golf Tournament at Tam O'Shanter Golf Course Thursday.Rinker won by three strokes over Brody Taylor in the boys age-14 division.In the girls 16-to-18 division, Jenna Rinker of Slippery Rock placed fourth with a round of 79, three shots behind Annie Bozich of Center Township, Beaver County, who recorded a hole-in-one on the 135-yard, No. 8 hole.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Defending champion Serena Williams and four other past winners, including her sister Venus, are in the provisional women's field for the U.S. Open.Ninety-nine of the top 100 women in the current WTA rankings received direct entry into the hard-court Grand Slam tournament, played Aug. 31 to Sept. 13 in New York. The one missing is No. 88 Nathalie Dechy of France, who announced her retirement this week.Serena Williams will be bidding for her fourth U.S. Open championship and third major title of 2009, after those at the Australian Open in January and Wimbledon this month. She owns 11 Grand Slam singles titles overall, most among active players.

GENEVA, Switzerland — Roger Federer became a father of twin girls after his wife Mirka gave birth Thursday.In a statement on his Web site and Facebook page, tennis' world No. 1 said the girls have been named Charlene Riva and Myla Rose.It was the first children for the couple, married in April.

CHICAGO — The United States isn't conceding the 2018 World Cup to Europe.Despite the likelihood that FIFA will favor going back to Europe for that tournament, the head of the U.S. bid committee said Thursday it hasn't given up hope of hosting in 2018. The United States is one of 11 countries that has formally declared its desire to host the World Cup in either 2018 or 2022; Netherlands-Belgium and Portugal-Spain have submitted joint bids.The World Cup will be in South Africa in 2010 and Brazil in 2014, the first time it's left Europe for consecutive tournaments. FIFA president Sepp Blatter has already said there is a "general understanding" that Europe will play host in 2018, making 2022 a more realistic option for the United States.