Freddie Freeman makes Clayton Kershaw admission amid Los Angeles Dodg… — and more

Freddie Freeman makes Clayton Kershaw admission amid Los Angeles Dodgers legend not being at Spring Training originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ clubhouse is adjusting to a new reality this spring as Clayton Kershaw isn’t toeing the rubber to get ready for another season.

Following Kershaw’s decision to retire from Major League Baseball, Dodgers star Freddie Freeman spoke about the impact of not seeing the longtime ace around camp.

“It's going to be hard. It's like when I first got here, after one year, J.T. wasn't here anymore. It's weird seeing Dodgers legends not walk around the clubhouse anymore. What [Kershaw] meant to this organization, the game of baseball, it's pretty cool he's going to pitch for Team USA. I'm looking forward to watching him pitch.

“But it's definitely going to be weird not having number 22 walking around. But we'll see him here at the ring ceremony,” he said, per The Orange County Register.

For more than a decade with the team, Kershaw was the face of the Dodgers' pitching staff, helping in championship runs and setting the tone inside the clubhouse.

Kershaw wasn’t what he once was over the past few years and dealt with injuries, but there’s always value in having guys like that around. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Dodgers struggle at times without him there, as wild as that might sound to some.

More MLB news:

• Insider reveals Los Angeles Dodgers and other teams chances of trading for Tarik Skubal as Spring Training gets underway
• Chicago Cubs’ Dansby Swanson shows that he’s a college basketball sicko just like the rest of us
• Chicago Cubs 32 home run slugger admits that he wants to sign new deal with club
• Philadelphia Phillies fans will be ecstatic to hear latest Zack Wheeler injury update
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• Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees proposed trade moves on from Nico Hoerner for lackluster return

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There was nothing easy or typical about Thursday for the No. 15 Arizona Wildcat softball team. They were set to play Boise State and Stanford at the Cardinal’s new field but ended up being relocated to West Valley College to play a weather-disrupted game against the Broncos. Their later game against the Cardinal was postponed.

It didn’t bother the Wildcats. Despite two long rain delays, they beat the Broncos 11-2 in six innings at Viking Field in Saratoga, Calif.

Freshman pitcher Rylie Holder threw 5.2 innings of shutout relief and set a career high with five strikeouts.

Holder was backed up by consistent offensive and defensive efforts from her teammates. The team had scored 11 runs on 14 hits, 7 walks, and 1 hit batter.

Nothing proceeded smoothly, though. For the second straight weekend, Stanford’s home tournament had at least some games played elsewhere. Viking Field at WVC looks fine based on the stream. Its one drawback is that it doesn’t have lights, leading the postponement of Arizona’s game against Stanford.

The top of the order came through for the Wildcats once again. Senior shortstop Tayler Biehl, junior centerfielder Regan Shockey, and sophomore second baseman Sereniti Trice went 9 for 14 as a group. They scored 7 runs, had 5 RBI, and stole 3 bases.

Biehl continues to be an offensive force. She went 3 for 5 with a double and accounted for 4 RBI. Her season average is now up to .366 and hasn’t dropped below .310 all season. She also scored a run on the day.

Shockey set the table by going 3 for 4 and scoring 4 runs in the leadoff role. She also had a walk.

Trice was 3 for 5 with an RBI and 2 runs scored. She stole one base.

The trio got help from the middle and bottom of the order in this one. Emma Kavanagh hit in the seven hole. She had two of Arizona’s three extra-base hits on a 2-for-4 day at the plate. Her first hit was a leadoff home run in the top of the second. Her second was an RBI double.

Nine-hitter Addison Duke drew three walks, stole a base, and scored a run. Cleanup hitter Grace Jenkins went 2 for 2, drew a pair of walks, and drove in one run.

The Wildcats played as the designated visiting team. They loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the first, but they could only manage a single after that. The single scored one run, but a strikeout and an inning-ending double play minimized the damage.

The bottom of the inning went off the rails quickly. Sophomore righthander Jenae Berry got the start for the Wildcats. She struggled mightily with the zone.

Berry got a lineout from the leadoff hitter, but she walked the next four batters to force in a run and tie the game. Two of the four walks were on four pitches. Arizona made the pitching change after the run came in, but the first weather delay coincided and Holder did not pitch immediately.

When the game resumed approximately 45 minutes late, the freshman pitcher allowed a single to push across one of the inherited runners. That was the lone run, though. She got the groundout from the next batter. The Broncos’ lead was just one.

Arizona didn’t wait to respond. Kavanagh led off the second with a home run, kicking off a six-run inning that put the Wildcats in control.

Boise State’s Julianne Rose had difficult find the zone just as Berry had earlier. She walked two and gave up a single to load the bases. Trice’s single to left brought in Jenna Sniffen from third, but Addison Duke was out trying to score from second. The throw home allowed Shockey to advance to third with one out.

It was time for Biehl. Her double knocked in Shockey and Trice. Rose’s wildness continued. Two wild pitches allowed Biehl to move to third and then score.

That’s when the second rain delay hit. It took about 30 minutes to get back on the field this time.

Arizona returned to the field just as hot as it left. Rose walked Jenkins, and then reliever Olivia Bauer hit Kez Lucas. Kavanagh, who had started the inning with a solo home run, hit a double to drive Jenkins in for the sixth run of the inning. The lead was 7-2.

Arizona had its chances to approach the run-rule threshold in the fourth. Two Wildcats got in scoring position with one out, but Bauer induced two groundouts to end the threat.

Arizona tacked a run on in the fifth to get within two of the early victory. In the sixth, they finally pushed past with two outs.

BSU reliever LoulaRae McNamara got two quick outs, but walked Duke to put a runner on for the ‘Cats. Duke worked her way around the bases, putting herself in position to steal home and put one more run on the board.

A second error in the inning put two on for Biehl. Her single scored Shockey and Trice to give Arizona the 11-2 lead.

Holder shut things down in the bottom of the inning with two strikeouts.

At the end of the game, it was announced on the stream that Arizona and Stanford would start play around 4:45 p.m. MST. Shortly after, the game was postponed due to “impending sundown.”

Stanford announced time changes and location changes for the rest of the tournament. Since the remaining games do not involve the home team, there is currently no information about whether there will be streams available.