Local roundup: UConn's Bueckers nominated for an ESPY

Jun. 18—UConn women's basketball sophomore Paige Bueckers and alumnae Breanna Stewart and Crystal Dangerfield have earned nominations for the 2021 ESPYs.

Bueckers is a candidate for Best College Athlete, Women's Sports. Stewart is one of 10 athletes with two nominations as she is up for Best Athlete, Women's Sports and Best WNBA Player. Dangerfield is nominated for Best Breakthrough Athlete.

Bueckers made history as the first freshman to win the Wooden Award, Naismith Trophy, AP National Player of the Year, USBWA National Player of the Year and Lieberman Award. She was named the 2021 Big East Player and Freshman of the Year and the Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player. Bueckers led UConn with 20.0 points, 5.8 assists and 2.3 steals per game as well as a 46.4 three-point field goal percentage.

After missing the 2019 season with a torn Achilles, Stewart returned in 2020 to lead the Seattle Storm to the WNBA championship. She was named WNBA Finals MVP. Stewart averaged 19.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per game in 2020. Dangerfield became the first WNBA second round draft pick to earn Rookie of the Year honors in 2020. She led the Minnesota Lynx with 16.2 points per game.

The ESPYs will be held at The Rooftop at Pier 17 in New York City on July 10 and will air on ABC at 8 p.m.

Schooners

— Jerry Huntzinger (Xavier) hit an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning as the Mystic Schooners beat the Ocean State Waves 7-6 in a NECBL game on Wednesday night. Daniel Crossen (Northeastern), Christopher Brito (Rutgers) and Christian Policelli (Navy) all homered for the Schooners (5-4) and Brito and Crossen had two RBI each.

Sea Unicorns

— East Lyme's Matt Malcom (ECSU) homered and scored twice as the Norwich Sea Unicorns beat the Nashua Silver Knights 6-1 in a FCBL game on Wednesday night. Kaelen Culpepper (Kansas State) had two hits and scored twice for Norwich (11-8), which has won eight of its last nine games. Waterford's Payton Sutman (Holy Cross) started for the Sea Unicorns, allowing two hits and one run over four innings. Montville's Kenny Heon (Mitchell) got the win in relief. Heon allowed two hits and no runs over five innings with 10 strikeouts and no walks.

ECML

— The Sonics scored 10 runs in the fifth inning and went on to beat Three Rivers 13-0 on Wednesday night. Axel De Jesus, Harry Furgeson and Chris Gibb had three hits each and Dan Pierce and Gibb each drove in two runs for the Sonics. Robert Holland earned the win, allowing one hit over four innings with eight strikeouts and one walk.

— The Knights beat the Padres 7-3 on Tuesday night. Elijah Martinez and John-John Jose had doubles for the Knights, Martinez drove in two runs and Jose earned a save, striking out eight over the final three innings. Liam Kane and Bryce Bedard had two hits each for the Knights and Ken Olszewski had three hits, including a two-run triple, for the Padres.