Warriors

Kelsey Dominik of Kingsway and New Egypt's Alison Martino pitched perfect, but abbreviated, games to highlight Monday's South Jersey softball action. Dominik (17-3) struck out nine in notching her first perfecto as the host Dragons needed just five innings to scorch Delsea, 14-0, in a Tri-County Conference clash. Martino (14-2) retired a dozen batters on strikes over six innings, as the host Warriors dismissed Burlington County League rival Maple Shade, 10-0. Olympic.

BY 5:30 MONDAY afternoon, only one word should have been directed toward the lone freshman in Delaware Valley Charter High's baseball lineup. Bravo! Say hello, with gusto, to Rainiel "Ray" Bravo, a 5-10, 180-pound designated hitter, and congratulate him on the strong performance he mounted in a Public D contest, played in occasional drizzle, at Charles Papa Playground, Haverford and Lansdowne avenues. As the visiting Warriors thumped Robert Lamberton, 17-2, in six innings, thus clinching first place at 9-0, all the 15-year-old Bravo did was go 5-for-5 with four singles, a two-run homer and four RBI. He posted his hits in that order, too. A hard single to right to chase home a run and cap a three-run first.

Mark McGowan homered and Drew Smick pitched a solid game in relief as Woodstown rallied from a 4-0 deficit for a 7-5 upset of visiting Delsea in Tri-County Conference baseball Tuesday. Delsea (10-7) jumped out to an early lead against Wolverines starter Rich Stuart, but Woodstown (3-7) took the lead for good with a four-run fifth inning. McGowan went 2 for 4 with two runs scored and two runs batted in, and Nick Battle and Sam Nowicki added two hits apiece in support of Smick, who got the win with 21/3 innings of relief.

If the 76ers had their druthers, they certainly would prefer playing the remaining six of their final seven regular-season games at home. But, as they prepared Sunday for a Monday game against the Orlando Magic, the reality for the Sixers is that six of their final regular-season games are on the road. The Sixers (31-28) have backed themselves into a corner mostly because of their shoddy play at home. After dropping a 95-89 decision to the Nets at the Wells Fargo Center on Friday, the Sixers, who began the season by winning 12 of their first 14 home games, have lost 11 of their last 18 games at home.

Jose Rivas pitched five strong innings in relief and helped Camden High's baseball team snap a 36-game losing skid over three years with a 9-4 victory over LEAP Academy on Sunday in the Camden County Tournament at Campbell's Field. The Panthers, who last won in the final game of the 2009 season against Woodrow Wilson, fell behind by 3-1 before Richard Jaquez delivered a three-run single in the third inning to put Camden ahead for good. Kelvin Davis added two hits, and Rivas struck out seven in relief.

THERE HAS never been a time when I didn't think of myself as Catholic. When my father died at the age of 43 from a virulent form of cancer, and a lady at our local parish sternly said, "It's God's will, you need to accept it," I wasn't tempted to leave the church. I just left that parish. When my feminist college friends told me that Mass had "cult-like" aspects, I reminded them that raising Lanterns and chanting in Greek (Bryn Mawr traditions) were not like meetings of the 4-H Club, either.

PITTSBURGH - It ended with Peter Laviolette and Pittsburgh Penguins assistant coach Tony Granato face-to-face, standing on top of the boards, with the Flyers coach holding a broken stick he had just smashed on the glass partition separating the teams. On the ice in front of them, Wayne Simmonds was tangling with the Pens' Deryk Engelland despite wearing a visor over a black eye swollen to the size of a grapefruit. Twenty feet away, Pavel Kubina was chucking knuckles with Matt Niskanen.

HARRISBURG - Joel Shrum had already traveled abroad several times and had a growing interest in helping people in far-flung places, yet his parents were still surprised when he told them he planned to move to Yemen to learn Arabic. They read about the country, visited him there, and became comfortable with it. And they said their son had become a teacher and grown to love his work and Yemeni friends. Shrum, 29, was killed Sunday by two gunmen on a motorcycle while driving in the city of Taiz.

With his for-keeps rebounding skills and inside scoring prowess, John Davis is quickly piling up scholarship offers. Pretty soon, he also could be adding another state-championship medal to a growing collection. On Tuesday night, the ever-improving junior battled for 19 points and 14 rebounds as Neumann-Goretti stormed past District 12 rival Boys' Latin, 74-43, in a PIAA Class AAA boys' basketball semifinal at Southern. "We're back in the state final, which is nice," Davis said.

IT WAS GREAT WHILE it lasted . . .  After storming to an 11-4 record in the first round of the PIAA playoffs, and winning all five second-round games played on Tuesday (in Class A/AAA), District 12 absorbed a punch to the gut - or even lower - in the AA/AAAA games played Wednesday. The AA squads went 2-2 while the AAAAs staggered to 0-2. Don't fret. Lots of teams are still alive. There will be five games tonight and another tomorrow and the latter will be an all-12 affair.