Drug testing works for MLB

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball had just two positive tests for performance-enhancing drugs that resulted in discipline during the year ending with the World Series and exemptions for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder remained at a low.

There were 11,609 tests that included 9,455 urine samples and 2,154 blood samples to detect human growth hormone, independent program administrator Thomas M. Martin said in his annual report released Friday by MLB and the players’ association. That was down slightly from a record 11,783 samples last year that included 9,550 for urine and 2,233 for blood.

Total tests were MLB’s third-highest, also trailing 11,619 in 2019.

Tennis star wants fairness

The former Wimbledon and French Open tennis champion Simona Halep has expressed dismay at the way Iga Swiatek’s doping case was handled compared to her own.

Halep said there had been severe differences in how their cases were treated by tennis authorities. Halep says, “I sit and try to understand but it is really impossible for me to understand something like this.” The International Tennis Integrity Agency announced on Thursday that the five-time major champion Swiatek accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine, a heart medication known as TMZ.

Halep received a four-year suspension after testing positive for the banned drug Roxadustat at the 2022 U.S. Open.

Bills’ QB is tying the knot

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and actress Hailee Steinfeld are engaged.

The couple posted a photo to their Instagram followers on Friday of Allen on one knee proposing marriage. Allen and Steinfeld were first linked in the spring of 2023. They kept their romance relatively quiet for a while, but Steinfeld has since begun attending Bills home games, and the couple hosted a Halloween party this fall. The 27-year-old Steinfeld was nominated for an Oscar for “True Grit” in 2010.

Steinfeld began her acting career at age 10. She also received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in the 2016 high school dramedy “The Edge of Seventeen.”

Season over for Lady Lions

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Despite taking an early one-goal lead in the 14th minute of play, the fourth-seeded and 22nd-ranked Penn State women’s soccer team dropped a heartbreaking 2-1 decision in overtime to the second-seeded and eighth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championships from Dorrance Field.

Freshman Katie Scott scored for Penn State.

The Lady Lions wrapped up their season with a 15-7-3 overall record, paired with a 5-4-2 mark against Big Ten Conference challengers.

Penn State played its 12th match of the year against a nationally ranked challenger, including its seventh match of the year against a top-10 foe. The Lady Lions extended their NCAA Tournament appearance streak to 30 consecutive seasons, marking the second-longest active NCAA Tournament streak in the nation. PSU reached the Sweet 16 for the eighth season in a row.

Mirror, wire reports