ems to describe them. Steuerwald said this particular group was th

WACO, Texas -- Kyle Hicks spun away from two tacklers, and broke away from another while weaving through defenders. On another of his five TDs for TCU, he shifted the ball to his left hand and fully extended it over the pylon as he got hit.Hicks ran for a career-high 192 yards and kept finding the end zone, after not practicing all week, and the Horned Frogs beat 13th-ranked Baylor 62-22 on a dark Saturday for the Bears.For him to fight through, and its harder on turf, and make the cuts he did was big, coach Gary Patterson said.That helped TCU (5-4, 3-3 Big 12) hand Baylor its worst home loss since 2005. It came on a day when the Bears wore all-black uniforms, as selected by the seniors, and there were black T-shirts sold outside supporting former coach Art Briles.Its tough. You dont ever see anybody going through what were kind of going through, but we cant use that as an excuse, quarterback Seth Russell said. We cant let those outside things influence us in one way or another.The Bears (6-2, 3-2 Big 12, No. 17 CFP) have lost consecutive games since a 6-0 start. TCU entered the game after losing back-to-back games for the first time since 2013.`I was surprised today, to be honest with you, acting head coach Jim Grobe said. But I think that once you have a couple tough losses like we have had the last two times out, I think it may be a little bit easier to just start playing football.Tomlinson set TCUs school record with six TDs in November 1999, when he ran for 406 yards against UTEP in what was then the single-game major college record.Both teams scored touchdowns in the first minute of the game, evoking thoughts of a sequel to the 61-58 game two years ago when Baylor handed TCU its only loss that season.After Seth Russell threw an 81-yard TD pass to Ishmael Zamora on the second play of the game, Kenny Hill hit Taj Williams for a 37-yard score on TCUs second play.That was the first of 31 consecutive points for the Horned Frogs, including two touchdowns in 7 seconds in Baylors most lopsided loss at home since 62-0 to Texas 11 years ago.Ranthony Texada returned an interception 28 yards for a score to make it 31-7 early in the second quarter. Then came the tackle-breaking 22-yard TD by Hicks, who was a game-time decision a week after hurting his ankle on the opening series in a double-overtime loss to Texas Tech.I thought about (a five-TD game) a lot, but I never thought about coming out on a stage like this and being able to perform like this, Hicks said. It was just great blocking by my offensive line and my wide receivers downfield blocking.THE TAKEAWAYTCU: QB Kenny Hill responded nicely from being replaced midgame a week earlier, throwing for 244 yards and running for 85 more. Pattersons team got a much-needed boost in their quest to get bowl eligible, now needing only one more win their last three games.Baylor: After all the issues off the field, things could now be crumbling on the field. The Bears were completely dominated in this game after the quick-strike start, and still have games left at No. 12 Oklahoma and No. 14 West Virginia. There were also reports that running back Shock Linwood shoved an assistant coach on the sideline.SCARY MOMENTTCU defensive end Tipa Galeai was taken off the field immobilized on a stretcher. He had collapsed on the sideline not long after being involved in a tackle. TCU officials said after the game that he was conscious and alert when taken to a hospital as a precaution.POLL IMPLICATIONSThe Bears will fall hard in the AP Top 25 following their second consecutive loss since peaking at No. 8, and could conceivably drop all the way out of the poll.UP NEXTTCU has an open date before hosting No. 22 Oklahoma State on Nov. 19.Baylor goes to 12th-ranked and Big 12-leading Oklahoma next Saturday.---More AP college football at www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25. Stitched Royals Jerseys . Spiller left Week 3s 27-20 loss to the New York Jets with a thigh injury, but fully practiced with the team all week and expects to be ready to go on Sunday. Kansas City Royals Shirts .5 million, one-year contract on Friday. Hawkins, who turns 41 in December, will compete with Rex Brothers for the closers role at spring training. https://www.cheaproyals.com/ . Catch all the action on TSN2 at 11pm et/8pm pt. The nine-time Big 12 champion Jayhawks are positioning themselves for another title, as they have run out to a flawless 6-0 mark in conference play thus far. Kansas City Royals Store . The team says the Spain international has a muscle pull in his right leg. Barcelona hosts third-division side Cartagena in the return leg of their round-of-32 tie after winning their first meeting 4-1. Royals Jerseys 2020 . The 43-year-old closer, in his 19th and final big league season, has said hed like to play the outfield. Yankees manager Joe Girardi says hes thinking about allowing Rivera to do it this weekend, when the Yankees finish their season with a three-game series at the Houston Astros. TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Speaking about a former teammate who had just ended her season Sunday, Monica Abbott described Chicago Bandits veteran Danielle Zymkowitz as a rallier.As in, one who rallies those around her.The qualities Abbott was talking about make the longest-serving player on the Chicago roster -- now in her sixth season in a league when making it half that long makes a player grizzled -- an important part of the culture of a franchise that annually punches above its supposed weight.She has been there before. The Bandits have been there before.And it is a franchise that is at it again after its 11-5 win against the top-seeded USSSA Pride leveled the best-of-three National Pro Fastpitch championship series and set up a winner-take-all finale in a softball rivalry every bit as special as that between the United States and Japan or Arizona and UCLA.What Zymkowitz began with a bloop single over the head of the shortstop in the bottom of the fourth inning, veteran teammate Brittany Cervantes completed with a much longer but no less arcing home run off the light pole in left field in the sixth inning. From the brink of elimination, the Bandits won by scoring more runs than any team scored against the Pride this season.The Bandits finished the regular season with a losing record, a rarity for them. They werent supposed to win a semifinal series against the ScrapYard Dawgs, the team that signed away Abbott this spring. But here the Bandits are on level footing with the Pride with one game left in the season, the same two teams left to settle a championship for the sixth time in the past seven years.You asked who would we rather face, the Prides Megan Wiggins said. In all honesty I would have rather faced ScrapYard because I know the type of team [the Bandits] are. It doesnt matter the opponent that theyre playing, it doesnt matter the pitcher that theyre facing.She should know. She was the thorn in the Prides side when she played for the Bandits.For the fourth time in as many postseason games, the Bandits scored first. With one out in the bottom of the third inning, Taylor Edwards drilled a pitch deep into the Tuscaloosa night for a home run. If the lead was familiar territory to the Bandits, it was unfamiliar to the Pride, their first deficit of the playoffs. It didnt seem to bother the best lineup in the league. The Pride rallied for two runs in the top of the fourth to take the lead.But instead of the beginning of the end for the team that presumably needed every break to fall its way, the Bandits made it the beginning of the fun. They answered the Prides runs with five of their own in the bottom of the fourth inning, Zymkowitzs bloop preceding, in due time, Jill Barretts three-run home run that pushed the lead to 6-2.The Pride answered again in the top of the fifth inning to cut the lead to 6-5. And again the Bandits answered in kind. Zymkowitz lined a double in the bottom of the inning that was the first step toward two more runs and an 8-5 lead. This time the see-saw never budged. The Pride went quietly in the top of the sixth inning, and Cervantes three-run home run in the bottom of that inning provided the exclamation mark.The Pride lineup Monday night included hitters ranked first, sixth, eighth and 15th in NCAA career home runs. That list didnt even include former Olympian Kelly Kretschman, the NPF MVP this season. Or Wiggins, a former MVP and an all-league selection the past six seasons who made the rich richer when she moved.In Zymkowitz and Cervantes, the Bandits lineup had at its heart two veterans who went undrafted and made the team by way of open tryouts in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Coach Michael Steuerwald said 45 players might show up for those annual tryouts, more than half of them former Division I players. Out of that mass, the team miight find one or two who could help.ddddddddddddNo team more consistently finds talent that others overlooked, Zymkowitz and Cervantes the descendants of former finds like Amber Patton and Tammy Williams. And the former pair may, in turn, hand over that mantle to the likes of Megan Blank, the former Iowa standout who signed with the Bandits out of a tryout a year ago and had two hits and an RBI in Mondays game.I think everyone knows the level of talent across the country is incredible, Steuerwald said. Theres girls that arent playing in this league that could be and should be. And hopefully they have more opportunities as years come along. But for us, its a huge thing. We look at players that might not be drafted. For Cerv, [Kentucky] sent up film of her and we said Hey, can we get her to tryouts. The story isnt always exactly the same -- rookie pitcher Shelby Turnier, so poised in relief in both this game and the elimination game a day earlier against ScrapYard, was a prized second-round pick, as was starting pitcher Michelle Gascoigne in 2014. Barrett was a fourth-round find, but it was Akron that found her. The Bandits paid a first-round price to acquire her last fall.But the essence of the Bandits is in stories like those of Cervantes and Zymkowitz. Always in the shadow of the Pride, the Bandits perpetually play with something to prove. The entire first round that was selected in the 2012 draft is now out of the league. Cervantes has another game to play Tuesday.Cervantes played sparingly as a rookie in 2012. She recorded just 50 at-bats and eight hits for the summer. But the talent that made her one of the best run producers in the SEC matured in the professional game. She was the NPF offensive player of the year a season ago and ranks fourth in the league in on-base percentage this season. She is one of the best hitters in the world and has looked the part here with eight hits in five postseason games.After our final game [at Kentucky], I knew I wasnt done yet, Cervantes said. Even though I knew I wasnt playing [as an NPF rookie], I knew I was getting better, just by watching the people above me, like Vicky Galindo, Tammy, Amber, Shannon [Doepking] and Monica. Everybody was still helping me become a better player. Its fun to see the hard work kind of pay off.She and the Bandits manage a difficult balancing act, playing with a chip on their shoulders without seeming churlish. She used the word fun, and that genuinely seems to describe them. Steuerwald said this particular group was the most fun he has been around in Chicago -- even when it wasnt winning or playing particularly well early this year.But there is also an edge to them. Cervantes said the bat flip that followed a Wiggins home run in the opening game of the title series wasnt a source of motivation, but she made clear that there was some extra motivation stoking a rivalry that already burned hot.So often, too often and too easily, the lament is offered about womens sports that there arent enough upsets, there isnt enough parity. It is too often Serena Williams or the Connecticut womens basketball team marching to titles.The naysayers should take the time to watch the finale in Tuscaloosa on Tuesday night.There will be a great team that should win. There will be another team that believes it will win.And which team does is anyones guess. Like any real rivalry.Some of our vets have played in three, four championship series now, so theyre not scared of the situation, Steuerwald said. But at the same time, I think if you asked everyone in the softball world should we be going to Game 3 against the Pride tomorrow night, you probably would have won a lot of money in Vegas. ' ' '