In brief: Lauren Haeger guides Florida to Women’s College World Series title

Softball: Florida got everything right – except its championship celebration.

As the Gators reveled in their second straight national softball title following their 4-1 win over Michigan on Wednesday night at Oklahoma City, Lauren Haeger and coach Tim Walton participated in postgame interviews. Two players tried to douse them with Gatorade, but the bucket was too heavy. They ended up just getting Walton’s ankles.

The resilient Gators even recovered from that. Well after the game ended, Florida’s huddled in the circle, swayed back and forth in unison and sang, “We Are the Champions.”

Haeger capped one of the most dominant careers in women’s college softball by giving up just five hits and striking out five. She became the third player to be both national player of the year and the most outstanding player at the Women’s College World Series. She hit .571 in the World Series with three home runs, seven RBIs and six walks in six games. As a pitcher, she went 4-1 and allowed just six earned runs in 36 innings.

“When you work hard, good things happen to you,” she said. “I’m so thankful to be a Gator. It’s been a great time.”

Florida became just the third program to repeat as champion, and the first since Arizona in 2006-07. The Gators came back after losing 1-0 on Tuesday.

“We used it as motivation,” Haeger said. “We realized this isn’t going to be handed to us and we really needed to work hard. Michigan is a great team. And we just had a different attitude today. You could see it in our eyes. You could see it in each other. You could hear it in our conversations. We were a different team. We were who we are today. And I couldn’t be more proud of my teammates.”

After the final out, the players threw their gloves up in the air, and Haeger jumped up and down excitedly in the pitcher’s circle before she was rushed and the team formed a pile.

Justine McLean had two hits and Taylor Schwarz knocked in two runs for Florida (60-7).

• Women’s CWS sets attendance, TV records: The Women’s College World Series set an all-time attendance record this year and has set television viewership marks.

Total attendance was 78,078, including four of the top 10 sessions. The previous record of 75,960 was set in 2012.

The event also has generated higher TV ratings than usual.

ESPN says Game 1 of the series was the most watched for a first game with more than 1.5 million viewers. Game 2 got a 1.2 overnight rating, the highest for a college softball game in eight years.

Morgan returns to practice

Soccer: Alex Morgan was back for the U.S. national team’s first practice in Canada in preparation for the Women’s World Cup.

Morgan had been limited in practice and held out of the team’s last three matches as a precaution because of a bone bruise in her left knee. During the brief part of training open to the media at Winnipeg, Manitoba, Morgan appeared agile.

Morgan has 51 goals and 32 assists in 84 international appearances.

The tournament opens on Saturday with host Canada’s group stage match against China. The United States opens play on Monday against Australia.

• Real Madrid hires Benitez: Real Madrid hired Rafa Benitez as its new coach to replace the fired Carlo Ancelotti.

Benitez, who began his coaching career in Madrid’s youth academy, will return to the Spanish league where he led Valencia to two titles in 2002 and 2004 before joining Liverpool, where he won the 2005 Champions League.

• Portugal, Mexico win: Portugal swept imperiously into the knockout rounds of the Under-20 World Cup with a 4-0 win over Qatar, while Mexico revived its campaign after a woeful opening match by defeating Uruguay 2-1 at Wellington, New Zealand.

Castroneves’ penalty reduced

Motor sports: IndyCar reduced a penalty levied against Helio Castroneves from eight points to three for triggering an accident on the first lap of the Grand Prix of Indianapolis last month.

• NASCAR fines drivers: NASCAR fined two drivers for walking across the race track at Dover last weekend.

Trevor Bayne was fined $20,000 and placed on probation for the rest of the year for walking across the racing surface on Sunday. Jennifer Jo Cobb was fined $5,000 and placed on probation through Dec. 31 for doing the same thing during Friday’s Truck Series race.

LSU takes NCAA golf title

Miscellany: Ben Taylor made a tricky 8-foot par putt on the 18th hole at Bradenton, Florida, to give LSU its first NCAA golf championship in 60 years.

The Tigers beat Southern California 4-1 at The Concession Golf Club for their fifth team title and first since 1955.

• Texas president says open beer taps: New University of Texas President Greg Fenves said he is in favor of allowing beer sales at football games to enhance the fan experience.

Texas began selling beer at other athletic events at the urging of athletic director Steve Patterson in 2014, but not at football games.

Fenves said school officials have studied beer sales and found no security problems at other events.

• Virginia QB transfers to Georgia: Virginia graduate Greyson Lambert said he’s transferring to Georgia, where he will join a three-man race for the starting job. He started nine games last season, but lost his starting job in the spring.

• Salazar accused of violating anti-doping rules: Long-distance running coach Alberto Salazar’s former assistant is among those accusing the American of violating anti-doping rules and encouraging doping by one of his top runners, Olympic silver medalist Galen Rupp.

In a story by ProPublica and BBC, former Salazar assistant Steve Magness accused Salazar of using doping practices for his athletes at the Nike Oregon Project.

The story quoted both Salazar and Rupp as denying any wrongdoing.

The story said U.S. Olympic distance runner Kara Goucher and at least six other former Salazar athletes and staff members have gone to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency with their concerns.