A Grip on Sports: On this Monday morning, why not highlight a few challenges in baseball, a couple comebacks and some streaking?

A GRIP ON SPORTS • What am I thinking about as another Monday hits us square in the face like an old Soupy Sales gag? Brooms. Comebacks. Streaks. Challenges. And bridges. Long bridges.

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• Might as well get to those subjects in order. Even if some of them are related in a second-cousin type of way.

Like ABS challenges and Rob Refsnyder’s go-ahead home run Sunday in St. Louis. A ninth-inning solo shot that supplied the margin in Seattle’s 3-2 win. A home run that, a month ago or so, would not have happened, as Refsnyder had to challenge umpire John Bacon’s strike three call on a pitch that was in the left-handed batter’s box – the seventh time in the game a Bacon call was overturned by the camera system.

The home run also gave the Mariners their first road sweep of the season, following a 3-2 win Friday, an 11-9 one Saturday and the bullpen-sparked Sunday victory.

• About 250 miles west, the down-on-their-luck Kansas City Royals used their Sunday game against the Angels to recharge what has been a dull season. Actually, they used the whole weekend as they swept, allowing the M’s to leapfrog their A.L. West rival in the standings.

But that seemed out of reach after two innings Sunday. Los Angeles scored six times in the first two and Reid Detmers was cruising on the mound to start the fifth. Then the Royals scored. A run. A couple more came in the sixth. And now the Angels were using their bullpen.

A bullpen that did just fine until the bottom of the ninth. The score then was 8-5 and Brett Suter was trying for a four-out save. He didn’t get it. Kansas City rallied for three, including a two-run, two-out, pinch-hit game-tying home run from Jac Caglianone.

The Angels scored in the top of the 10th. The Royals? Another comeback. Lane Thomas’ two-out 407-foot bomb to left center – his first homer of the season and the 77th of his eight-year career – did the trick, scoring giving KC an 11-9 win worth celebrating.

• Did you know Stanford has won at least one NCAA title in each of the past 50 years? That was so long ago, when it started, my name actually appeared on a lineup card in a game against the school. The year before the streak began. And I’ll turn 70 in October.

That’s a long time. And I’ll make a prediction. It’s a record that will never be broken, though someone else will have to follow along to see if that’s true. After all, the second-longest active streak is North Carolina, with seven. And there is no evidence the Cardinal tennis or water polo or soccer or, as just happened, men’s gymnastics teams are slowing down just yet.

Sure, maybe the NCAA will be out of business soon and the streak will end. But if UNC wins one title each year for four consecutive decades, it will still fall short.

• There’s another streak going on locally, though it’s quite a bit shorter. Gonzaga’s baseball team won for the 14th consecutive time Sunday, the longest in the country this season.

Such streaks are tough in baseball. And the Zags’ will be challenged Tuesday when they travel to Eugene for a nonconference matchup with the 19th-ranked Ducks.

• If you watch as many Mariner games – or more – than I do, you might have noticed Cal Raleigh doesn’t seem to be among the best judges of when to challenge ball/strike calls. Though he’s not alone.

My theory? He’s blind as a bat. Wait, that’s not it. That’s the guy just behind him (see above, vis-à-vis Refsnyder). Raleigh may be too good at framing pitches. In the first month of baseball’s challenge system, the better framers have not done well in challenges. Which may just help in baseball, down the road, actually entering the 21st Century for good, allowing the system to call all pitches.

• One last, non-sports-related thought – though I can make it one if you want.

Remember how five paragraphs above I mentioned North Carolina and the chances of breaking the 50-year streak of Stanford national titles? And how it would take four decades to get it done?

Big deal.

Spokane’s North/South Freeway has been planned for as many years as I’ve been on this planet. Yep, planning began around 1956. And it’s still not done. But Cannon Barnett’s story today about construction on another section getting going in June gives me hope.

Hope that’s I’ll be able to drive the completed freeway at some point in my life. If I still have a license.

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WSU: John Canzano once again looks at the changing nature of the athletic director position. And he uses the newest one in the Pac-12, Washington State’s Jon Haarlow, to illustrate his thoughts. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, it’s true. Recruiting never stops. Not for Oregon football. … There are least 10 takeaways to be had from Oregon State’s spring game Saturday. … It seems as if UCLA is transforming this spring. … Arizona hopes it has successfully transformed to a new secondary. … In basketball news, who are the best women’s teams now the transfer portal has closed to new entrants? Here’s one opinion. … The Colorado men still have roster holes to fill. … USC seems to have cleaned up in the portal market.

Gonzaga: Have we mentioned before recruiting never stops? Especially when you need to improve your 3-point shooting and the best player in the portal grew up in Sunnyside, Wash. Theo Lawson has this story on the Zags’ talking with Ethan Copeland, who left Stetson for the portal. … The baseball streak we covered briefly above? Colton Clark has more in his weekly college roundup. … Former GU star Courtney Vandersloot is not just a player with the Chicago Sky these days. She’s the voice of the franchise.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, we said yesterday we don’t mention softball much, mainly because the local schools don’t participate. Or maybe it’s because we hate making mistakes. Either way, what we wrote Sunday about the winner of the Montana vs. Idaho State game headed to the NCAA tourney? Forget it. The game, won 8-2 by the visiting Bengals, decided the regular season title. The NCAA berth will be on the line in the conference tournament. … Montana State capped spring on Saturday with the Sunny Holland Classic.

Whitworth: The Pirates won the women’s Northwest Conference track and field title Sunday, ending George Fox’s streak of eight consecutive crowns. John Blanchette was as the Whitworth-hosted meet and has this story.

Indians: A day after snapping its six-game losing streak, Spokane won again. Sunday the final was 7-6. Dave Nichols has the coverage. … The Rockies are much improved this season. They just swept the Mets. And former Spokane pitcher Chase Dollander had a big role.

Zephyr: Spokane’s 3-1 win at ONE Spokane Stadium on Sunday not only kept it in the playoff hunt but eliminated the Fort Lauderdale United from the USL Super League postseason.

Seahawks: The Hawks added a lot in the draft but still did not address one major issue. Depth off the edge. … How do others see Seattle’s draft? It’s a mixed bag. … How about the draft overall? Same thing.

Mariners: Another big deal for Seattle in the 3-2 win? Jose A. Ferrer, who closed much of last season for the Nationals, picked up the save. The lefty has shown he can do that and, with Andres Muñoz unavailable, had a 1-2-3 ninth. … Josh Naylor had to sit Sunday with a new injury.

World Cup: The World Cup is a big deal. Egypt training in Spokane is a big deal. But it’s not the only time local soccer fans lock in to watch international soccer. Watching the world’s best leagues are part of the area’s soccer culture, as Mitchell Roland covers in this story.

Running: A less-then-2-hour marathon? It can be done in competition. Two runners Sunday in London proved it.

Reign: Maybe the Reign should have continued playing in Spokane. Not only did they lose their first game at Lumen Field this season, 2-1 to Salt Lake, one of their players had to be stretchered off with an injury.

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• If you have a chance, take a look at the artist’s rendition above of the freeway bridge that needs to be constructed to connect the completed parts of the North/South Freeway with Trent Ave. (And if you have no idea of what that means, think a bridge going over the main industrial and rail hubs of your community.) It’s going to be a massive undertaking. Until later …