KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Four-time Australian World Series Sprintcars titlist James McFadden won a barnburner on Iowa Corn Districts 5 and 9 Night No. 2 of the MyPlace Hotels Knoxville 360 Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank Friday night at Knoxville Raceway.

McFadden took home $3,000 for his first career win at Knoxville, as well as with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series aboard the Kasey Kahne Racing No. 9m. He also locked himself into Saturday night’s main event pole position alongside Joey Saldana.

Blake Hahn brushed the turn one wall after the green flag waved, bringing out the caution.  Davey Heskin led the field when the green fell again, ahead of Harli White, Brian Brown, Colby Copeland and Gio Scelzi.  Scelzi moved into fourth on the second lap, followed by McFadden.

Brown reeled in White for second, and he and Scelzi shot by for second and third on lap nine. The leaders were in lapped traffic by the tenth circuit, and McFadden used the bottom to gain fourth.

The next five laps saw racing for the lead.  With five laps to go, a blanket could be thrown over Heskin, Brown and Scelzi. On the 17th lap, Brown moved into the lead, with McFadden shooting under Scelzi on the backstretch.

Scelzi gained momentum again heading into three and hopped the left rear of McFadden’s car, sending him careening into the wall. The caution negated Brown’s pass for the lead, so Heskin led Brown, McFadden, Paul McMahan and Saldana back to green.

A three-car battle for the lead commenced on the restart, with McFadden battling to the fore heading into turn three. Brown moved into the runner-up spot, while Saldana advanced to fourth. Saldana gained third from Heskin with two to go.

Austin McCarl, who started 14th, came on strong late in the event, advancing as far as third, but Saldana got back by him at the line.  McFadden’s win came ahead of Brown, Saldana, Austin McCarl and Heskin.

Saldana set quick time over the field.

“We stuck to the bottom there, and tried to roll it as good as we could,” said McFadden. “(Heskin) kind of missed the bottom there, and it was enough to get by him. We’ve struggled here at Knoxville the last couple of weeks, so it’s good to get a win. It’s a big confidence booster going into tomorrow night. I came off the bottom and had a big push (when he passed Gio). I about ran into (Heskin), and I felt a nudge. I didn’t know if it was my fault. I apologize to Gio if it was my fault. I didn’t feel like I could see him, so I’m not sure.”

“I just kind of guessed wrong there on the last restart,” said Brown. “I didn’t want to see the yellow, because I had gotten by Davey. I just guessed wrong. I was going to go where Davey didn’t, but he blocked enough of the bottom and kind of shut my line down there. I tried to get around the outside, but James what he needed to do and stuck the bottom like a champion. He’s a heck of wheelman.”

“The driver didn’t show up until the end,” said Saldana. “The car had really good speed.  I was just making mistakes. You can’t make mistakes. You have to be perfect. Luckily, we had that restart at the end, and I hit the bottom. I almost gave third away. Hopefully, I can learn from tonight and be a little better tomorrow.”

The finish:

Feature (20 Laps): 1. James McFadden (7); 2. Brian Brown (5); 3. Joey Saldana (8); 4. Austin McCarl (14); 5. Davey Heskin (2); 6. Paul McMahan (6); 7. Clint Garner (18); 8. Matt Juhl (22); 9. Colby Copeland (4); 10. Terry McCarl (9); 11. Harli White (1); 12. Josh Baughman (17); 13. Jon Agan (10); 14. Jason Solwold (13); 15. Blake Hahn (12); 16. Kyle Bellm (19); 17. Roger Crockett (20); 18. Christian Bowman (11); 19. Matt Moro (24); 20. AJ Moeller (16); 21. Scott Bogucki (21); 22. Ayrton Gennetten (23); 23. Gio Scelzi (3); 24. Kaleb Johnson (15). Lap Leaders: Heskin 1-16, McFadden 17-20. Hard-charger: Juhl.

PEVELY, Mo. — Leading all 35 laps of the Night Before the Ironman feature at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 Friday night, Brad Sweet rolled into victory lane for the first time at the quarter-mile track.

It was his 12^thWorld of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory of the season.

“Pevely is a really awesome race track,” Sweet said. “I remember the first time I came here I was just in awe of the place. I’ve led a lot of laps here. I either stuff it in the fence or we got beat at the end. It’s nice to get the first one out of the way.”

Hunter Schuerenburg started on the pole after winning his Drydene Heat race and the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash and rocketed to the lead on the initial start. However, he hit the launch button too early. That forced the race to be restarted with Donny Schatz moved up to the front row and Schuerenburg moved behind him in the second row.

The front row was now Schatz and Sweet — the top two in the point standings. The two have been almost inseparable on the race track, having to race each other for position every week.

Schatz darted to the lead on the restart. Going into turn one, he chose low, while Sweet chose high.

The Toco Warranty No. 15 car slid up the track exiting turn two, allowing the NAPA Auto Parts No. 49 of Sweet to charge off the high side and bolt underneath Schatz down the backstretch.

Sweet then launched his car into turn three, sliding past Schatz and up in front of him exiting turn four. Like Sweet’s corner before, Schatz had the momentum on the high side and snuck underneath Sweet for a drag race down the front straightaway. The lap went to Sweet, but only by inches.

The 10-time series champion went side-by-side with Sweet into turn one and, again, was beat by the speed Sweet could maintain running the high line. Sweet’s lead went from inches to feet to yards over the reigning champion. Schuerenburg also pulled a slide job on Schatz to take second the next lap.

Five laps into the race, the first caution came out for Joe B. Miller coming to a stop on the track. On the restart, Schuerenburg went for the lead, attempting to pull off a slide job on Sweet into the first corner. However, his dive bomb was still not enough to clear Sweet before the No. 49 charged off the turn with a head of stream around the high side.

Before being able to get into a rhythm, the caution came out again. This time for Cale Thomas landing on his side in turn four.

When the green flag flew again, Sweet wasted no time stretching his lead over Schuerenburg. Schatz found his way around the No. 11 for second-place the next lap, too.

The top three remained in their running order for the remainder of the first half of the race. Behind them, though, Logan Schuchart and Sheldon Haudenschild were making their trek to the front. By the halfway point, Schuchart found his was to fourth – from fifth — and Haudenschild fifth — from eighth.

After a caution at the halfway point, both Schuchart and Haudenschild made their way by Schuerenburg to move up a position. Haudenschild didn’t just use his run to put Schuerenburg, behind him, though. He threw a daring slider at Schuchart into turn one and made it work. With 16 laps to go, he found himself in third and closing on second-place Schatz.

With 12 laps to go, Haudenschild threw a slide job at Schatz in turns three and four, and again made it work. Schatz couldn’t make the top work as well as Sweet and Haudenschild to challenge for the position back.

“Trying to hit a little one-inch spot with your right rear… is tough to do,” Schatz said. “Obviously, Brad and Sheldon are good at that kind of stuff. Me, I try to stay in a little bit more control.”

With Schatz behind him, the Wooster, Ohio-native was now in second-place and eager to hunt down his second win of the season.

Traffic plagued Sweet’s quest for victory. The slower cars forced him to move around and break out of his rhythm to find his way around them. That allowed Haudenschild to slowly work his way toward Sweet.

Haudenschild had Sweet in sight with five laps to. But Sweet was strong every time he ran the high side, able to carry enough momentum around the track to leave a few cars lengths distance between he and the NOS Energy Drink No. 17 car.

With three laps to go Haudenschild was building a run to catch Sweet. However, before he could fully execute on it, the caution came out for Carson Macedo flipping in turn two.

On the final restart, Sweet chose the middle of the track in the first corner, trying to block a big run by Haudenschild. It worked. The Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall driver looked underneath Sweet, but couldn’t put anything together to challenge him in the remaining laps.

“I thought with the restart we would have a little bit better of a shot,” Haudenschild said. “I knew I was running out of laps there. I didn’t really care either way with the caution or not. Brad was a little bit better than us. I feel like I got by Donny at the right time to make some ground up on Brad, but just finished second.”

Sweet sped off to his first Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 win and 46th career win.

“The restarts were making me the most nervous,” Sweet said. “Didn’t know if I should be choosing the bottom or the top, you’re just real vulnerable into (turn) one there. Kind of found that line where I was driving across into one and felt a little better about the restarts. I could get to the cushion off (turn) two and as long as I could get a good run, I felt like I was pretty good on top of turns three and four.”

Rico Abreu won the companion POWRi midget feature.

To see full results, turn to the next page.

Jurgen Klopp has questioned the Premier League's start date and the effect it could have on his Liverpool players.

Liverpool's season begins on Sunday when they take on Manchester City in the Community Shield and Klopp's side have the chance to win an unprecedented amount of silverware this season as they take part in seven competitions. Following the Community Shield, Liverpool begin their Premier League campaign against Norwich on Friday before facing Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup five days later on Aug. 14.

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The Premier League, along with Ligue 1, is the first major domestic top-flight to start its season next weekend, with the German Bundesliga kicking off on Aug. 16, La Liga on Aug. 17 and Serie A a week later.

"I don't know why we start that early," said Klopp, whose side could win the Community Shield, UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup, Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup this season.

Klopp also highlighted the workload of his players after a FIFPro report said the health of some top players is "at risk" and recommended "mandatory offseason breaks of four weeks."

This summer several Liverpool players have competed in international competitions with Sadio Mane part of the Senegal squad that finished runners-up in the Africa Cup of Nations on July 19 and Alisson winning the Copa America with Brazil on July 7.

"I spoke to [Napoli manager] Carlo Ancelotti," Klopp added. "Italy has 20 teams as well [like the Premier League] and starts its season on Aug. 24.

"Kalidou Koulibaly played with Sadio at the African Cup of Nations. He has four weeks' holiday and is not even close to coming back.

"I don't know why we start that early. The Premier League is such a wonderful product. It doesn't make sense.

"I love football. From my point of view we can play each week but somebody has to think about the players and nobody is doing it.

"From time to time I start a discussion but then it's like 'he's looking for excuses.' I don't, especially not for me, but we have to think about these things and nobody, especially in England, is thinking about it.

"The clubs want us to go on tours. With who? We can't go alone. These are the situations."

Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has called Harry Maguire a "special player" they do not want to lose but said they have no choice after Manchester United met their valuation.

On Friday, United agreed an £80 million deal with Leicester to sign the 26-year-old England international and Maguire is expected to agree personal terms and complete a medical over the weekend.

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"The clubs have agreed [a fee] and there's still some work for it to go through. There's still a bit to go in terms of Harry's medical and whatever personal things to sort out, but it is what it is," Rodgers said after Leicester's 2-1 win over Atalanta in a preseason friendly on Friday.

The deal would make Maguire the most expensive defender in the world, surpassing the £75m Liverpool paid Southampton for Virgil van Dijk last year.

"I think it's an incredible piece of business," he added "This is a guy [Maguire] that knows there has been interest all through the summer and he's been super professional. He's been with his teammates right the way through and been a really, really good guy.

"He's a special player, he's not a player that we would want to lose. But obviously any player will have a valuation and if ever that is met then of course there's a discussion between clubs and whether the player wants to stay or go."

Last year Maguire, who helped England reach the World Cup semifinals, signed a contract extension at Leicester until 2023. He played 31 league games last term, scoring three goals.

PASADENA, Calif. -- Alex Morgan won't be on the field when the United States women's national team plays Ireland on Saturday in its first game since winning the World Cup. But the American co-captain plans to be there in 2023, chasing an unprecedented third title.

"For me, I want another World Cup," Morgan said when asked about options beyond the field. "[Life after soccer is] not super soon. Four more years!"

Morgan talked about her future in the fourth and final episode of her ESPN+ series Alex Morgan: The Equalizer, which is currently streaming exclusively on ESPN.com and the ESPN App.

No women's player has won three World Cups, although Morgan will likely have some company among U.S. holdovers from the 2015 and 2019 teams in 2023.

The Silver Boot winner in the most recent World Cup, Morgan matched teammate Megan Rapinoe for the tournament lead with six goals (ceding the Golden Boot to Rapinoe on a tiebreaker). But the last of those goals came in a semifinal win against England on her 30th birthday. That left at least some degree of ambiguity about the future for a player who has already played in three World Cups and absorbed a significant amount of physical punishment from opposing defenses intent on slowing down the U.S. by slowing down its center forward.

Morgan will turn 34 in 2023. That is the same birthday Rapinoe celebrated during this year's tournament, en route to winning the Golden Ball as the most outstanding player. And it's roughly one year older than Carli Lloyd and Japan's Homare Sawa were when they won the same award in the 2015 and 2011 World Cups, respectively.

Earlier this year, Morgan became the seventh American woman to score 100 career international goals and the third youngest after Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach. She is tied with Michelle Akers for fifth in U.S. history with 107 goals. Scoring 78 more goals to pass Wambach as the all-time leading American goal scorer will be a challenge -- with Canada's Christine Sinclair likely to soon pass Wambach and put the overall record out of reach -- but Morgan is 52 goals from passing Hamm for sole possession of second, an attainable total for a four-year stretch.

Morgan won't play Saturday because of what U.S. coach Jill Ellis said was discretion with a minor undisclosed injury from the World Cup, but the forward looked close to game form as she ran on the Rose Bowl field during practice. She will soon return for the NWSL's Orlando Pride. And it sounds like she will be around the U.S. lineup for quite some time.

"I just look at continuing to play on top of my game [and] bring home more medals," Morgan said. "There's really no end point in sight. I feel like I'm still pretty young and have a lot more to offer."

SHE LEFT WITH the clothes on her back, a long blue dress and a pair of shoes she'd never wear again. It was June 8, 1991, a Saturday morning, and Shelly Pennefather was starting a new life. She posed for a group photo in front of her parents' tidy brick home in northern Virginia, and her family scrunched in around her and smiled.

All six of her brothers and sisters were there -- Little Therese, in braided pigtails; older brother Dick, tall and athletic with Kennedyesque looks. When Shelly came to her decision, she insisted on telling each of them separately.

Dick had the loosest lips in the family, so she'd told him last. Therese, 12 years old and the baby of the family, took the news particularly hard. She put on a brave face in front of Shelly, then cried all night.

They crammed a lot of memories into those last days of spring, dancing and laughing, knowing they would never do it together again. Shelly went horseback riding with Therese and took the family to fancy restaurants with cloth napkins, picking up all the tabs.

Twenty-five years old and not far removed from her All-America days at Villanova, Pennefather was in her prime. She had legions of friends and a contract offer for $200,000 to play basketball in Japan that would have made her one of the richest players in women's basketball.

And children -- she was so good with children. She had talked about having lots of them with John Heisler, a friend she'd known most of her life. Heisler nearly proposed to her twice, but something inside stopped him, and he never bought a ring.

"When she walked into the room," Heisler said, "the whole room came alive.

"She had a cheerfulness and a confidence that everything was going to be OK. That there was nothing to fear."

That Saturday morning in 1991, Pennefather drove her Mazda 323 to the Monastery of the Poor Clares in Alexandria, Virginia. She loved to drive. Fifteen cloistered nuns waited for her in two lines, their smiles radiant.

She turned to her family.

"I love you all," she said.

The door closed, and Shelly Pennefather was gone.

"The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings." -- J.M. Barrie, "The Little White Bird."

IT'S BEEN 28 YEARS since Pennefather left home to become Sister Rose Marie of the Queen of Angels, and I'm standing outside the family's house in Manassas, Virginia, on a warm June day, searching for answers.

I spent eight years in Catholic schools, with lessons in history from Sister Agnes Marie and kindness from Sister Rosetta. We knew that on Sundays, if you're breathing, you'd better be at Mass.

But I cannot grasp what Pennefather -- now Sister Rose Marie -- has chosen to do. The Poor Clares are one of the strictest religious orders in the world. They sleep on straw mattresses, in full habit, and wake up every night at 12:30 a.m. to pray, never resting more than four hours at a time. They are barefoot 23 hours of the day, except for the one hour in which they walk around the courtyard in sandals.

They are cut off from society. Sister Rose Marie will never leave the monastery, unless there's a medical emergency. She'll never call or email or text anyone, either. The rules seem so arbitrarily harsh. She gets two family visits per year, but converses through a see-through screen. She can write letters to her friends, but only if they write to her first. And once every 25 years, she can hug her family.

That's why we are here in early June 2019, to witness the 25-year anniversary of her solemn profession and the renewal of her vows.

The Poor Clare nuns enter this radical way of life because they believe that their prayers for humanity will help the suffering, and that their sacrifice will lead to the salvation of the world.

But why would someone with so much to offer the world lock herself away and hide her talents? Who, staring at a professional contract that would be worth the equivalent of about $400,000 today, would subject herself to such strict isolation and sacrifice? Imagine Kansas legend Danny Manning quitting basketball to become a monk.

Perhaps the best person to answer this is the woman who stood next to Shelly in that goodbye photo in front of the house, who wrapped her arm around her daughter and smiled while her heart must have wanted to stop.

Mary Jane Pennefather is the matriarch of the family, a 78-year-old who mows her own lawn and rises every morning to walk to church. When Shelly entered the monastery all those years ago, she left behind a note. Mary Jane is the strongest person Therese knows, but when she read the letter, she broke down and cried.

Mary Jane was a cheerleader once, but is steeped in a generation of Catholics who did not believe in drawing attention to themselves. She opens the door to her home and leads me to a room full of religious statues and images, which the family calls the Blessed Mother room. Her husband, Mike, died in this room. He had skin cancer, which had spread too far when doctors found it, but he went quickly, which Mary Jane considers a blessing. Sister Rose Marie couldn't go to her father's funeral. She was in the monastery. But she wrote a letter that they read out loud, and her brother Dick says it was probably the most touching part of the service.

Surely, Mike Pennefather had hoped to hold his daughter again on her silver jubilee. But Mary Jane would be there. The week leading up to the Mass was stressful. How do you prepare to hug your daughter for the last time?

NUNS ARE BY no means an anomaly in today's society. The 2018 Official Catholic Directory lists 45,100 sisters in the United States. But cloistered nuns, with all of their combined orders, account for only a fraction of that number. The Poor Clare Colettines, according to the directory, have about 160 sisters in this country.

There were hints, all along, that Pennefather was different.

In sixth grade, a teacher asked the class an ordinary question: What do you want to be when you grow up?

The teacher wasn't prepared for Shelly's answer.

"I'm going to be a saint," she said.

The whole class laughed, assuming she was joking. Pennefather liked to regale her friends with jokes and magic tricks.

Her childhood might have inadvertently prepared her for life as a cloistered nun. Mike Pennefather was an Air Force colonel, taking the family to Germany and Hawaii and New York, so she'd already seen a lot of the world by her 20s.

Her mom was -- and is -- about as anti-technology as a person can be in 2019. Mary Jane doesn't own a cell phone, she could go on for hours about how cell phones are destroying the human experience, and a few decades ago, she was saying pretty much the same thing about television.

Children of the '70s often have stories of their forays into alcohol or drugs; the Pennefathers' illicit pursuits centered mostly on the forbidden television. They'd wait until Mary Jane was gone, pull it out of the closet, rig up a coat hanger for an antenna, and stand in just the right spot to get reception.

"I think my sister watched 'Fantasy Island' and got caught and got in trouble," Therese said. "You had to invent your own entertainment, and we did all kinds of stupid stuff.

"I absolutely wouldn't trade any of it."

The Air Force gave the Pennefathers new playgrounds every few years, and assured that they would almost always be safe. Want to play kick the can at 11 o'clock at night? No problem. Leave the base lights on and go ahead and invite 20 other Air Force brats.

Mary Jane might have seemed strict, but Mike was actually more intimidating. He was a bear of a man with a loud voice and a physics degree. Mike Pennefather did not tolerate foolishness. He taught all seven of his children how to shoot a basketball, and when he had finished with that, he taught other people's children how to do it, too.

The Pennefathers had six children in eight years, and Shelly was born between two brothers, two basketball playmates. The elbows and charges she took made her unstoppable when she finally played against girls.

At nighttime, Mary Jane would gather the whole family together to pray the rosary. It didn't matter if it was midnight; she waited until everyone was home.

The rosary is considered one of the most powerful symbols in Catholicism. Each of the 59 beads represents a prayer. The Hail Mary is said 53 times during the rosary. The repetition is intended to bring spiritual contemplation and peace.

At the Pennefather house, after the last prayer was said, each child gave Mary Jane and Mike a kiss goodnight.

COACH HARRY PERRETTA also prayed the rosary every day, a practice that came in handy in his pursuit to lure Pennefather to Villanova. If Pennefather played today, her recruitment might have been as big as that of Breanna Stewart or Elena Delle Donne.

Pennefather went 70-0 in her first three years of high school at Bishop Machebeuf in Denver and won three state championships. When her dad was transferred to upstate New York her senior season, nothing changed. Utica's Notre Dame High went undefeated, too.

Pennefather had no interest in the recruiting process. She hated the attention that it brought, and didn't like talking on the phone. So it was hard for any coach to get a read on her. Perretta talked to her about his devotion to the Blessed Mother Mary, and they connected. She committed to Villanova, the oldest Catholic university in Pennsylvania.

Their bond was tested early. Her freshman year, they clashed constantly. "She was a very lazy basketball player at first," Perretta said. "She didn't work hard on the court when she came here."

He said it wasn't necessarily her fault; she was so good in high school that she probably didn't know what playing hard meant. But he had to get through to her. He yelled at her and kicked her out of the gym, and nothing seemed to work. In her sophomore season, Pennefather considered transferring.

She'd leave campus on weekends, seeking solace at teammate Lisa Gedaka's house in New Jersey. Gedaka, a freshman, would go back a lot because she was homesick.

"I always remember hearing about how she was searching," Gedaka said. "Was this the right place to go? What is the meaning? Why is she here? And I remember saying to her once, 'Shelly, did you ever think that maybe this is God's will that you should be with us here at Villanova? This is where you're meant to be.'"

Somehow, some way, Pennefather and Perretta finally clicked. "God gave you this gift," Perretta told her. "You're not really using it to the fullest extent."

From there, she didn't hold anything back. There was one game, junior year, when she was so overcome with menstrual cramps that they were almost debilitating. As the team left for the gym, Perretta told her to just stay at the hotel.

A couple of minutes before tipoff, Pennefather emerged from the locker room, in agony, with her sneakers still untied. "I'm going to try to play," she told him. She mustered enough strength to tie her shoes when the horn sounded. There was no time for any warm-up. She made all nine of her shots in the first half.

The Wildcats' teams in the mid-to-late 1980s were lucky. They were a collection of people who knew, when they were freshmen, that they'd stay friends forever. They demanded the best of each other.

It was a different time, before NCAA-regulated practice schedules and transfer portals. "We could say stuff to each other," said former Wildcats point guard Lynn Tighe. "If somebody was being a pain in the butt, I had no trouble telling them, and if I was a pain in the butt, I was told about it. We were open to each other, and nonsense didn't fester."

Pennefather was roommates with Tighe, and you can imagine her glee when she found out her point guard had a small television. Pennefather had one movie she would watch constantly on the VCR. "The Sound of Music." She subjected everyone to it, belting out Julie Andrews songs on the team bus.

"I wouldn't say she had a good voice," Tighe said. "But it wasn't bad. She knew every word to every one of them."

But Pennefather did have the most beautiful shooting touch in all of women's basketball. She scored 2,408 points, breaking Villanova's all-time record for women and men. She did it without the benefit of the 3-point shot, and the record still stands today.

In 1987, she won the Wade Trophy, given to the best women's college basketball player. She eventually threw away all of her trophies -- "I don't think she cared about them at all," said her sister, Therese -- but spared one, the Wade Trophy. She gave it to Perretta.

The WNBA did not exist when Pennefather graduated from Villanova, but women's professional basketball overseas offered good money. She signed with the Nippon Express in Japan, the place where her whole life would change.

The pace in Japan was much slower -- the Express played just 14 games in the span of four months -- and it jolted Pennefather. Away from her college teammates and the daily chaos of her large family, she felt homesick and alone in a faraway city. Her team started 0-5. If they finished at the bottom of the division, she would need to stay in Japan for another two months to play a series of round-robin games.

She desperately wanted to go home, and vowed that if her team could finish in the top six, allowing her to go home rather than stay those two months, she would spend that time doing volunteer work.

The Express turned their season around and finished third. Pennefather returned to the U.S. and fulfilled her promise by working in a soup kitchen at the Missionary Sisters of Charity in Norristown, Pennsylvania. In a convent full of tiny nuns, the 6-foot-1 basketball player stood out.

She felt even more out of place that next season in Japan. She did everything she could to keep busy, reading books, learning Japanese, teaching English. But Pennefather still felt a deep emptiness.

"She was forced to go into solitude," said John Heisler, her childhood friend. "There was nobody else, just her and God."

HEISLER WAS SORT of a mystery man for many years. Pennefather's teammates used to say that they thought she'd do one of two things in her life -- marry this guy she spent summers with or become a nun. But not a cloistered nun, of course.

Sports Illustrated did a story on Pennefather's rare sacrifice in the late 1990s, but Heisler's name wasn't mentioned. He was nowhere near being ready to talk about her back then.

But now Heisler is really helpful. He wants people to understand, even if he still doesn't completely get it himself.

"It's a mystery to me too about why they'd take somebody so talented, so giving, so energetic," he said. "She could help so many other young ladies to be women ... to be strong, too, in their identity. Why should she be so hidden now? I've been really thinking ... about the mystery of the stars. They're so distant, yet they're so beautiful."

They met in grade school on a base in Wiesbaden, Germany. He'd never met a girl like her --- confident yet self-effacing; strong but kind enough to defend anyone who was being picked on.

Heisler came from a large Catholic family, too. At one point, the families prayed the rosary together. They eventually were shipped to different places, but they always seemed to find each other. Heisler had three passions growing up: sports, comic books and stories about saints. He was fascinated by St. Francis of Assisi, who eventually helped St. Clare start an order called the Poor Clares.

When he got older, Heisler developed another interest: Shelly Pennefather. Heisler went on to the Air Force Academy, and one morning he woke up content with his life and the fact that he flew F15s but also plagued by one question: What if God has another plan for me?

In a move that was both bold and not very well thought out, he withdrew from his classes at the academy, went back to his family's home in Maine, then drove to Villanova to see Pennefather.

They'd spend their summers together white-water rafting and talking about anything.

Despite their affection for each other, they were never intimate. John Heisler, you see, was battling his own inner voice, the one that told him he should become a priest.

If a calling came from a booming voice above the clouds, like in the movies, it would be easy. Heisler's was a gnawing pain. He went back to school to become an electrical engineer, and pursued Pennefather through different stops in their lives, but that pain just wouldn't go away. It was like a kill switch that told them they'd never be together.

In early 1991, during her third season in Japan, she called Heisler and asked him to meet her in Virginia so they could talk. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Well, I'm entering the Poor Clares," she told him, "and this is our last time ... to spend time together."

Heisler's heart dropped. But in a way, it was freeing. Father John Heisler had nothing holding him back. Eight years later, he was ordained.

WHEN PENNEFATHER GOT back from Japan in 1991, she wanted to tell her closest friends about her decision in person. She traveled to New Jersey to tell Lisa Gedaka and to Pennsylvania to tell Lynn Tighe.

Tighe owned a deli back then, and she and Pennefather were peeling potatoes when her former teammate dropped the news. Pennefather never stopped peeling.

"Lynn, I would never choose this for myself," Pennefather told her. "I would never leave my family and my friends. But this is what I'm called to do. I know it. God is calling me. And I'm going to do it."

But Tighe, Karen Daly and Kathy Miller, all part of the same Villanova class that met each other as freshmen in 1983, wanted more answers. They insisted on going to the monastery and talking to the mother superior. They wanted to know everything they could about the life of a cloistered nun.

They wanted to make sure their teammate would be OK.

Pennefather gave her friends a couple of questions to ask, too, a true sign she had little idea what she was getting herself into.

Miller said that they struck a deal with the mother superior that day: That in 2019, the three of them would be able to hug Pennefather during her silver jubilee. Just like family.

SEASONS PASSED FOR everyone but Sister Rose Marie. Tighe became an associate athletic director at Villanova; Lisa Gedaka got married, had children and became a high school basketball coach. Her oldest daughter plays basketball, too, and now Mary Gedaka is a forward at Villanova, playing under an older and somewhat mellower Harry Perretta.

Perretta also brokered a backdoor deal with the Poor Clares. He'd bring the sisters some much-needed supplies every summer in return for his own yearly visit with Sister Rose Marie.

So every June, he drives three hours down I-95 to the monastery, delivering necessities such as ginger ale and Reese's peanut butter cups. Sometimes, he'll bring along one or two of her old teammates to (wink, wink) help. They can see her through the screen and hold their hands up to hers.

One time, Perretta was visiting Sister Rose Marie when his phone rang.

"What's that?" she asked.

She'd never seen a cell phone.

If Perretta or any of Sister Rose Marie's teammates are struggling, they can call the monastery and ask the mother superior to pass along prayer requests. They pray for humanity and the things they can't see.

They prayed for the victims of 9/11 even though they never saw any pictures of the towers falling or knew the names of the people who died.

"I didn't understand it at first," Perretta said. "But if you believe in the power of prayers, then they're doing more for humanity than anybody."

IT RAINED ON June 9, the day of Sister Rose Marie's jubilee Mass. The bishop of Arlington, Virginia, came, and people in Sunday suits and dresses scurried to find seats in the monastery's tiny chapel. Perretta's two sons, strapping young men, stood in the back and craned their necks to see the altar. They weren't even born when Pennefather left.

Shortly after the homily, two wooden doors opened and the whole chapel let out a silent gasp. There she was, 53 years old, standing before them, with no screen. Without even scanning the crowd, she immediately fixed her eyes on the pew where her mother sat. Her face lit up.

Sister Rose Marie renewed her vows. Then a procession line formed in front of her. Mary Jane was first. Sister Rose Marie held her hands out as her mother drew closer. The Pennefathers have never been a touchy-feely family, but when mother and daughter embraced, it seemed to last an eternity. Neither one wanted to let go.

"I'll be here at 103 if you can hang in there," Mary Jane told her daughter.

"I'll try," Sister Rose Marie said.

She hugged nieces and nephews she had never touched before. She embraced siblings whose hair had turned from dark to gray.

Perretta got his hug. Tighe, Daly and Martin weren't sure whether anyone would remember that deal they made with the mother superior so many years ago. But they slipped into the back and hugged her, too.

And in that receiving line stood Father John Heisler. He saw the woman he had known and loved for most of his life, and they gave each other a knowing smile and an embrace.

"We made the right decision," she told him.

"No regrets," he said.

MOST OF HER teammates knew, going in, that they weren't going to get a hug because it was supposed to be for family only. But they didn't want to miss this moment. They traveled from Washington State and points up and down the Eastern seaboard.

One ex-Syracuse player who met Shelly at a camp more than three decades ago drove three hours to see her, too. She means that much to people, Marita Finley said.

A few hours after the Mass, Sister Rose Marie's teammates were allowed a visit. It was the first time they'd been together in decades. They didn't know what to expect.

When she appeared behind a screen, the whole room erupted in cheers.

"I just want to say one thing," Pennefather told them. "I've heard every comment you said about me at alumni gatherings in the past. These will have eternal repercussions."

Everyone laughed.

A woman who spends 23 hours a day in silence seamlessly launched right into conversation. There were no awkward gaps. It was as if they picked back up after seeing each other at the last team reunion.

"I mean, it doesn't really surprise me that some of us should have ended up incarcerated," she deadpanned. "The surprise was that it was me."

The years had been kind to Sister Rose Marie. She lifts weights three times a week and stretches on the other days, except, of course, on Sundays. No, she does not play basketball, but every so often, the sisters will engage in a game of stickball.

With her old teammates around her, clinging to each other's words, they caught up on families and careers, then, without being asked, Sister Rose Marie shared a story. Her story.

She was in Japan that first year and wanted to go home. "So I made this deal with God," she said. She told them that the missionary work moved her so much that she went back every summer after that. One year, she was invited to a retreat, where she was asked to read a Bible verse, John 6:56: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him."

And that, she said, is when it hit her. She felt that God was right there, 20 feet in front of her. She kept reading, and when she closed the Bible, she said a silent prayer. She was stunned. She walked into church the next day, genuflected at the tabernacle like she always did, and realized that she was no longer alone.

"You can look back now and you see how providentially our Lord just kind of took me and put me there in that place where I could just develop, you know?" she told them. "And then I just kind of felt that he was asking me to serve this sort of radical kind of call, which is the hardest thing I ever did. But I'm grateful I did, and here I am. Incarcerated."

But she never really left them. Her letters got them through marriage problems and deaths and child-raising crises. Some of the women brought their children to the monastery, just to see her.

"I love this life," she told them. "I wish you all could just live it for a little while just to see. It's so peaceful. I just feel like I'm not underliving life. I'm living it to the full."

THE PENNEFATHERS THREW a jubilee reception at a Knights of Columbus hall. They could have catered it, but Mary Jane wouldn't have it. She spent weeks making everything, the lasagna and chocolate cake and orange slush. Maybe if she kept moving, she wouldn't have to think about the finality of the hug.

If anyone is going to make it to 103, her children say, it's Mary Jane. She's lost a husband and two grandchildren, but she is constant, like the spring cherry blossoms up the highway.

Sister Rose Marie's sacrifice was Mary Jane's sacrifice. She no doubt was filled with pride and sorrow when Shelly made her decision. She keeps a box at the house that contains her daughter's hair. It was cut after she went into the monastery.

Mary Jane isn't sentimental about it; she doesn't open the box to feel closer to her daughter. But she's kept it, and Shelly's letter, after all these years.

Mary Jane does not want to share the letter. It's too personal. But she will recite one line, from memory.

"I realize that I won't hear the laughter of my brothers and sisters anymore."

Shelly's younger sister, Jean, also became a nun. She's not cloistered and can hug her family, use a cell phone and drive.

Mary Jane does not want people to think that someone who chooses either of these lives is an oddball. But she knows that no matter what she says, people will not understand.

She got out of her seat in what they call the Blessed Mother room and searched through some drawers and pulled out a photo album. She stopped at an old picture of a young girl wearing a veil.

"That's me," Mary Jane whispered. "I entered, too."

She was 14 years old in the picture. The convent was vast, and 2 ½ hours away from her home in Louisiana. Nine months in, it dawned on her. I shouldn't be here. She went home, finished high school, went to college, met Mike and never looked back.

She, too, has no regrets.

"Well," she said, "look at the fruits of my life."

Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Jameson Taillon needs surgery to repair a strained flexor tendon in his right forearm and has been shut down for the season.

Taillon (2-3, 4.10 ERA) last pitched on May 1. The 27-year-old, who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2014, was on the injured list for several weeks then experienced a setback while trying to rehab last month.

The surgery has not been scheduled, and there is no timetable on a potential return date.

"We all, including all the experts that [Taillon] did see, felt that we could salvage some of the season -- that he could return this year," Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczak told reporters before Friday's 8-4 win over the New York Mets. "You always want to avoid surgery at every cost if you're a professional athlete because there are no guarantees."

The injury is the latest setback for Taillon, who in addition to missing all of 2014 due to surgery fought testicular cancer in 2017. He bounced back to put together the finest season of his young career in 2018, going 14-10 with a 3.20 ERA.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

PHILADELPHIA -- Vince Velasquez did everything he could playing in the field for the first time since he was a kid, and it still wasn't enough.

Jose Abreu hit an RBI single off outfielder Roman Quinn in the 15th inning and the Chicago White Sox beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 on Friday night.

Velasquez, a starting pitcher playing left field, threw out the potential go-ahead run in the 14th with Quinn (0-1) on the mound. He nearly did it again in the 15th, but Leury Garcia barely beat the throw. Velasquez then made a diving catch to end the inning.

According to ESPN Stats & Information research, Velasquez became the first full-time pitcher with an outfield assist since Dodgers reliever Bobby Castillo on Sept. 10, 1980.

"I was ready," Velasquez said. "I love playing this game. I'll throw left-handed if I have to."

The right-handed Velasquez once played a season in high school as a left-handed outfielder because of bone spurs in his pitching elbow.

"He's a freakish athlete," manager Gabe Kapler said.

Josh Osich (1-0) tossed two innings for the win and Chicago used nine pitchers to snap a four-game losing streak.

The Phillies fell one game behind the Cubs and Nationals in the NL wild-card standings.

Things got weird in the 14th when Quinn went to the mound for his third career appearance and second this season. He gave up nine runs in three innings in his previous two outings.

Abreu walked to start the inning and went to second after third baseman Maikel Franco caught Eloy Jimenez's liner but threw wild to first base trying to double him up. James McCann followed with a single to left, but Velasquez charged it perfectly and fired a strike to the plate to retire Abreu.

Quinn then intentionally walked Ryan Goins to bring up pitcher Carson Fulmer for his first career at-bat. Fulmer ripped a grounder down the line, but Franco made a diving, backhanded grab and threw to first in time to get him. Fulmer injured his leg hustling down the line and was replaced by Osich.

Quinn got the first two batters in the 15th before Garcia singled and Tim Anderson walked. Abreu followed with a single to left and Garcia just beat Velasquez's throw from left.

"That young man out there did a nice job for them," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said of Quinn.

Quinn was called out on strikes to end the game and wasn't happy with the call.

Jason Vargas looked sharp in his first start since the Phillies acquired him from the Mets. The soft-tossing lefty gave up two runs and five hits, striking out five in 6 1/3 innings.

"Pretty crazy first day," Vargas said.

With Phillies closer Hector Neris serving a three-game suspension, the bullpen was short and couldn't secure a 3-2 lead in the ninth.

Juan Nicasio gave up a double to Jimenez with one out. He struck out McCann, but lefty Jose Alvarez entered and gave up an infield single to Goins before pinch hitter Matt Skole lined an RBI single to right to tie it at 3-3.

Quinn blasted his third homer into the upper deck in right field in the third to cut Chicago's lead to 2-1. He reached on a bunt single with one out in the seventh off Aaron Bummer, stole second and advanced to third on Cesar Hernandez's infield single. Jean Segura bounced an RBI single to right to give the Phillies a 3-2 lead and advanced to second on the throw.

Bummer escaped further trouble by striking out Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto after he intentionally walked Rhys Hoskins to load the bases. The Phillies had the bases loaded with only one out in the first, seventh and eighth but didn't score a run.

Hoskins, Harper and Realmuto were a combined 2-for-18.

White Sox starter Ivan Nova gave up two runs -- one earned -- and five hits in five-plus innings.

Anderson hit a double with two outs in the third and Abreu launched his 23rd homer to left-center to give the White Sox a 2-0 lead.

TRAINER'S ROOM

White Sox: C Welington Castillo was put on the family medical emergency leave list and C Seby Zavala was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte.

Phillies: LHP Adam Morgan was put on the 10-day injury list because of a left flexor strain. Morgan said he doesn't need surgery but isn't sure when he can return.

UP NEXT

LHP Ross Detwiler (1-1, 6.35 ERA) goes for the White Sox and RHP Aaron Nola (9-2, 3.72) starts for the Phillies on Saturday night.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ultra-runner regains record after covering John O’Groats to Land’s End route in 12 days, 11 hours, 6 minutes and 7 seconds

GB ultra-distance international Sharon Gayter has broken the women’s ‘JOGLE’ record, traveling by foot from John O’Groats in the far north of Scotland to Land’s End in western Cornwall in 12 days, 11 hours, 6 minutes and 7 seconds.

Her performance, run from July 21 to August 2, improves on the mark of 12 days, 15 hours and 46 minutes set by Mimi Anderson in 2008 and sees Gayter regain a record which she first set in 2006 when she ran from Land’s End to John O’Groats in 12 days, 16 hours and 22 minutes.

“The dot watching comes to a close at Lands End with the world record of 12 days 11 hrs 6 min 7 sec,” she wrote on Twitter, with fans having been following her 822-mile journey on a live tracking map. “Time for sleep at last.”

At John O Groats ready for the morning. I am signing off now and leaving the crew to take over update, enjoy dot watching. X pic.twitter.com/KKPntywG2M

— Sharon Gayter (@SGayter) July 20, 2019

The 55-year-old, who is a lecturer at the Teesside University Business School, was also running to raise money for the mental health charity Mind.

According to a pre-record attempt interview with Teesside University, Gayter had been planning the attempt for two years, with preparation events including a six-day race in Athens and the 220-mile Severn Challenge.

The greatly experienced ultra-runner, who represented GB across 18 years at 100km and 24-hour events, has set a total of three world records at the University, most recently running 10 marathons in 10 consecutive days on a treadmill in a record time of 43 hours, 51 minutes and 39 seconds in 2018.

In 2011 she broke both the men’s and women’s world records for the furthest distance covered on a treadmill in seven consecutive days and she also set the record for the furthest distance on a treadmill in 12 hours.

With the JOGLE world record in her sights, Gayter’s ultimate aim for her latest challenge had been to break 12 days, which would have required an average of 70-mile and 18-hour running days, off just three hours of sleep per night.

“Rough night when sleep deprivation hit badly,” she wrote on Wednesday, 10 days into the challenge. “12 days not possible but world record still on. Fighting hard, head strong body hanging on.”

As well as sleep deprivation, Gayter also battled heavy rain and blustery winds during her challenge.

Anderson was among those to congratulate Gayter on her “outstanding performance”, adding: “Records are there to be broken and Sharon showed everyone how it should be done. A massive congrats to her incredible crew who worked tirelessly to help her achieve her goal.”

The men’s record is 9 days, 2hrs and 26min set by Andi Rivett in 2002, but as AW editor Jason Henderson wrote earlier this year, when James Williams targeted the mark, it was set under dubious circumstances and without any of the stringent record ratification requirements needed today.

Andy and Jamie Murray lost in three sets to Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus in the quarter-finals of the Washington Open.

The British pair took the first set on a tie-break but lost a second as all 24 games followed serve.

South African Klaasen and New Zealand's Venus, seeded third, trailed 5-7 in the final tie-break but won five points in a row to win 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (8-6) 10-7.

Andy Murray, 32, is playing his fourth event since hip surgery in January.

The former world number one feared his career might be over before having the hip resurfacing operation, but returned to the doubles court five months later when he won the Queen's title alongside Spain's Feliciano Lopez.

The three-time Grand Slam winner says he could make a singles return at the Cincinnati Masters later this month - two weeks before the start of the US Open in New York - and has been practising singles play this week.

"I feel fine, just disappointed," Murray said of his fitness after the defeat. "Practices have been fine.

"Just keep pressing next 10 days. If I feel ready, I'll give it [singles in Cincinnati] a go. If not, I'll probably wait until after New York."

The Murray brothers, who were playing in doubles competition together for the first time since 2016, reached the Washington quarters after a gutsy three-set win over experienced French pair Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in their opening match.