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.

Aifa Azman and Lewis Anderson the only non-Egyptian semi-finalists
By KNG ZHENG GUAN – Squash Mad Asian Correspondent

Aifa Azman kept the home hopes alive in the CIMB Foundation WSF World Junior Squash Championships as Egypt flexed their muscles while unseeded English boy Lewis Anderson extended his barnstorming run into the semi-finals.

Aifa, the girls’ 3rd-4th seed, delivered one of her best showing of the year as she downed England’s Elise Lazarus in straight games at the National Squash Centre, Bukit Jalil on Friday.

After a nervy start, Aifa hit top gear while Lazarus contributed to her own downfall with a string of errors as the Malaysian sealed a 12-10, 11-8, 11-5 win in 28 minutes.

It was sweet revenge for Aifa who lost to Lazarus in their last meeting – the quarter-finals of the British Junior Open in 2017.

More importantly, the Kedahan, in her fourth world juniors appearance, finally earned a breakthrough to the semi-finals for the first time where she will face junior rival Jana Shiha of Egypt.
Second seed Jana dropped the opening game but had enough quality to power to a 7-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7 win in 31 minutes.

“I knew it was going to be very tough against Elise because I lost to her back in 2017 and I haven’t played her since so I was a bit nervous to start,” said Aifa.

“But I did my preparations well and I’m very happy to win 3-0 and get through to the semi-finals.

“I go way back with Jana. I played her for the first time in the 2014 British Junior Open, a match which I won after being 10-6 down in the fifth.

“I also beat her the last time we met, back in 2018. I’m looking forward to taking her on again and hopefully get through it again.”

There would be no double Malaysian joy as 5th-8th seed Chan Yiwen went down battling to 3rd-4th seed Farida Mohamed in a physical contest.

The 18-year-old Yiwen took the first game but Farida upped the tempo to take a 3-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9 win in 36 minutes.

“My game plan worked in the first but Farida changed things up and played faster and more aggressive and that put me under pressure the whole time,” said a dejected Yiwen.

“I believe I gave it everything I got. I went for every ball but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.

“Its definitely tough and disappointing to lose on home ground but its now in the past and I plan to come back stronger in the team event.”

Farida now goes on to meet top seed and compatriot Hania El Hamammy in the last four.

Hania, who is gunning for her first world junior title on her fifth attempt, survived a scare before getting past Hong Kong’s Chan Sin Yuk 14-12, 11-3, 12-10.

In the boys’ event, Egypt proved to be the dominant force as top seed Mostafa Asal, second seed Omar El Torkey and 3rd-4th seed Moustafa Elsirty all powered into the last four.

Mostafa, the defending champion, was really a class above as he gave home hope Siow Yee Xian no breathing space in an 11-3, 11-4, 11-1 demolition.

“I was concentrated to win and play good squash. I know my opponent is a pretty good player so I needed to get my tactics right and I’m pleased to be in the semi-finals,” said Mostafa.

“Its always tough being the top seed as all the focus is on you. The pressure is also on you as well.

“But now I’m focused and I’m hoping to keep up this level. Its just two more pushes and then I’m done with the juniors.”
Mostafa will meet unseeded English boy Anderson, who extended his giant-killing run by scalping a third seeded player in two days.

The Solihull boy, who came into the competition with little expectations, certainly played some of his best squash as he saw off India’s 9th-12th seed Veer Chotrani 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7.

“Everything was going great for me until the fourth game where I was 10-2 up. I suddenly got nervous and forgot how to play. But I’m really glad to have gotten through to make the top four,” said Anderson.

“Its really been an unbelievable week for me. To beat Veer today and the two I beat yesterday, is simply unbelievable.

“Back home my coach told me if I trained hard enough I could make the top four. He certainly believed in me while I didn’t believe in myself enough.

“Of course its going to be tough against Mostafa. He’s a top player ranked No. 29 in the world. I’m just going to go in there and play my game and see what happens.”

The semi-finals will start from 4pm with all matches streamed on SquashTV.

Quarter-Finals.

[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [5/8] Siow Yee Xian (MAS) 11-3, 11-4, 11-1 (27m)
Lewis Anderson (ENG) bt [9/12] Veer Chotrani (IND) 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7 (41m)
[3/4] Moustafa El Sirty (EGY) bt [5/8] Sam Todd (ENG) 11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 11-5 (39m)
[2] Omar El Torkey (EGY) bt [5/8] Yehia Elnawasany (EGY) 11-6, 11-2, 11-3 (25m)

[1] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bt [5/8] Chan Sin Yuk (HKG) 14-12, 11-3, 12-10 (32m)
[3/4] Farida Mohamed (EGY) bt [5/8] Chan Yiwen (MAS) 3-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9 (36m)
[3/4] Aifa Azman (MAS) bt [5/8] Elise Lazarus (ENG) 12-10, 11-8, 11-5 (28m)
[2] Jana Shiha (EGY) bt [5/8] Marina Stefanoni (USA) 7-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7 (31m)

Pictures courtesy of #WSFWorldJuniors2019

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – The annual IMSA weekend at Road America has become synonymous with a State of the Series presentation led by IMSA President Scott Atherton over the past several years.

The presentation has become an event in itself, where the following year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge schedules are traditionally unveiled, and future plans and developments are unveiled publicly for the first time.

There weren’t any breaking news announcements this year, such as the surprise unveiling of WeatherTech’s entitlement partnership back at the State of the Series in 2015.

There was some State of the Series history made in Road America’s Tufte Center on Friday night. In addition to 2020 schedule announcements for the WeatherTech Championship and Pilot Challenge, next year’s calendars for the five additional series that IMSA sanctions also were confirmed.

Schedules for the IMSA Prototype Challenge, Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama, Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama, Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America and Ferrari Challenge were part of the presentation. It’s the first time that has ever happened at an IMSA State of the Series.

“To confirm the details of every one of our 2020 series schedules so that all of our stakeholders – race teams, drivers, manufacturers, partners, and most importantly, our fans – can start making plans for next year is a real positive for everyone,” said Atherton. “It is the result of a tremendous amount of collaboration between our team at IMSA and our promoter partners and we are grateful for the hard work of all involved. All seven IMSA-sanctioned series will visit the very best road racing facilities in North America throughout 2020.”

The announcement of the flagship WeatherTech Championship schedule again featured events at the same 12 venues that have hosted the series since the 2018 season. The season will open with the Rolex 24 At Daytona on the weekend of Jan. 23-26 and will close with Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta on Oct. 7-10.

A significant piece of news that was revealed as part of the WeatherTech Championship schedule announcement is the fact that NBC network television coverage will bookend the season, with Rolex 24 At Daytona coverage and planned telecasts for the penultimate round of the season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Sept. 13 and Motul Petit Le Mans on Oct. 10.

The LMP2 class will shift to a six-race schedule for the 2020 WeatherTech Championship season. The Rolex 24 At Daytona will be a standalone marquee event and will not count toward WeatherTech Championship points, but it will count toward the class’ four-race Michelin Endurance Cup season. LMP2 will not return to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2020, enabling IMSA to confirm a six-race season for the class and eliminating the challenge of competing on back-to-back weekends.

Other enhancements for both LMP2 and GTD coming in 2020 include the extension of dedicated practice time at each event for Bronze- or Silver-rated drivers to 30 minutes – 15 minutes of exclusive practice and 15 minutes of combined practice with DPi and GTLM cars – at the beginning of Practice 2 each weekend. Any participating driver/team will be allocated one extra set of tires.

The highest-finishing eligible Bronze or Silver driver in LMP2 and GTD again will be eligible for a year-end trophy – the Jim Trueman Award for LMP2 and the Bob Akin Award for GTD – and also will receive the coveted invitation to participate in the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Michelin Pilot Challenge series, which has seen significant changes over the past few years including changes to class configuration, technical specifications and tire partner, will have a 2020 season without major alterations. The 10-race season returns the series to the same venues as 2019, all running as a companion to WeatherTech Championship events.

The IMSA Prototype Challenge returns for a six-race season in 2020, kicking off as it has since 2018 with a three-hour race during the Roar Before the Rolex 24 At Daytona weekend on Jan. 4-5. Notable changes for 2020 include a return to Road America for the first time since 2015, the elimination of minimum pit-stop times and the requirement that each car has at least one Bronze-rated driver. Platinum- and Gold-rated drivers will be prohibited.

The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama season again will have eight weekends and a total of 16, 45-minute races, including a pair of season-opening races at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the weekend of March 13-15.

The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA also will shift onto the IMSA weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on Sept. 11-13 for 2020 after racing as part of the IndyCar event weekend in 2019. Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA will have one combined event with Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama in 2020 – at Watkins Glen International on the weekend of June 25-27.

The 2020 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada schedule includes six weekends and 12, 45-minute races. The series returns to the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres on Aug. 7-9 after a one-year absence and its first visit to Ontario’s Calabogie Motorsports Park since 2015 on the weekend of Aug. 28-30.

Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America will have a six-event, 12-round calendar in 2020. Each race again will be 50 minutes in length with two drivers required in each car.

The season will open at Barber Motorsports Park for the second consecutive year on the weekend of April 3-5 and the series will run alongside IndyCar and Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada on the Honda Indy Toronto event weekend for the first time on July 11-12. The date and location for the Lamborghini Super Trofeo world finale – planned for October 2020 – will be unveiled later.

The 2020 schedule for Ferrari Challenge also was confirmed. The longtime IMSA-sanctioned single-make series will open its season at Daytona on the weekend of Jan. 22-25 in conjunction with the Rolex 24 At Daytona after a one-year absence from the Daytona high banks.

Other venues set to host the series next year include Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Watkins Glen International. The date and location for the 2020 Ferrari World Finals also will be announced later.

Beyond the schedule announcements, updates also were provided to the audience of stakeholders and media on the timeline for the evolution of the DPi platform coming in 2022, including the planned release of technical regulations in the first quarter of 2020.

INDIANAPOLIS – The thunder roaring from Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli cars filled the air at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday as the the Trans-Am, SuperGT and GT classes took to the track to set the grids for this weekends races.

After opening the running with morning practice, the split 35-minute qualifying session ended the day at IMS. The track was considerably hotter for qualifying than during morning practice, and with a wide range of machines also taking to the track as part of the Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational, several types of rubber lined the 2.43-mile circuit. But, the Pirelli tires equipped throughout the TA, SGT and GT field gave the Trans Am runners all the grip on offer in the tricky conditions.

TA class driver Ernie Francis Jr. was quickest all day and after just a handful of laps, the multi-class champion notched a lap of 1:25.367-seconds in his baby blue and white No. 98 Frameless Shower Doors Ford Mustang to take pole position.

“Qualifying went really well for us,” said Francis. “We had the pace we were expecting out there. We are usually pretty fast around this place and IMS is a track that I really like driving around. We threw a new set of stickers on for this session and knocked down a fast lap. I’m really proud of the guys here at Breathless Racing. They worked really hard to get the Frameless Shower Doors Ford Mustang out there on pole for tomorrow’s race.”

Following a pre-practice inspection by his team, Chris Dyson missed out on the first session of the day, which only got more interesting from there. The series allowed the No. 20 Plaid Ford Mustang to turn hardship laps, but Dyson experienced more hardships during what should’ve been an excitement-free shakedown as a transmission issue kept him from doing the full lap.

But his CD Racing squad rallied behind him as just a few short hours later, Dyson qualified second in TA with a lap of 1:26.137-seconds. Just over seven tenths of a second off pole, Dyson showed no ill-effects from the issues that plagued him earlier in the day.

“We had a cautionary engine change after we saw some suspicious material in the oil that we didn’t want to take any chances on,” Dyson explained. “The guys pushed pretty hard to get out there for some hardship laps, when we had some issues unrelated to the engine with the transmission. We were resilient and I would put our team next to anyone in the world. They really inspire confidence.”

Adam Andretti took third fastest lap of the day in TA and will start behind Francis Jr. and Dyson. Celebrating his 57th birthday driving the No. 57 Kryderacing Cadillac CTSV, David Pintaric will start beside Andretti in row two. Amy Ruman completed the top-five with a best time of 1:28.555-seconds.

About seven tenths of a second also separated the top SGT drivers. Tim Kezman in the No. 44 Lemons of Love Porsche 991 GT3 Cup edged out series-newcomer Ken Thwaits in the jet black No. 35 Showtime Motorsports Audi R8.

“I am excited to qualify on the front row without any drama,” Thwaits said after his first Trans-Am qualifying session. “I wanted to save the car as much as possible. It is a long race and it’s going to be hot. Saturday is what it is all about. Qualifying is good for a few laps, but we have to put together 42 (laps) tomorrow to win.”

Steven Davison in the No. 22 Aston Martin Vantage reeled off a quick time of 1:35.267 to take pole over Joe Bogetich in the No. 65 Westover Controls Chevrolet Camaro SS.

MASON, Mich. – Jason Davis took top honors in Friday’s Corrigan Oil Claimers feature at Corrigan Oil Speedway.

The 20-lap race was run on the modified race course, otherwise known as the Roval. Patience Degg led the field to the green flag, but T.J. Hurell quickly took the lead with Davis taking over second.

On lap three, Davis would get past Hurell to take the point as Joey Wirt moved in to third. With the laps clicking off, Davis slowly pulled away as Hurell and Wirt battled for second.

With two laps to go, Hurell developed a flat left-front tire and Wirt was able to take over second. At the finish, Davis took the win followed by Wirt, Hurell, Bobby Prather and Chris Reid.