Sandburg junior Zoe Trunk
has a flair for being fleet with her feet.
She makes magical moves when the Eagles run a fast break in basketball. But she can be a real showstopper when she runs the bases in softball.
Trunk provided a great example in her first at-bat Friday against Oak Forest. She slap-bunted for a single, and when the ball got away, she went from first to third in the blink of an eye.
“That’s a big part of my game,” Trunk said, smiling. “I incorporate hitting, bunting, slapping, and use it all to my advantage on the bases. I utilize my speed to the best of my ability.”
Trunk scored the first run in Friday’s game, which was stopped in the bottom of the second inning due to rain and slick conditions. It will be continued at a later date, with Sandburg leading 4-0.
A three-year varsity player, Trunk is leading the Eagles (3-2) virtually everywhere on the stat sheet offensively. She’s batting an even .600 with three doubles, a triple, two stolen bases, a home run and five RBIs. She has yet to strike out this season.
Sandburg coach Amanda Allison
puts Trunk in the leadoff spot for her slapping and speed but also her smarts. The smarts part goes for her defense as well.
“Zoe understands the details of the game,” Allison said. “She’s a student of the game. We had a practice the other day where we were doing some cuts, and we were talking about how she has one of the strongest arms on the team.
Sandburg’s Zoe Trunk (6) heads to first base after laying down a bunt for a hit against Oak Forest during a nonconference game in Orland Park on Friday, April 4, 2025. (Steve Johnston / Daily Southtown)
“If she’ll have a runner on second, she can easily pull out a ball fake and get that runner hung up between second and third. And if we can get the ball to her in certain instances, we have a good shot to get someone out at the plate.”
Her home run came on April 3 in a 10-1 victory over Oswego East. There was no jogging.
Trunk hit a drive down the left field line and never stopped running. She beat the throw to the plate with a head-first drive.
“I just ran the bases,” Trunk said, laughing. “I have hit two home runs before, but I don’t remember the last time that happened. It (inside the park) was probably the first.”
Trunk has been running like a deer since she was 10 years old and playing rec ball with future teammate Grace Torgerson
. Trunk then made what would be a critical change to her batting style.
Sandburg’s Zoe Trunk (6) holds onto third base while Oak Forest’s Hailee Morin (1) applies a tag during a nonconference game in Orland Park on Friday, April 4, 2025. (Steve Johnston / Daily Southtown)
Or, rather, it was made for her.
“I used to be a righty,” Trunk said. “When I would bunt, they were like, ‘Oh, she’s fast, maybe we should flip her to the left side.’ So I changed to the left side and got taught by Grace’s dad.
“It was awkward at first, but I kept practicing. During the winter, we’d go on Tuesday nights for hitting and have Sunday practices. I didn’t use it in a game until I was 11. Once I learned it, I really benefitted.”
Grace Torgerson watched it develop over time.
“That whole slapping thing, it was so cool to see her grow as a hitter,” Torgerson said. “She obviously hits the ball really well, but it’s also nice to play with her because she’s really a leader.
Sandburg’s Olivia Trunk (11) and Zoe Trunk (6) shake hands with Oak Forest after the game gets postponed in Orland Park on Friday, April 4, 2025. (Steve Johnston / Daily Southtown)
“Zoe just picks everyone up. It can be raining and people are making overthrows and she’ll be there to pick them up. It’s really nice for our team to have that kind of leadership.”
Trunk plays on the field with her twin sister Olivia
, who’s a starting outfielder. She’s following in the footsteps of their older sister Charlotte
, however, as a shortstop.
“I pretty much watched Charlotte in every game she played,” Zoe said. “I’d come to all the Sandburg games and when she used to play travel. She always had a smile on her face.
“No matter where she was on the field, it didn’t matter. She always gave her best. That had a big impact on me loving softball. To see how much fun she was having, I wanted to do that myself.”
Tony Baranek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Dos inspectores fronterizos de Estados Unidos en el sur de California han sido acusados de aceptar miles de dólares en sobornos para permitir que personas ingresen al país a través del puerto de entrada más concurrido de la nación sin mostrar documentos, afirmaron los fiscales.
Los agentes de la Oficina de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza (CBP, por sus siglas en inglés), Farlis Almonte y Ricardo Rodriguez, estaban asignados a las cabinas de inspección de inmigración en el puerto de entrada de San Ysidro. Fueron acusados después de que los investigadores encontraran evidencia telefónica que mostraba que habían intercambiado mensajes con traficantes de personas en México y descubrieran depósitos de efectivo inexplicables en sus cuentas bancarias, según una denuncia penal desprecintada el jueves.
Un video de una cámara de vigilancia mostró al menos un caso en el que un vehículo con un conductor y un pasajero se detuvo en un punto de control, pero sólo se documentó la entrada del conductor al país, dijeron los fiscales.
Los fiscales afirmaron que los agentes permitieron el ingreso de decenas de vehículos que transportaban personas sin documentos. Dijeron que ambos hombres recibieron miles de dólares por cada vehículo que dejaban pasar.
De momento no se pudo contactar al abogado de Almonte. El Consejo Nacional de la Patrulla Fronteriza, el sindicato que representa a los agentes de la agencia, no respondió de inmediato a un correo electrónico solicitando comentarios.
El abogado de Rodriguez, Michael Hawkins, dijo que el caso aún estaba en las “etapas iniciales” y que su cliente tiene la presunción de inocencia.
“Esperamos poder resolver la situación actual”, señaló Hawkins en un correo electrónico en el que describió a Rodriguez como trabajador y leal.
La investigación sobre Almonte y Rodriguez comenzó después de que tres traficantes de migrantes que fueron arrestados el año pasado informaran a los investigadores federales que habían estado trabajando con inspectores fronterizos de Estados Unidos, dijeron los fiscales federales.
Mientras Almonte estaba bajo custodia, los investigadores supuestamente incautaron casi 70.000 dólares en efectivo que creen que su pareja sentimental intentaba trasladar a Tijuana. Los fiscales escribieron en un documento judicial que Almonte podría enfrentar cargos adicionales por lavado de dinero y obstrucción de la justicia, informó el periódico The San Diego Union Tribune.
“Todo agente de la Oficina de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza que ayude o se haga de la vista gorda ante los traficantes que traen inmigrantes indocumentados a Estados Unidos está traicionando su juramento y poniendo en peligro nuestra seguridad nacional”, afirmó el fiscal federal interino Andrew Haden al periódico en un comunicado.
En los últimos dos años, cinco agentes de la CBP asignados al área de San Diego han enfrentado cargos similares de corrupción.
El año pasado, el antiguo inspector fronterizo, Leonard Darnell George, fue sentenciado a 23 años en prisión por aceptar sobornos para permitir que personas y vehículos cargados de drogas ingresaran al país a través del cruce fronterizo de San Ysidro. Otros dos exagentes fronterizos en los puertos de entrada de Otay Mesa y Tecate fueron acusados el año pasado de cargos similares. Se tiene previsto que su juicio se lleve a cabo en los próximos meses.
___
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Ketel Marte, intermedista dominicano de los Diamondbacks de Arizona, abandonó el juego del viernes contra los Nacionales de Washington en la primera entrada, después de sufrir una aparente lesión mientras corría las bases.
Marte conectó un largo batazo hacia la pared del jardín central y, al girar en la primera base y dirigirse a la segunda, comenzó a dar pasos vacilantes. Llegó lentamente pero de pie a la intermedia con un doble mientras se sujetaba el muslo izquierdo.
Salió cojeando del campo bajo la supervisión del personal médico del equipo y fue reemplazado por Garrett Hampson.
Marte firmó el miércoles un nuevo contrato que le garantiza 116,5 millones de dólares hasta 2031. El acuerdo de seis años incluye una opción de jugador y 46 millones de dólares en dinero diferido pagadero hasta 2040.
El quisqueyano está bateando para .346 esta temporada tras ocho juegos, en cada uno de los cuales se ha embasado. Marte terminó tercero en la votación para el Jugador Más Valioso de la Liga Nacional la temporada pasada, bateando para .292.
Estableció los números máximos en su carrera con 36 jonrones y 95 carreras impulsadas.
DENVER (AP) — Jacob Wilson conectó un sencillo de dos carreras en la undécima entrada para sumar tres impulsadas, y los Atléticos vencieron el viernes 6-3 a los Rockies de Colorado en un juego inaugural bajo la nieve en el Coors Field.
Las ráfagas de nieve cayeron durante todo el encuentro y la temperatura a la hora del primer lanzamiento fue de 37 grados Fahrenheit (3 centígrados), empatando el segundo juego inaugural en casa más frío en la historia de los Rockies.
Después de ser barridos por los Cachorros de Chicago en los primeros tres juegos en su casa temporal en West Sacramento, California, los Atléticos mejoraron a 3-2 como visitantes y detuvieron una racha de cuatro derrotas consecutivas en general.
Colorado se fue de 15-1 con corredores en posición de anotar y dejó a 13 hombres en base. Los Rockies han anotado 14 carreras, la cifra mínima de las Grandes Ligas, en siete juegos. Noah Murdock (1-0), quien debutó el fin de semana pasado, lanzó dos entradas sin hits, con tres ponches y dos bases por bolas para su primera victoria en las Grandes Ligas. Mason Miller consiguió su segundo salvamento de la temporada.
El dominicano Ángel Chivilli (0-1) fue el perdedor.
El venezolano Ezequiel Tovar, quien terminó el juego al poncharse con el lanzamiento más rápido del día por parte de Miller (101,2 mph), sumó tres hits y anotó una carrera después de entrar sin hits en sus 15 turnos anteriores.
Por los Atléticos, el dominicano Miguel Andújar de 5-1. El colombiano Gio Urshela de 5-1 con una empujada.
Por los Rockies, el venezolano Tovar de 5-3 con una anotada.
President Donald Trump has gone from mocking Canada as “the 51st state” and demoting its prime minister to “governor,” to threatening military invasion of Greenland, to siding with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin over Ukraine’s fight for freedom, to insane tariffs that are making a mockery of international order.
Trump even said he wants to sell allies nerfed versions of U.S. warplanes.
“We’d like to tone them down about 10 percent, which probably makes sense because someday maybe they’re not our allies, right,” he said
on March 21.
Just imagine how that was received by U.S. allies.
In short, the United States is, at best, an unreliable ally and, at worst, a global threat.
So it makes sense that Europe has decided it won’t depend on the United States as a military backstop for its security, committing nearly $900 billion
to its massive military spending spree.
But Europe does want to work with committed allies, so it’s pulling in Japan and South Korea while shunning the United Kingdom and the United States. Makes sense, right?
The UK left Europe in its ill-fated Brexit gambit (though there is currently work on a new partnership agreement between them), while the United States is literally threatening military action against NATO member Denmark in Trump’s bid to annex Greenland.
Furthermore, the Trump administration threatened to block
the transfer of U.S. parts for F-16s during the president’s hissy fit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It’s standard in weapons contracts for a buyer to get approval to transfer weapons systems to third nations.—no one wants to see their weapons end up in the hands of hostile nations.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have a heated exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Yet the mere threat is a challenge to Europe’s sovereignty, particularly as the U.S. government has broadcasted that it no longer shares Europe’s values.
No one is interested in working with a United States that can turn on a dime depending on the whims of idiot voters in Pennsylvania or Wisconsin, and the GOP is certainly not interested in preventing crazy despots from flying its banner.
Which leads to no weapons deals for the United States. And would you believe that Trump is pissed?
According to Reuters
, U.S. officials told European allies that they want them to continue purchasing U.S. arms, despite recent moves by the EU to limit U.S. manufacturers’ participation in weapons tenders.
And in a meeting on March 25, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia that the United States wants to continue participating in EU countries’ defense procurements.
Well, no shit the United States wants to keep participating—but this is the consequence of turning your back on your allies. Trump thinks he can bully the world into submission, but the world has other plans.
Canada is seeking tighter military cooperation with the EU, while the EU is seeking closer ties with Australia, New Zealand, and India. Meanwhile, the United States is making kissy faces at a pathetic Russia, now relegated to assault Ukraine with donkeys
and golf carts
.
Europe’s justified shunning of the U.S. arms industry is already having consequences.
According to the Washington Post
, a Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jet manufacturing line in Greenville, South Carolina, services the export market and pumps $1.3 billion into the local economy annually.
Now Greenville County, which Trump handily won in 2024, is bracing for the fallout as U.S. allies call for boycotts against U.S. weapons.
Perhaps nothing foreshadows the economic consequences of Trump’s belligerence better than the state of the U.S. stock market.
Let’s start with Lockheed Martin, which makes F-16 among other weapons:
Meanwhile, this is German weapons manufacturer Rheinmetall:
As usual, Trump has an uncanny ability to hurt his own supporters.
