It’s taken nearly two decades, but the Stanford softball team is going back to the Women’s College World Series.

The Cardinal earned its first trip to Oklahoma City since 2004 by sweeping its Super Regional against Duke, capping off the sweep with a 7-2 win on Saturday morning.

Taylor Gindlesperge had three hits, Dani Hayes drove in two runs and Alana Vawter picked up her 20th win for the Cardinal in the early morning game, which was moved up six hours because of the threat of bad weather and was played less than 24 hours after Stanford’s 3-1 win in Game 1.

The Cardinal (45-13) were holding a 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the fifth when they used five singles — all 11 of their hits were singles — to score four runs and break the game open. Gindlesperge and Emily Young singled and ended up scoring on singles by Kyle Chung and Sydney Steele. Hayes capped the scoring with a two-run single up the middle.

It was just the third official at-bat of the season for Hayes.

Vawter (20-8) allowed two runs on five hits in four innings and freshman NiJaree Canady allowed a hit and struck out four over the final three innings for her third save for the Cardinal, which was the No. 9 national seed.

Duke (48-12) got an RBI single from Ana Gold to open the scoring in the top of the first. It was her 56th RBI, tying the school record. Francesca Frelick homered in the top of the third to pull the Blue Devils within 3-2 but that was it as the best season in program history came to an end.

For the Cardinal, it’s the first win in seven trips to the Super Regionals since the NCAA adopted the super regional system in 2005. Stanford hasn’t lost yet in the NCAA Tournament, winning all three games in the Stanford Regional last weekend before sweeping the Durham Super Regional on Duke’s campus.

In Stanford’s two previous trips to the WCWS (2001 and 2004), the Cardinal reached the semifinals both times but have never made it to the WCWS Finals.

Stanford will open their time in Oklahoma City against the nation’s top team, Oklahoma. The Sooners set a new NCAA record by winning their 48th consecutive game to clinch their spot in the WCWS, coming from behind in dramatic fashion to knock off No. 16 Clemson 8-7 in nine innings.

The Women’s College World Series begins on Thursday, June 1, with all eight teams in action throughout the day. The time for Stanford’s first game in Oklahoma City is yet to be announced.

— Alex Simon

NBA

AP source: Bucks finalizing deal to hire Griffin as head coach >> The Milwaukee Bucks are finalizing a deal to make Adrian Griffin their head coach after he spent the last five seasons as a Toronto Raptors assistant, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Saturday because the deal was still being completed.

Griffin would replace Mike Budenholzer, who was fired earlier this month after the top-seeded Bucks’ stunning loss to the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs.

Griffin had been an assistant on a Toronto staff headed by Nick Nurse, who was fired last month after the end of the Raptors’ season. Griffin was an assistant on the Raptors’ 2019 NBA championship team that beat the Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals.

ESPN and The Athletic first reported the Bucks’ selection of Griffin.

Soccer

Bayern snatches GERMAN title from Dortmund on final day >> Jamal Musiala scored in the 89th minute for Bayern Munich to snatch the Bundesliga title from Borussia Dortmund with a 2-1 victory at Cologne after Dortmund could only draw on the final day of the season.

Dortmund, which was leading by two points before the last round, was held 2-2 at home by Mainz on Saturday, allowing Bayern to finish in first place because of its better goal difference.

Dortmund needed to win to be sure of ending Bayern’s record 10-year reign as champion. It became the first team in 23 years to squander the lead on the last day.

It’s just the third time Bayern managed to jump to first place on the last day of the season after it edged Werder Bremen to the title in 1986 and Bayer Leverkusen in 2000.

Messi breaks European scoring record as PSG wins French title >> Lionel Messi helped Paris Saint-Germain clinch a record 11th French league title on Saturday, and broke another scoring record in the process.

Messi scored the opening goal as PSG drew 1-1 at Strasbourg to move four points clear of second-place Lens with one game left.

Messi put PSG ahead from Kylian Mbappe’s pass in the 59th minute for his 496th career league goal in Europe, breaking Cristiano Ronaldo’s scoring record for Europe’s top five leagues. It could also be his last, as the Argentina star is widely expected to leave PSG at the end of the season and has been linked with a possible move to Saudi Arabia or Inter Miami of MLS in the United States.

PSG has won nine of its 11 titles since Qatari backers QSI took charge 12 years ago, with the first of those in 2013. PSG’s other titles were in 1986 and ’94.

The title will be celebrated next Saturday when PSG hosts Clermont in what could be Messi’s last game for PSG.