The Rockies agreed to a one-year contract with veteran catcher Jacob Stallings for 2025, with a mutual option for 2026.

After briefly hitting free agency, Stallings opted to return to Colorado for a second season and will likely become the primary catcher heading into 2025.

Stallings had a successful 2024, setting career-highs in batting average (.263) and slugging percentage (.453) with nine home runs. He has nine years of MLB experience and was awarded the National League Gold Glove in 2021.

The Rockies’ 40-man roster is full following the signing.

Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.

New Olympia boys basketball coach Justin Shipp knew what was coming when his rebuilt team opened its regular season at nationally-ranked Oak Ridge on Monday night.

Shipp spent last summer as an assistant for the high-level Florida Rebels travel team program, directed by Oak Ridge coach Steve Reece.

“The competitive fire that he has and instills in his players was something that I really took note of this summer,” Shipp said of Reece.

The Pioneers brought that heat in a 99-82 victory before a big home crowd. Oak Ridge jumped out to a 19-3 lead and its two polished playmakers, Providence signee Jamier Jones (32 points) and LSU recruit Jalen Reece (28 with five 3s), were too hot to handle.

All 10 Oak Ridge players got minutes — eight entering in the first quarter. That never slowed their frenetic pace and tenacious trapping. With 22 seconds to go they were pressing full court looking to hit the 100-point mark.

But amidst Oak Ridge’s highlight reel plays, Shipp’s team — with not one varsity player back from a 20-9 region runner-up finish in Rob Gordon’s final year — shook off a 40-17 third quarter deficit and showed plenty of promise. The Titans outscored Oak Ridge 29-26 in the third and 23-20 in the fourth.

“Olympia, they’re tough,” Reece said afterward. “Coach Shipp is doing a great job.”

James Nowells, a sophomore transfer from Dr. Phillips, scored 24 points for the Titans. Senior guard Nick Blake, who played sparingly behind seniors at Windermere last season, made seven 3s and totaled 23 points in the loss.

“Our guys got better as this game went on,” Shipp said. “Oak Ridge has an unbelievable team, an unbelievable coach. We’re happy we opened in this environment.”

Shipp has 13-year NBA point guard Steve Blake, Nick’s dad, as one of his assistants.

“Even though he has zero experience I decided to give him a chance,” Shipp said with a smile.

Blake actually did have several seasons as an NBA assistant coach with Portland and Phoenix (2017-20).

Oak Ridge’s next outing is Tuesday vs. Oviedo at 6:45 p.m. at Lake Highland Prep in the Earl Graham Metro vs. Florida Challenge.

Double the fun

International Community sophomore Paxton Boaz led the Comets to victories in two different sports Monday.

The 5-foot-10 sophomore scored a game-high 3 goals in just one half of play in an 8-0 soccer win against Real Life Christian that started at 4 p.m. at Red Bug Lake Park. He left early to get to the ICS campus, 3.3 miles away, in time to change uniforms for a 6 p.m. basketball season opener. There, he delivered another team-leading performance with 22 points and 5 assists in a 58-21 victory vs. Elite Prep Academy.

“I love both sports,” Baez said in a Tuesday phone interview. “I’ve played basketball, soccer and flag football all my life. This was the first time I played two sports the same day in high school. I’m going to do both as much as I can.”

He was the ICS basketball scoring leading scorer at 13 points per game as a ninth grader but did not play soccer.

Hoops rankings 

Here are preseason boys basketball state rankings compiled by Orlando-based scout Rick Staudt for SourceHoops.com. We list his No. 1 team in each class and Orlando area teams in the top 10 (with last season’s win-loss records):

Class 7A

1. Miami Columbus (28-5)#

2. Oak Ridge (27-4)

5. Windermere (20-9)

10. St. Cloud (19-7)

Class 6A

1. Aquinas (21-7)

2. Edgewater (23-8)

3. Evans (20-10)

Class 5A

1. Ponte Vedra (23-8)

3. Leesburg (18-5)

Class 4A

1. Gibbs (27-5)#

7. Eustis (22-6)

Class 3A

1. Fort Lauderdale Calvary Christian (18-9)

3. Windermere Prep (24-8)

9. Lake Highland Prep (24-4)

Class 2A

1. Riviera Prep (25-8#)

4. The Master’s Academy (17-10)

Class 1A

1. Sagemont (25-6)#

3. Orlando Christian Prep (25-5)

9. CFCA (6-19)

10. Mount Dora Christian (16-13)

Rural

1. Hilliard (25-3)

Soccer 

Windermere’s boys, 16-2-1 and 7A state runners-up last season, improved to 5-0 with an 8-2 win at West Orange. Juniors Francesco Sanchez (12 goals, 3 assists) and Alfredo Adrian (7 goals, 6 assists) lead the high-scoring Wolverines.

Next door neighbor Windermere Prep is 4-0-1, including a 1-0 road win vs. Bishop Moore (3-1-2). The Lakers tied South Lake 1-1 on Tuesday.

Speaking of Bishop Moore, the Hornets scored their 300th win for 15th-year head coach Tom Hage. He went into a Wednesday match with a 301-80-27 record for the Orlando Catholic school. His career record is 439-222-66, including 12 seasons at Poinciana.

In girls play, Montverde Academy (5-0) won 3-0 against Bishop Moore in a matchup of defending state champions.

Oviedo, which beat Montverde 1-0 in a preseason game, is 6-0 going into a Thursday game at Lake Mary (2-2-1).

Lake Highland Prep (5-0) beat two reigning state champs, Lakeland Christian (5-1) and Bishop Moore (3-2), without surrendering a goal.

She’s back

Trinity Turner, who led Dr. Phillips to three consecutive 7A girls basketball state championships as one of the area’s all-time greats, is back in town.

She’s  a freshman starter for Georgia (3-2), one of six college teams in this weekend’s Women’s Basketball Coaches Association State Farm Showcase at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. The Bulldogs (3-2), coached by former UCF coach Katie Abraham-Henderson, play Tulsa (1-2), Thursday 5 p.m.; and Penn State (5-0), Saturday, 2:30 p.m.

Turner, a 5-6 guard, leads the Bulldogs in minutes played and is second in scoring (14.2 ppg).

Maybe she’ll pop by DP on Friday when the Panthers open their regular season at home vs. Vero Beach (2-1) on Friday night.

Extra points

• Colonial, the 7A girls basketball state runner-up to Dr. Phillips last season, opened with a 68-45 win vs. Boone. The Grenadiers, who graduated their five starters, were led by sophomore Yaneyla Pedraza’s 21 points.

• Montverde Academy’s boys basketball national team scored 106 and 107 points in preseason wins, then won its opener 117-33 against Florida Coastal Prep.

• Tom Tagye, coach of East River’s undefeated repeat state title team, was Florida Dairy Farmers girls bowling Coach of the Year.

• Bishop Moore’s boys golf team placed fourth in the 2A state tournament on Saturday. Hornets senior Packy Mokris shot 72-76—148 for sixth individually.

• Trinity Prep two-sport star Victoria Hill signed a full ride scholarship to play volleyball for Appalachian State. In track and field, she’s won two 2A triple jump state titles and one long jump championship.

Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com. 

With a new era of college athletics on the horizon, UCF athletics director Terry Mohajir wants to make sure the Knights are set up for success.

The impending $2.6 billion settlement from the NCAA v. House lawsuit has opened the door to revenue sharing with athletics departments nationwide, bracing for the idea of sharing millions of dollars of revenue annually with its athletes.

Part of the settlement allows universities more flexibility regarding name, image and likeness.

Schools can handle NIL contracts in-house, and UCF will follow suit when everything becomes official July 1.

The athletic department will absorb The Kingdom NIL, UCF’s official collective.

UCF faces critical 2-game stretch with postseason hopes on the line

In anticipation of the move, UCF is creating a Strategic Competitiveness Unit. The group would be responsible for revenue-sharing components such as scholarships, recruiting and roster management.

“This was a plan that we have been working on for a while based on all the information we’ve received through the [Big 12] conference offices regarding the House settlement,” Mohajir told the Sentinel.

Mohajir revealed this plan in a memo sent to fans and shareholders Monday.

“We would still love for [people] to give to the Kingdom, but once July 1 hits, everything will be in-house and those donations will move to the Charge-On fund and be accepted as part of rev-share,” he said.

The decision to announce the move was partly influenced by the recent transition in the Kingdom.

SJ Tuohy, the collective’s executive director since March 2023, left last month to become deputy director of athletics at Oral Roberts.

With NIL a crucial part of the athletic department’s success, Mohajir wanted to ensure he shared the upcoming changes.

Chris McFarlane, UCF’s deputy athletics director of Strategy and Competitive Success, will oversee the strategic competitiveness unit. The group will be responsible for revenue-sharing initiatives and will work closely with the conference and the NCAA regarding reporting mechanisms.

“We have a person that does analytics for us. We have a person in legal, a person who handles business operations, people that helped generate revenues, that will look at the new commercial business or new opportunities for our NIL licensees, which are our student-athletes,” said Mohajir. “They’ll be working with all of our different sports.”

UCF’s model is similar to those universities nationwide will be utilizing.

The House settlement is expected to be approved in April, but hurdles still need to be cleared before it can be officially announced.

It’s something that Mohajir and his counterparts at other Big 12 schools deal with weekly.

“This is a very fluid process,” he said. “Some of the guidance we’re getting doesn’t align with the NCAA rules so now, you have to look at how the NCAA rules align with this new world we’ll be living in.”

Matt Murschel can be reached at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com

Dolphins (4-6) vs. Patriots (3-8), Sunday, 1 p.m., CBS

Latest line: Dolphins are favored by 7 points

Dave Hyde, Sports Columnist (Season record: 5-5): Dolphins 27, Patriots 20

The Patriots are in the lightweight class with the Jets, Titans and Bears, whom they’ve all beaten in recent weeks. When they went against a middleweight like the Los Angeles Rams last weekend, they did enough for people to praise rookie quarterback Drake Maye in a loss. Maye didn’t play in the first meeting against the Dolphins, a close Miami win. But Tua Tagovailoa didn’t play in that game either.

Chris Perkins, Dolphins Columnist (Season record: 6-4): Dolphins 31, Patriots 20

The Dolphins’ new ball control offense must still find a big-play threat either in the passing game or the run game. It’s strange to think of star wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle as the warmup act, but they’re currently playing a lesser role as the Dolphins lean on the resurgent running game. Perhaps they can become threats again.

David Furones, Dolphins Writer (Season record: 7-3): Dolphins 31, Patriots 17

Drake Maye has some moments, but the Dolphins defense rebounds with third-down stops this week and the occasional takeaway. Tua Tagovailoa continues to play efficient football as Patriots coach Jerod Mayo is sure to take a Belichickean approach to containing Tyreek Hill. But Tua stays unbeaten against New England in his career, and Miami goes into Thanksgiving with a chance to get back to .500.

Kathy Laughlin, Sports Editor (Season record: 7-3): Dolphins 34, Patriots 21

The Dolphins are feeling confident on their two-game win streak, and the Patriots aren’t strong enough to knock them out of that groove, especially at Hard Rock Stadium in late November. The schedule gods blessed Miami with this one. The Dolphins need to stay focused on the task at hand, but Miami must also be aware of the need to keep everyone healthy for Thanksgiving game (yep, short week!) at less-balmy Green Bay.

Keven Lerner, Assistant Sports Editor (Season record: 7-3): Dolphins 27, Patriots 20

The Dolphins’ easy schedule continues Sunday against the rival Patriots. Miami has eight games this season against the NFL’s worst teams. They have four of those games remaining against the Patriots (3-8), two against the Jets (3-8) and Cleveland (2-8). They won’t waste those opportunities. But they will be hard-pressed to beat San Francisco at home and Green Bay and Houston on the road in the final playoff push. But, simply put, they should have no problems against New England.

Steve Svekis, Assistant Sports Editor (Season record: 7-3): Dolphins 23, Patriots 22

The Dolphins get a vastly different Patriots team than the one they escaped with a 15-10 win against last month in Massachusetts. Led by the mobile rookie quarterback Drake Maye, the Patriots went from averaging 12.4 points a game with Jacoby Brissett starting to averaging 20.0 points a game with the rookie. And, of course, the Dolphins defensive issues against mobile quarterbacks have run far and deep in recent years (going 7-25, allowing 29.5 points and 408 yards per game on average against such passers since 2018). That said, Maye has shown a raw side that should be enough to allow Miami to get to 5-6.