The SEC gets its first ever NCAA championship in softball and the horse trying for the Triple Crown this weekend is a big favorite as these stories lead our Thursday Sports News And Notes…

** Alabama has captured the SEC’s first national championship in softball after it beat Oklahoma 5-4 last night in Oklahoma City.   The Tide finish 60-8 on the year and break a strangelhold of the Pac 12 for winning this championship.

** I’ll Have Another, trying for horse racing’s triple crown this weekend, has been made an early 4-5 favorite to win the Belmont Stakes in New York.

** In the action in Major League Baseball, New York downs Tampa Bay 4-1; the other American League winners are Toronto, Cleveland, Baltimore, Oakland, Seattle and Minnesota.   In the National League, Atlanta downs Miami 2-1 while some other winners are Washington, San Francisco, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Arizona and Cincinnati.