Sports briefs

Madness:Chance to win $100,000

The Nevada Appeal and other newspapers in the Sierra Nevada Media Group are offering those interested a chance to play in a March Madness contest in which participants have a chance to win $100,000.

Those interested in the NCAA Tournament contest can go to www.nevadaappeal.com/basketball to enter. There's no charge to enter the contest.

The contest allows participants to pick the winners of each NCAA Tournament game as they happen. Participants don't have to pick the winners of the entire tournament before it begins.

Participants can pick the winner of each game up to 20 minutes before it begins. Even if participants aren't able to pick all the games, a winner will be picked for them as the team that is picked the most by those playing in the contest will be automatically picked for those participants.

Even after the tournament begins, those interested can enter at any point during the tournament. There's also a chance to play in private groups.

Anyone who picks all the games correctly could win $100,000. Those who miss just one or two games could win $10,000. Those who miss three games could win $1,000.

Additionally, national grand prizes for the player with the highest score will be a 16GB iPod Touch sponsored by Upickem and a Sapphire Series College watch sponsored by Game Time.

Dayton softball rolls to win vs. Truckee

Sierra Barnwell struck out nine in a complete game effort as the Dayton High softball team rolled to an 8-1 win over Truckee on Wednesday at Sparks' Shadow Mountain Sports Complex.

Barnwell pitched a four-hitter. Brittany Burrows had one hit, Melissa Goetz had one hit and one run, Miriah Collins was 2-for-3 with an run and an RBi, Breanna DeHaven had a hit, two runs and an RBI and Nicole Iratcabal was 1-for-3 with two RBI for Dayton (4-1, 4-0 in the Northern 3A).

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For more details, including how ties are broken, go to www.nevadaappeal.com/basketball.

The Nevada Appeal and other Sierra Nevada Media Group newspapers are also offering a chance to enter a NASCAR contest and a contest for The Masters as well. To enter the NASCAR contest, go to www.nevadaappeal.com/autoracing.