FOOTBALL

Raiders, Gruden open preseason with win — Coach Jon Gruden was a winner in his return to the sideline for Oakland when the Raiders got a touchdown pass from Connor Cook in a 16-10 victory over the Detroit Lions on Friday night. Gruden was welcomed back warmly to the Coliseum for his first game here as Raiders coach since beating the Jets in a playoff game Jan. 12, 2001. Gruden was traded to Tampa Bay after that season and has spent the past nine years as an ESPN analyst. Oakland settled for a punt on the only drive with starting quarterback Derek Carr, but scored three times in five drives with Connor Cook at the helm. Cook threw a 7-yard TD pass to Ryan Switzer in the second quarter and led Oakland to a pair of field goals.

SOFTBALL

U.S. defeats Australis at world championship — Monica Abbott had 18 strikeouts and the United States defeated Australia 3-1 on Friday in the playoffs of the women’s world softball championship. Abbott gave up a game-tying solo home run to Stacey Porter in the fourth inning but was solid the rest of the way, facing only seven hitters in the last two innings. The U.S. will next face the either Puerto Rico or Japan in the tournament, which also doubles as a qualifier for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The winner of the tournament will be awarded an Olympic spot. If Japan wins, the second-place finisher will be granted the Olympic spot because Japan has an automatic berth as host.

— From wire reports