Amateur

Agreeing to a $5.25 million signing bonus with Miami high school shortstop Manny Machado with three minutes to go before Monday's midnight deadline pushed the Orioles into uncharted territory -- the most money the franchise has ever spent on one amateur class. Joe Jordan, the organization's amateur scouting director, said the total expenditure for the 39 players the Orioles signed this year was "a little north of $9 million. " That's the most the club has spent since Jordan began drafting for the Orioles in 2005, surpassing last year's $8.7 million.

US Lacrosse Thirteen from Md. selected to women's national team In preparation for the 2013 Federation of International Lacrosse World Cup, US Lacrosse on Monday announced its 36-player women's national team, which includes 13 players from Maryland. Georgetown coach Ricky Fried , who will serve as coach for the national team, said selecting the team was more difficult than ever. "This was the most competitive tryout I've ever been a part of," he said in a news release.

Justin Thomas of Goshen, Ky., overtook leader Denny McCarthy of Burtonsville with a birdie on the 17th hole, and after finishing regulation play all square, won the ensuing first extra hole with a par to gain the final of the U.S. Junior Amateur championship in Ada, Mich. McCarthy had advanced to the afternoon match when he birdied the first playoff hole to defeat Canadian Richard Jung in a morning quarterfinal. pairing. Thomas will face Jim Lio of Smithtown, N.Y., , a 3-and-2 winner over Robby Shelton of Winner, Ala., in a scheduled 36-hole final.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Ten amateurs made the U.S. Open field. Two made the cut. And both surged into the fringes of contention Saturday. Scott Langley cracked the top 10 for a while after he made eagle at No. 6. He finished with a 77 and is 8 over after three rounds. Langley is on the run of his life, winning the NCAA championship two weeks ago after entering the event ranked 26th, according to Golfweek. The 21-year-old lefty said no matter what happens at Pebble Beach, he will return to the University of Illinois for his senior year.

"I'm so happy my husband doesn't know who I am," Carolyn Williams said. No, she's not a misbehaving housewife on some tacky TV show. Williams was attributing her fresh rush of cheer to her participation in the inaugural BSO Academy, which will wrap up an intensive week of activities for adult amateur musicians with a "donor appreciation concert" and party on Saturday at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Nearly 50 people from around the region paid up to $1,650 for this new community outreach venture by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, a camp for grownups who wanted to take their musical interests to a different level.

There's always something, isn't there? There's always a catch. The world is a tricky place. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. If you're not on your game and you don't read the fine print, you stand a pretty good chance of being somebody's sucker. It's all acutely true if you're a guy who doesn't do a lot of retail shopping in big, national chains, which describes me. If I can shop at a locally owned store, that's what I usually do. Things are less complicated there and, when you have an issue, you can talk to the man or woman who owns the business.

Got your own story to tell? Maybe even one that doesn't involve high school? Maybe even one that never happened but sounds good anyway? The Baltimore area offers a handful of places where storytellers and poets, both amateur and professional, specializing in fiction or nonfiction, can ply their craft. Here are four of the most popular: 510 Reading Series Begun in 2007, the 510 Readings Series "was really the first dedicated fiction reading series in the city," says Peggy Hoffman, co-owner of Minas Gallery, which serves as host for the free monthly gathering.

Alexis Thompson already has rewritten plenty of the "youngest" standards around women's golf. The next one, though, looms as her biggest. The South Florida prodigy, the nation's top-ranked female amateur for more than a year, is set to turn pro at next month's Shoprite LPGA Classic. Her first round for pay is June 18 — four months past her 15th birthday. By comparison, Michelle Wie waited until one week before turning 16 to turn pro. "She thinks she's ready," said her father, Scott Thompson.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One not-so-subtle sign that it takes more than one week to think anything regarding Tiger Woods might be getting back to normal, even on the golf course: Three uniformed police officers on the Quail Hollow practice green. For a pro-am round. At 7:20 a.m. Not just plain-clothes officers walking inside the ropes, each with a badge attached to his belt. We're talking full Charlotte-Mecklenburg police attire — pistols in holsters, handcuffs hanging off the belt in back, flashlights, walkie-talkies.