Good Work!
The advice about writing an article to go with your shots is excellent advice. I am not much of a sports fan, however I am a car nut. In college, I shot some photos of new cars and sent them with a short piece about each to the Clarion Ledger in Jackson, MS. I landed a stringer gig with a weekly column and got to drive all the new cars. I shot most of the photos for the articles as well. I really got to know the dealers in town, and the paper's staff photographers were a great help in improving my dark room skills. They also would let me order lenses from Nikon Professional Services using their accounts ( paid for by the Clarion-Leger!) Keep up the good work and never take no for an answer from a newspaper. Make your stories concise and grammatically correct, and do not forget spelling. When you keep your name in front of the various editors, hopefully yours will be the first name to come to mind when they need a stringer/freelancer in a hurry. Always take the last minute stringer assignments, and do your absolute best work; you will build credibilty and a great portfolio of work. Earn some money too!
Be persistant and continue to do good work while still improving, you will make your own luck because you will have earned it!