The Bluffer - Red Bluff, CA
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/118237
S ports Page 6 March 22, 2013 V baseball stays on top of league Rebecca Blanchard Viewpoints Editor With a series of wins under their belt, the Red Bluff Varsity Baseball team plans on improving in multiple aspects. According to Carson Ellis, the teams hitting is good, but there are to many strikeouts and there are to many errors in their baserunning. ���The season is off to a slow start, but we are going to start picking up the intensity and emotion at practice,��� said Evan Sinclair. Wyatt Houghtby also stated that there is room for improvement while agreeing that the need for improvement lies on the hitting and base running while adding that there are mental errors. Two of the afforementioned Sahvannah Rice/BLUFFER Junior Kyle Martin works on his base running after a hit in the varsity team���s practice last Wednesday night. players, Carson Ellis and Wyatt Houghtby, both stated that their biggest competitor is Pleasant Valley. The team has lost to P.V on three different occasions. ���Pleasant Valley by far, we always seem to not play our best when we play them,��� said Ellis. Despite the several losses and the need for improvement in certain aspects, the team has something that others might not: Cooroporation, according to Ellis. This may have to do with the team members��� love of the sport. ���I just love being outside, and the smell of the fresh cut grass all while hanging out with my brodies,��� said Houghtby. According to Ellis, it is a game of life because there is so much failing in Baseball that it makes you want to learn. The teams overall record for this season is six wins to four losses. All four of the Spartans losses are to the Pleasant Valleys team. This thus shows that the Spartans have only lost to them, and have won against every other team that they have played against in this 2013 season. Each of the losses, as well as the total amount of their wins are in the overall category as the Spartans have not played any league games. The spartans have only played pre-season games and tournements. The team will travel to Sacramento tomorrow to play at Raley field. Raley Field is the home of, Triple-A baseball team, the Sacramento River Cats. The team will play Gridley(1-5) at one p.m. The team is playing at Raley field through a fundraiser by selling tickets for an actual River Cats game. JV softball comes off strong from last tournament and sets goals for season Egan Meagher Sports Editor The Red Bluff jv softball team has started their preseaon with a 9-3 record and has had a strong showing at each of their games. Try-outs for the team started in early Febuary, after which the final 18 girls that would make the team were chosen. The team is made up of girls with differing level of experience in softball so the team is currently working on improving team unity and finding who works the best in what positions. ���We���re not really in specific spots yet, so we���ve been moving around a lot to find out where we work the best,��� said Stefanie Brunello, freshman. The team has been working to find their strengths and weaknesses as a team and as individuals so they can become more competitive against other teams in their league. ���We���re definitely really good defensively, we can make really easy plays and Track and field plans on breaking more school track records Sam Rodriquez Staff Writer Track is starting out a new season with high hopes. KJ Hinkston, sophomore, says he plans to ��� work hard, and practice a lot and most importantly, stay hydrated, that is extremely important.��� Stephen Hackstaff, senior, runs the 100 meter, 200 meter and Relay. Track���s last meet was held on Friday, March 15th at Chico. ���On Friday���s meet we ended up taking 2nd in everything, all the relays, which was great,��� according to Hackstaff. When asked if they had set any goals for themselves to hopefully meet by the end of the season, Hackstaff responded, ���Like any other track player I hope to break some records, but along with that I have some personal goals that I want to meet, like break the record for the 100 and the 200, improve on my block starts and also my handoffs.��� Hinkston, last year, broke the 4x4 record and now holds the school record. Along with that he wants to hopefully break another record; Hinkston hopes to break the JV record for the 400 and plans to work extremely hard to get there. Track practices most days of the week, for 2 hours , where they are broken into groups depending on what they run. ���In my opinion I think that Red Bluff���s a really good team this year and I think that we will accomplish a lot of great things this season,��� says Hackstaff. we get a lot of outs that,��� said Shelby Baccala, sophomore. Another skill that the team good at everything but we all have our off days,��� said Brunello We���re ��� we justalright, there���s a lot ofa talent haven���t bonded as team yet and we need to work on that to become better,��� - Shelby Baccala could possibly improve on is their hitting. ���Our hitting could be better, but we���re all pretty As a team they have also set some goals for themselves to achieve during the season. ���I think as a team our goal is to win league at the end of the season,��� said Brunello Some of these girls also have some experience in playing together and are familiar with each other���s skills. ���A lot of us have played ASA softball, and on traveling teams with each other so some of us already know each other from those teams before we came onto the jv team,��� said Brunello. The softball team, though, is focusing on coming together as a team so that they will perform better on the field. ���We���re alright, there���s a lot of talent we just haven���t bonded as a team yet and we need to work on that to become better,��� said Baccala. The girls will have an oppurtunity today and tomorrow to put all the work they have put into their sport in the Enterprise Tournament at Enterprise high school in Redding. Next Tuesday the girls will return to Redding to face Enterprise in a game. The team hopes to continiue with their strong start and hopes to take those strengths with them all the way to league.