Track season heating up

As the springtime weather is heating up, so is the track season for the Yuba College men’s and women’s track and field teams.The women’s team nearly dipped into the sweet taste of victory at the California Community College Small Schools State Championship recently held at Hartnell College in Salinas. The women placed second as a team at the meet also named the Ed Adam’s Invitational. In the upcoming weeks the women’s team will be getting ready to defend its Bay Valley Conference title at the conference meet. The strong women’s team will have to compete against some of the larger schools in the BVC since the small schools will be joining the large schools in the meet this year. Heather Contreras and Brianna Cardenas are each coming off injuries, which kept both women out of competition for weeks. Contreras excelled in the triple jump at the Ed Adams Invitational while Cardenas did well the 110-meter low hurdles and long jump. Cardenas did feel pain in her injured knee during the meet and may have reactivated the earlier problem. Hopefully this is not the case because she will be a strong competitor in the upcoming Nor-Cal Combined Events meet held in Redding and may even qualify for the Community College State Championships. Rachel Mintz will also join Cardenas at the combined events meet. Shelly Gowin and Makana Limary each threw the javelin over 100 feet while Ginny Wright placed within the top three in the 400 hurdles and 100 hurdles.The Yuba men’s team suffered a blow when freshman Sean Warner suffered an injury to his ribs at a meet in Fresno. If Warner is out for the season this will hurt the men’s chances of retaining their conference title. David Jones and Leroy Theodore will help the men’s team considerably in the sprinting events. Jones ran a 49 second split in the men’s 4-by-400 relay team and Theodore is nearly pushing 50 seconds in the open 400. Joe Lemenager will travel to Redding to compete in the Nor-Cal Combined Events meet and Warner qualified for the meet but it is unsure if he will be able to compete. The status of his injury and how serious it is was not known at this time. Kevin Hinman will be looked upon to pick up some much needed points for Yuba in the conference meet in the middle and long distance events while Jason Ybarra will also look to pick up some points in the same events. The BVC Championships will be held at Sacramento City College on April 25 and 28. Yuba baseball in tie for thirdThe Yuba College baseball tam moved into a tie for third place with Cosumnes River College in the Bay Valley Conference after a 21-19 win over Napa Valley College recently.The 49ers are just one game back of Sierra for second place. Yuba will play five of its next six games at home, which will be helpful and hopefully produce five more wins. The 49ers are 16-13 overall and 8-7 in BVC play.Poor defensive play has been a nemesis for Yuba at times throughout the season. Coach Tim Gloyd moved players into different positions in the infield, which caused some fielding errors. After numerous mistakes, Gloyd found where the problems consisted and made key position moves. Yuba’s offense has been explosive most of the season and scoring doesn’t seem to be a problem. Designated hitter J.J. Gibson leads Yuba with a .394 batting average in 71 plate appearances. He has drove-in 14 runs and hit seven doubles. Freshman Tory Davis and red shirt freshman Nick Washington are hitting .365. Davis has a team-high 29 RBIs, 5 homeruns and 10 doubles while scoring 23 times. Washington has 15 RBIs and two homeruns. Jake McConiga is hitting .336 with 26 RBIs, six doubles and three homeruns while Jesse Larkins has a .337 average with 25 RBIs. The 49ers pitching staff has done well so far. Josh Glynn has been Yuba’s ace this season with a 4-3 record with a 2.81 ERA, 40 strikeouts and just nine walks in 57.67 innings pitched. Redshirt freshman Chris Perry has a 1.57 ERA in 34.33 innings pitched with 22 strikeouts. Kevin Jensen has struggled with his control at times and has a 3.55 ERA in 58.33 innings pitched and has a team-high 45 strikeouts. McConiga, who starts in centerfield, has six saves and a 1.52 ERA with 24 strikeouts. With a strong pitching staff, powerful offense and a defense that is improving Yuba should earn a spot in the playoffs.Some tough games lie ahead for the 49ers and the team will finish the season with Sacramento City College at home on May 5. Softball strugglesThe Yuba softball team has struggled for most of the Bay Valley Conference season but have shown signs its a good ball club.Sophomore Christie Calvert has been solid at the plate and her defense is also good. The season is slowly coming to an end for the 49ers with just three BVC games left and a tournament to be played in Merced on April 21 and 22. This may be a rebuilding season for Yuba and next year the talent will be back for a second season with better success.