Sports
Kiome Davis of Grant Elementary School wasn’t convinced she’d like track. She didn’t like training because it was too hard. On her third day of conditioning she said she heard her teammate use bad language. “I thought [the Richmond Grinders] was one of those bad teams that cusses a lot,” the nine-year-old said. She was panting from sprinting 200 meters in khaki pants and a white short-sleeve polo shirt. “[But] now that I got to know everybody—it’s good. We [train]…
Oakland A’s mascot Stomper and second baseman Eric Sogard made a special appearance at Stege Elementary School Friday before their game against the Kansas City Royals. The floppy-eared mascot and spectacled major leaguer were in town to celebrate the academic fields of science, technology, engineering and math. This is the second year the Oakland A’s have partnered with Chevron to promote the oil refinery’s scholastic workbook the “Science of the Game.” Last year the dynamic duo visited Lincoln Elementary School…
Jamaree Strickland sees the world differently. Some may even say the Richmond native has his head in the clouds. If anyone would know it’d be his mom, Stacey Strickland, who recalls that even back in preschool, when her son stood behind his friends they just reached up to the top of his stomach. “I don’t remember ever being average height,” Jamaree Strickland said upon his recent return from playing basketball in France for the USA Elite Under-23 team. “In the…
A 17-year-old powerlifter overtook his 71-year-old mentor Saturday. And he did it with ease. It may have taken the Kennedy High School special education junior three years of teeth-grinding training to accomplish the feat, but it was well worth the wait. “Today I got depressed,” special education teacher Salvatore Morabito said with a big laugh recounting how student Ryan Palmieri pushed and pulled more weight than his own bones could handle, 25 pounds more, in fact. “My glory days are…
The Salesian Pride defeated the backyard rival Richmond Oilers 11-2 in the first round of the high school baseball playoffs Wednesday evening, ending the Oilers’ season. The Pride scored six runs in the first two innings off eight walks, seven stolen bases and one hit. After scoring one more run in the third, Salesian’s coaching staff stepped off the gas pedal and played several junior varsity players. After the game Oilers’ head coach Deryk Hudson told his lineup of 10th…
It’s a hot afternoon at the Lucky A’s field in North Richmond, and the dozen or so kids who showed up for baseball practice today are sticking to a strip of shade next to the chain link fence. A couple boys are playing catch. Three others take up as a pitcher, a batter and a catcher. There’s a crack of the bat, and a ball flies into the sun. Kaaliyah Fluker, 11, the only girl on the team, watches, eyes…
After the Kennedy Eagles’ last batter struck out looking to end the game against divisional rival St. Joseph Notre Dame on Friday, Eagles’ senior third baseman Luis Martinez sat in the dugout by himself. His gaze was long and lonely as nine other teammates picked up equipment around him. For Martinez and three other seniors it would be the last time they donned the “K” uniform. But instead of walking back to the yellow bus for the long ride home,…
The Hercules Titans’ baseball team pounded out 11 hits in five innings Wednesday evening to defeat Kennedy, 11-1. The win moved the Titans into a first-place tie with St. Joseph Notre Dame in the Tri-County Rock Division. The game was almost like a home game for the visiting Titans as there were no Eagles’ fans in the bleachers. Titans’ followers, meanwhile, lined the third base line with folding chairs and umbrellas and enjoyed watching their freshman pitcher Justin Mahley throw…
Kennedy Eagles’ head coach Tim Logan sat on a milk crate near first base during the top of the third inning Friday afternoon and watched his team fall behind 10 runs to the visiting De Anza Dons. While Logan sat outside the dugout keeping the book, no permissible players sat in the dugout with rally caps on rooting for their teammates to make a comeback. Fragmented by poor academic achievement, the first-year head coach now faces a different kind of…