Sports
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…
The Richmond Oilers’ baseball team has two wins this year and they’re both against their crosstown rival, the Kennedy Eagles. On Wednesday the lineup with “R” on their hats used eight walks and one hit-by-pitch to squeeze out a 7-6 victory. Eagles’ head coach Tim Logan said he pitched first-time player Gerald Cannon because five of his regulars had to hang up their cleats for academic reasons. “I like what I saw,” Logan said of Cannon’s two-plus innings of curveballs,…
Kennedy High’s track team competed in the Woody Wilson Classic at UC Davis Friday and Saturday. The girls’ 4×100-meter relay team finished fifth, while senior Takkarist “Takk” McKinnley took silver in both the 100 and 200-meter dash. Eagles’ head track coach Carl Sumler said he wasn’t concerned if his runners placed, only that they beat their personal records. Both did just that. The girls, composed of LaDejah Dillard, Alesia Miles, Diamond Sitts and Danaya Giddens, shaved four-tenths of second off…
Swett High southpaw Allen Ressler took his A-game the mound Wednesday evening as the Indians defeated the visiting Richmond Oilers 13-1.
Curator Melinda McCrary stands next to a clunky antique radio that’s perched on a classic wooden stand in the Seaver Gallery at the Richmond Museum of History. She signals for me to shut up and listen, then flips on a switch. Immediately the room fills with the voice of a sports commentator, and I am transported to the 1950s, listening to blow-by-blow accounts of the ups, downs and heartbreaks in a classic baseball game. This subtle but powerful use of…
The Lady Eagles softball team climbed above .500 in league play yesterday by defeating De Anza High 25-15. Marred by pitching that at times looked like bowling, Kennedy scored most of its runs on wild pitches and 17 walks. “We’re definitely not afraid to run the bases,” Lady Eagles’ head coach Amanda Stevens said during the game as she described a trick play designed to score a runner sitting on third base. With nobody out, sophomore Maria Llose took off…