Week Nine

For my last article I did a story about whether the San Francisco Giants would reach the World Series again.

Week Eight

For week eight I did a badminton preview.

Week Seven

For week seven I switched it up again and wrote a softball story instead. But like the baseball story it did not make paper or online.

By: Sergio Valencia

            Rain brings an end to De Anza Softball awful loss against Diablo Valley College Friday afternoon.

Marking the fifteenth straight loss for De Anza this season and the fifth time they’ve been shut out after losing 9-0.

            From the beginning the Diablo Valley Vikings poured it on against the Dons. Earning 6 of their 9 runs at the top of the second inning.

            Team captain, and pitcher Molly Mills would have the hard task of rallying the team and keeping the team with a positive energy after having a few errors, she said.

“You really just have to forget about the errors,” said Mills, “You just have to shake them off really quick and not let it affect the rest of the game.”

After a horrible second inning the Dons defense stiffened a little and finally earned its only run of the game during the fourth inning courtesy third base(wo)man Katie Failner.

Since she was young Failner has been a part of struggling teams so she always tries to do her part by being a voice for the team giving them positive criticism, she said.

“Give them criticism but positively because girls are more sensitive,” said Failner “Making sure that the criticism is constructive and not destructive.” 

Criticism and all De Anza still could not catch a break, yet alone a ball. Allowing a pop up to first to land on the ground instead of a glove after there was a mix up between several players on who was going to catch it.

Yup, that’s the type of day they had.

Diablo Valley on the other hand would capitalize on the Dons mistakes, picking up the final two scores of the game in the fifth inning.

By this point Dons head coach Megan Kravets was making changes to the line ups on both offense and defense trying to find a formula that works.

“I was just trying to change things up for pitching to see if it would help,” said Kravets “And to see if we can make any changes in the outfield for us to give us more depth.”

  Its clear De Anza is still trying to find its groove, and the team still has its head up. “A win is coming soon” said Mills.

Week Six

Now we start to change it up. This week I wrote a baseball story that didn't make the paper or online. so here's my copy.

By: Sergio Valencia

Sunny skies turned grey on the De Anza Dons Wednesday, Feb. 10 falling to Marin College 4-1 after three and a half hours of play.

Even with the clear skies and warm weather, neither team was able to establish themselves early on. Going two innings without a single score.

It wasn’t until the top of the third that Marin was able to earn the first score of the game after getting a few good hits. Holding De Anza without a score until the bottom of the fifth inning.  

After the slow start head coach Erick Raich pulled the team aside, letting them know he wasn’t pleased with the performance thus far, and that they needed to put pressure on the other team.

 “I was a little disappointed in our competiveness,” said Raich, “It didn’t seem like we had a lot of fight”

The players responded.

No player responded more than sophomore outfielder Cris Castillo. Starting the fifth inning with a single, then stealing his way to second, and finally finding his way all the way home after a throwing error by the catcher.

“You want to be the catalyst, no matter where you are in the lineup,” said Castillo, “If you get in late in the game you want to do something that affects the team in a positive way”

And Castillo did just that, sparking some excitement in his team by laying it all on the line, leading the team with two stolen bases and earning the teams only run of the night.

However, the Dons were unable to keep Castillo’s momentum going. Failing to earn a single run for the remainder of the game, while giving up three to the Mariners.

The lose puts the team at a 3-2 record to start the season, leaving some room for improvement.

Every game is a learning experience, a couple mistakes were made here and there, but nothing that can’t be fixed, said sophomore infielder Alex Roque.

Aside from some small mental mistakes, De Anza’s real problem was a lack of competitiveness, said Raich.

“I think we’ve got half the guys that really care and want to compete, and I think we have another half that are kind of just happy to say they’re playing college baseball,” said Raich.

Look for the Dons to have adjustments made in their lineups for future games as coach Raich searches to find his “magic ingredient” for more wins as the season progresses.

Week Five

You guessed it, another basketball story.

Week Four

For the Fourth week I did a Super Bowl Preview.

Week Three

For the third week I did yet another basketball story, maybe a bit better.

Week two

For my second assignment I attended a men's basketball game.

Week One

For my first assignment I accompanied Taylor to a basketball practice in order to interview some of the players as well as the coach in order to create some cut lines for a photo story. The Story was published in the paper but not put up online so am not able to upload on this post.