Unfortunately today I am writing my final column for South Valley Newspapers. I am returning to the San Francisco area and will no longer be the sports editor of the Morgan Hill Times and I will miss the covering sports, athletes and coaches in the South Valley.
Many of my columns were about sportsmanship and more often than not the exceptional sportsmanship shown by local teams and athletes. For instance, just this past weekend during the quarterfinals of the Central Coast Section softball playoffs in Salinas the Live Oak Acorns lost their division II game against Mitty, 9-1. When I interviewed Acorn coach Barry McDonnell after the game, he exuded the sportsmanship and positive attitude I have often seen displayed here.
McDonnell told me it wasn’t a tough game because the Acorns competed hard through the whole game, didn’t give up and played with enthusiasm. As we walked away from the field, McDonnell wished the Leland coach luck in its game. It is such sportsmanship that I will miss encountering.
In the same respects I enjoyed covering the emergence of the Sobrato Bulldogs athletic program. It is not an easy task to build a successful athletic program from the ground up and it remains to be seen just what heights the Bulldogs will be able to take their program to. However, I think that having to struggle in the Tri-County Athletic League with much more established, storied programs will benefit Sobrato in the long run.
Natalie Torrez, Sobrato’s varsity softball coach, told me after the Bulldogs game against Live Oak as the season was wrapping up that it was good for her team to be exposed to the talent and skill level in the TCAL. I couldn’t agree more.
I consider myself lucky that I was able to work as the sports editor of the Times and be exposed to well-run athletic programs and leagues.
It was an invaluable experience that will no doubt help me in my next endeavor.
Some of the best things about the time I spent as a sports editor in the South Valley were being able to cover well-established athletic programs like Live Oak, Gilroy and San Benito, as well as cover a program just getting its legs in Sobrato.
