2013 Community Sports Archive Stories

Softball fields all around Yuma will be a little busier this weekend as the 42nd annual Dennis Donnelly Memorial Arizona/California Men's 16-inch slow pitch softball state championship gets underway.According to Yuma Parks and Recreation adult sports supervisor Adam Christensen, Yuma's yearly tournament is one of the only 16-inch sof

As master of ceremonies John Blabe announced Bernie Montoya's name for the boys track and field player of the year award, something Montoya had never seen started happening.People rose to their feet as they applauded the three-time Yuma Sun/Yuma Rotary Club Male Athlete of the Year. Cibola runner Monica Huston won female Athlete of t

Little by little, piece by piece, Timmy Reese has been progressing as a dirt track racer.Ever since coming on the scene during the inaugural Cocopah Speedway season in 2010, Reese has driven hard, sometimes too hard, and paid the price. He's endured crashes, including a rollover, and heartaches, having come close to tasting victory o

You have to wonder if, when Brett Simala was a young boy, was he the type of youngster who did exactly the opposite of what he was told to do?Because that's been his mode of operation recently at Cocopah Speedway, and it's working out quite nicely for the driver in the Pro-Stock Division.In eight feature event starts so f

To an outsider, it might seem strange why University of Arizona fans were booing their beloved hall of fame basketball coach at Lutes Casino Thursday night.They weren't booing. They were saying “Lute.”The Wildcat fans knew exactly what they were doing, emphasizing the “u” as they cheered former Ari

A sea of 5- and 6-year-olds swarmed one of the outfields at the Ray Kroc Baseball Complex, each with a soccer ball at their feet and enough energy to power Yuma for a month.Caught in the riptide of the three-foot-tall ocean was coach Ruben Perez, giving direction to his group at the first of six free soccer clinics being put on by th

Not every city gets the annual University of Arizona Road Tour to show up at its door every year, but Yuma is an exception.For the fourth straight year, a cast of coaches — including head football coach Rich Rodriguez, head men's basketball coach Sean Miller and head women's basketball coach Niya Butts — will be at Lutes

On the corner of 8th Street and Magnolia Avenue sits an old, grey brick building with “Arviso Karate” painted above the black barred gate in front of the double-door entrance.Upon entering, a trophy case displays the accomplishments of students from the past 50 years, while the next doorway leads to the room where those s

So far, Ty Rogers is a perfect 7-0.His plan is to go 10-0.But that, he said, will take a lot of luck.“About 90 percent,” he said this week as he prepared for the next round in the 2013 Cocopah Speedway Racing Series Saturday night at Cocopah Speedway.Since the season opened in January,

When Miles Morris arrived at Cocopah Speedway Saturday night, he wasn't dressed to go racing.Not hardly.Fresh from the father-daughter ball at his daughter's school, wearing dress clothes and a tie, he quickly put on his driving suit, traded his dancing shoes for his driving shoes, and got down to the business of winning

Despite an early two-run lead and another impressive performance from starter Sarai Camacho, the Kofa softball team couldn't find the timely hits.The No. 24 Kings dropped their first-round game to No. 9 Desert Mountain 6-2 in the Arizona Interscholastic Association Division I State Tournament.“It was a good game,&rd

While working in his lab late one night …OK, Greg Burgess is no mad scientist, but the director of operations at Cocopah Speedway is starting to see a transformation take place at the Somerton oval, a transformation he is orchestrating not with a scalpel, electrodes and a lightning bolt, but with an eye on the future.

LOCAL RACINGService for racerDerek Sanchez, a drag racer who lived in Yuma, will have a celebration of life in his honor May 5 at Radisson Hotel Yuma.The service, “The 150 MPH Librarian,” will run from 1 to 4 p.m.Sanchez died April 11 after an April 6 crash at an NHRA even

You can't judge a book by its cover.Apparently you can't judge a race track by its video, either.Just ask Damion Gardner.Gardner, from Concord, Calif., had never been to Cocopah Speedway, so to prepare for the Amsoil USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series, two-night show he watched a lot of footage of other sprint car rac

Joey Pickels and Martin Salgado both made the cut at the Arizona Stroke Play Championship at the TPC Champions Course in Scottsdale over the weekend. Pickels finished Sunday tied for 38th place, shooting 23 over par, while Salgado finished tied for 34th at 21 over par. Pickels' best round was Friday when he shot an even 72. Salga

Sean Matson found himself lying on the ground in the middle of center field at Kennedy Park Saturday night with a ball clutched in his hand and had one thought running through his mind.His diving catch just made his wallet a little bit heavier.Matson and his teammate Mike Ham of Valley Farms defeated Jeremy Ives and Chaz

Late in his senior year at Cibola High School, Kelvin Gastelum watched former Raider Efrain Escudero win “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show, earning a UFC contract.A couple months later, the now-graduated Gastelum saw fellow Cibola grad Edgar Garcia compete on mixed-martial arts' highest stage.Four years on,

It was a rough day for Gila Ridge tennis. Hawk senior Katlyn Jones lost 6-1, 6-0 to No. 4 Natalia Lombardi in the third round of the Arizona Interscholastic Association Division II State Tournament on Saturday at Paseo Racquet Center in Glendale. “She would hit the ball like a man,” Jones said of Lombardi. &ld

The Yuma Slowpitch Softball Hall of Fame has announced its Class of 2013, which includes six men, one woman, a coach and a sponsor. The 2013 player inductees are Jim Daily, “Mousie” Gonzalez, Larry Lagunas, Ralph Silva, Gary Steen, Eric Wahl and Jimmy Williamson.Rudy Lorona, co-founder of the Hall of Fame, wil

The Model T has certainly come a long way – on the race track.Dirt track racing, or to be more specific, sprint car racing, dates back to the 1930s when drivers would strip down a Ford Model T and turn it into a race car. This was referred to as “dirt track racing.”Somewhere around 1950 the term “s

The sun was just starting to rise as Joey Miller passed mile 50 of the Mint 400 race in Las Vegas on March 23.It'd been a rough 50 miles for Miller, who noticed something wrong with the Jeep he'd built after finding it abandoned on an off-roading track.“It was acting up the whole time,” Miller said. “We'

MMAGastelum wins Ultimate Fighter Kelvin Gastelum became the second Yuma fighter to win The Ultimate Fighter, beating Uriah Hall in a split decision on Saturday night. Gastelum won on two cards 29-28 and lost 29-28 on the third. Gastelum also became the youngest winner of the UFC reality show at 21 yea

Generally speaking, there's not much overlap between the world of librarians and the world of drag racers.Derek Sanchez bridged that gap. And according to friends, it's what made him one of a kind.The 47-year-old Yuma resident and NHRA racer died Thursday after a crash April 6 left him in a coma. Jeff Nolte, w

Kelvin Gastelum doesn't just have an opponent to worry about.He doesn't just have a live, national TV audience to deal with.He's got his future to think about, too.The Cibola graduate is set to face Uriah Hall at 6 p.m. today in Las Vegas in the finale of the 17th season of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

Cibola graduate Kelvin Gastelum is a win away from becoming The Ultimate Fighter champion and earning a UFC contract.Gastelum got through the TUF reality show and will fight Saturday night against Uriah Hall. The winner of the middleweight bout will get a contract in mixed-martial arts' highest circuit.The event from Las