SAN JOSE, CALIF.—Silver Creek’s baseball team has triumphed in many games and overcome many challenges throughout the 2024 season.

The 2024 season began on Jan. 29 and will end on May 7. Practices are regularly held Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays and games are held on Wednesdays and Fridays. The coaches of the Junior Varsity team are Frank Chavez, Aaron D’Oleo and Angel Herrera, and the Varsity coaches are Randy Omoto, Jesse Garcia, Miguel Mejia and Robert Resendez.

Senior Keith Truong, who plays third base on the Varsity team, says they have warmup drills such as short hops and one-hop fielding among other fielding drills. Short hop drills are when the player catches the hop ball right after it bounces and begins to rise back up. One-hop drills are when the player catches the ball after it hops once.

Freshman Nicholas Ortega, who plays outfield on the JV team, says that his specialized drills following the warmup drills include catching flyballs and throwing. Flyballs are balls that are batted high in the air.

Equipment-wise, players are expected to wear athletic cups, cleats, gloves and a helmet. 

All the training doesn’t come without struggles, though. Batting, fielding, running bases and decision-making all play big roles during the match. Batting refers to hitting the ball so it is possible to run a score. Fielding is rebounding the ball after it has been struck and getting it back into play to prevent the opposing team from scoring. Running bases is performed by the batting team, running around the bases to score points. Decision-making is used when deciding to run further bases or not.

Mental is one of the toughest aspects to conquer. Players need to have positive mindsets or else performances drop. Some players have things they say to themselves to keep their mental up. Ortega says to “Go for the win,” because of his determined attitude and Truong keeps himself level-headed by saying “Calm down, everything is about keeping your head straight.”