Throughout the pandemic the Buena baseball team has put in hard work to make their season as great as possible. With the team’s best efforts, they closed off their season on Sat. May 15.  

“The pandemic brought positive and negative effects to us,” Junior Nathan Silva said. “Positively we were able to have a season and have a longer off season to get prepared but negatively shut us down last year and lost that season”. 

The team practiced every weekday and during the season had games on Fridays and Saturdays. Due to Covid-19, they had to follow guidelines and precautions like wearing masks and social distancing, but this didn’t stop the players from providing full participation. 

“The pandemic gave my arm a much needed rest, after pitching for a couple years straight, it kind of needed a break,” said Senior Sebastian Garcia, “It made me stop playing in games for a long period of time so I had to kick off some rust at the beginning of the year”.

Fri. April 31, the varsity team played against Oxnard and won a home game with the score of 8-3 and on Sat. May 1, won against Oxnard with the score of 11-0. 

“Our game against Oxnard went well,” said Junior Jacob Martinez, “It ran smoothly and winning felt great”. 

After playing Oxnard, the team prepared to play our cross town rivals, Ventura. “I was very prepared for the game, I did my pre-game routine and was ready,” said Martinez. As the team practiced and they were running low on time, the pressure was on. 

“There’s a little more pressure playing against your rival but personally I love pressure,” Garcia said, “It makes me want to win even more”. 

Fri. May 7, varsity played against Ventura. In the first inning the team scored three runs early leaving great energy to the team. In the sixth inning, the team scored two runs allowing tension to rise. By the last inning, Ventura was piling it’s runs causing Buena to lose with the score of 6-5.

“Our first game against Ventura was an all around good game,” Silva said. “It was a close game the whole game but we fell short in extras”. 

The season ended after playing against Rio Mesa with the winning score of 7-3. 

“I play baseball at Buena because I love the game and my teammates,” Garcia said, “My passion for the game is what keeps me motivated to play”.