It appears that the high school spring sports season is done in California.

The Wheatland High girls basketball team maintained its ascent atop the Butte View League and Northern Section Division IV perennial powers this past season. 

The NFL’s 55th annual Lombardi Trophy hunt will welcome an additional two teams, thus statistically improving the 49ers’ – and all teams’ – postseason chances.

“Every New Yorker was there when Bobby Thomson hit his home run to win the pennant, when Bill Buckner let the ball go through his legs in Game 6, when Roger Maris got No. 61, when the Rangers finally got the Stanley Cup. So they’ll say. And now they’ll say they were there the night Michael w…

CHICAGO – Like Michael Jordan and the 1997-98 Bulls, ESPN’s “The Last Dance” apparently cannot be held back. 

SACRAMENTO – The big guy has always been a big giver.

Postseason accolades have begun to roll in, and first up is the prep boys and girls soccer honors following the 2019-20 winter season. 

Editor’s Note: Two of our bigger leagues within the Sac-Joaquin Section are the Pioneer Valley League and Capital Valley Conference. PVL houses two of our main schools in Marysville and Lindhurst, while the CVC schedule has Yuba City and River Valley squaring off. Today: We look at statistic…

Editor’s Note: High school softball teams have only played a handful of games in 2020, but there are still a variety of area talent putting up big numbers in the small sample size that was played prior to the temporary postponement of spring sports due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

LOS ANGELES – Thoroughbred racing at Santa Anita Park was shut down shortly before its first post Friday by the Los Angeles County Health Department in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Editor’s Note: Baseball is a numbers sport and we have some stat darlings through the first few games played in the Northern Section before everything was put on hold amid public health concerns surrounding coronavirus. Today we take a look at the Northern Section’s prep baseball stat leaders. 

Hailey Peterson and Emma McConville signed their national letters of Intent to play for Simpson University (Redding) and William Jessup University (Rocklin) the day before Sutter High School closed its doors amid public health concerns surrounding coronavirus. 

LOS ANGELES – Imagine waking up Christmas morning, exchanging gifts with the family, having a midday brunch and then gathering around the television to watch ... Game 6 of the World Series?

Editor’s Note: The Appeal is working to feature as many area teams as possible following the temporary shutdown of spring sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today: Sutter High baseball and softball speak out about a forced hiatus to help stop the spread of coronavirus. 

Phil Bryant’s Northern Section all-star basketball game typically is one last opportunity for the area’s best to showcase its talent against the rest of the section – from near the Oregon border to down in Yuba-Sutter. 

For more than a century, the modern Olympics had persevered through floods, disease and political unrest. Only the first and second World Wars had forced them to step aside.

Madelynn Erickson has been toying with guns since the sixth grade. 

Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.

Editor’s Note: The Appeal is working to feature as many area teams as possible following the temporary shutdown of spring sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today: East Nicolaus High softball speaks out about a forced hiatus to help stop the spread of coronavirus. 

LOS ANGELES – The ‘S’ in ESPN stands for sports. So what happens to one of the most-watched cable networks when its programming staple – live contests – shuts down?

In light of recent developments surrounding COVID-19, Marysville Raceway has decided to postpone the 2020 championship auto racing season until April 11, according to a news release submitted on Thursday. 

Editor’s Note: The Appeal is working to feature as many area teams as possible following the temporary shutdown of spring sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today: Yuba City High baseball coaches and players speak out about a forced hiatus to help stop the spread of coronavirus. 

The Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox are still pushing forward for their regularly-scheduled season opener on May 21. 

Unfortunately, the time has come for me to move on from my position as Sports Editor for the Appeal-Democrat.

Last week Sutter High softball player Reagan Ford inked her commitment to play collegiate softball at Oklahoma Baptist University. 

The Yuba men’s basketball team got off to a hot start against College of the Sequoias on Saturday night in Linda. The 3-point shots were raining down and Joseph De’laCerda’s post presence was excellent. The 49ers were rolling. 

A deep playoff-run is nothing to new to the Yuba College men’s basketball program. However, something that is unfamiliar for the 49ers is their opponent tonight at the Yuba College gym: The No. 5 College of Sequoias Giants.

At Colusa High School boy’s soccer is more than a sport, it’s a culture carefully cultivated by longtime coach Dan Kiely, who in addition to building a perennially competitive program, has created an extended family of players both past and present.

BUTTE VALLEY – The Butte women’s basketball team hosted its first home playoff game in just over a decade. Meanwhile, the Yuba women’s team had just won its first conference title in school history. 

The Yuba College men’s basketball team took care of business on Saturday night at home as the 49ers took it to the visiting Las Positas College Hawks by a final score of 98-78.

There’s nothing quite like postseason college hoops and for fans of Yuba College basketball they get a two-for-one deal this season as both the men’s and women’s teams have qualified for the state playoffs. 

The East Nicolaus boys basketball team came up just short of a section championship on Friday night at Butte College as the Spartans fell to the defending champion Mt. Shasta Bears by a final score of 58-51. 

It’s not often that you find an Olympic level athlete from Yuba-Sutter. However, former River Valley High cross country and track star Swarnjit Boyal will compete at the Olympic Trials on Saturday in Atlanta, Ga. 

The No. 3 Gridley boys basketball team lost a tough battle on Wednesday night to No. 2 Pierce as the Bulldogs fell by a final score of 54-51. 

The Wheatland girls basketball team’s magical section playoff run ended on Tuesday night as the No. 9 Pirates fell on the road to No. 5 University Prep by a final score of 54-47. 

When a team gets behind early, coaches typically see one of two routes transpire: One is a sense of urgency and the other a feeling of despair. 

The Live Oak girls soccer team had a commanding playoff victory on Thursday over Wheatland  by a final score of 7-1. 

The distance between a player standing at the free-throw line and the basketball hoop is 15 feet. In theory, it’s a fairly easy shot. It’s just you, the ball and the hoop. There isn’t a clock counting down on you, nor is there a defender in your face guarding you. It’s just you and the basket. 

At home to begin the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs for the first time in 10 years, the Yuba City High boys basketball team got the pleasure of starting its postseason push against one of the premier leagues in the Sacramento Region. 

The Yuba men’s basketball team won its fourth straight conference championship on Wednesday night at home after defeating Contra Costa College by a final score of 93-66.