SPORTS

RCC softball on

three game win

streak after loss

STEPHEN PELTZ

SPORTS EDITOR

Riverside City College Softball team pulled off a dominating win against Santiago College 9-3. The Tigers are now on a three game winning streak. RCC’s softball team nearly lost control of the game in the top of the third inning when they gave up three runs to Santiago to be down 3-2. They quickly gained it back in the bottom of the fourth when RCC’s bats FaXght fre driving in  rXns to take the lead 6-3.

Whether the Tigers were down or ahead, the players bats were not letting them down resulting in long at bats and a total of  hits.

Many of the Tigers at bats featured foul balls keeping them alive in the batting box for more than 5 pitches for nearly every player.

“We kinda knew what kind of pitching we were going to be facing so we really prepared for that pitching,” Michelle Daddona, head coach of the softball team said. “I think the girls did a good job of taking that preparation from practice yesterday into today and capitalizing on that.”

The Tigers pitchers were also dominant this whole game besides the third inning.

“I think just keeping our focus on our goals and that pitching circles been huge for us,” said Daddona. “Knowing that were not going to be able to just rely on one person to go an entire game and them feeling really Fomfortable and Fonfdent that giving them that one two punch and knowing they each want it for each other I thinks been a huge advantage for us lately in the circle.”

Relief pitcher Marissa-Lena Nares got the win after coming in for Carrah Van Houten in the top of the fourth. Nares pitched the rest of the game totaling three strikeouts and walked four batters.

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Freshman Lela Hernandez at bat, Henandez has twelve hits and three RBI’s on the season. ANGEL PEÑA | VIEWPOINTS

Riverside City College long jump team placed in frst and seventh place earning them eleven points. The Riverside invitational hosted several divison one schools to compete at Wheelock Stadium on Friday Mar

RCC Invi

Invitational R C C Track & Field

RCC men’s and women’s track and field teams both placed second in their respective genders during an invitational held March 6th at RCC. Both men’s and women’s teams were consistent the entire event. The women’s team won a total of three events and placed in eight events, earning them second place in the meet. The men’s team won four events and placed in a total of 10 events.

Riverside City College long jump team placed in frst and seventh place earning them eleven points. The Riverside invitational hosted several divison one schools to compete at Wheelock Stadium on Friday Mar. 6. The Tigers men’s and women’s teams excelled in their respective events.

Invitational Track & Field

RCC men’s and women’s track and field teams both placed second in their respective genders during an invitational held March 6th at RCC. Both men’s and women’s teams were consistent the entire event. The women’s team won a total of three events and placed in eight events, earning them second place in the meet. The men’s team won four events and placed in a total of 10 events.

ANGEL PEÑA | VIEWPOINTS

Riverside City College sophomore Angel Mendoza slides to avoid getting tagged out, securing a run for the Tigers. Mendoza has 10 hits and 9 runs scored on the season after the Mar. 7 game against Saddleback College. The Tigers play Santa Ana College on Saturday Mar. 14. Tigers fall to Saddleback College

Riverside moves to a 15-6 record on the season

JAIR RAMIREZ

STAFF REPORTER Riverside City College baseball loses on the road to Saddleback College 4-3 in a nailbiter on Mar. 7.

RCC took an early 2-0 lead after freshman outfielder Alphonzo Mancinas doubled to right field driving in two runs.

Mancinas had three hits in four at-bats, two runs batted in and a stolen base. The Tigers added another run in the top of the fifth when sophomore outfielder Dylan Morace hit his second home run of the season, he also stole a base.

They took a 3-2 lead to the eighth, behind a strong pitching performance from sophomore pitcher Marques J o h n s o n , w h o h a d s i x strikeouts in seven innings pitched.

Freshman pitcher Josiah Torres who up to this point had a perfect ERA took the mound in the eighth inning and had a 1,2,3, inning.

Torres struck out the first batter in the bottom of the ninth inning but couldn’t r e c o r d t h e o u t a f t e r t h e catcher dropped the ball and couldn’t find it allowing the batter to reach first and then everything started to go downhill for RCC.

After recording the first out of the inning, Torres walks the next batter putting runners on first and second base.

With two outs, Torres throws a wild pitch allowing the runners to move up a base.

He walks the batter to load up the bases. The next batter hits a liner to third which bounces off the third baseman’s glove into left field allowing SC to score two runs and win the game 4-3.

R C C l o s t t w o o u t o f the three games to Orange Empire Conference rival SC with each game coming down to the last at bat.

R C C g o e s t o a 1 5 - 5 record, 1-2 in conference play. They next face OEC rival Santa Ana College on the road Mar. 12.

ANGEL PEÑA | VIEWPOINTS

Campus Conversations

What would you do if Riverside City College has been exposed to the coronavirus outbreak?

“I came for these classes, so I’m coming for these classes.” -John Bahod

”I don’t know what I would do honestly. I’m stumped. I recently just found out that there was a case in Riverside that came out this morning, but here I wouldn’t know what to do.” - Lizette Guzman

“I would do everything exactly the same as I am doing now. I am young, healthy, and I don’t care. Just wash your hands, try not to touch your face or eyeballs, and that’s about it. I wouldn’t do anything differently.”

-Brandon Pifer

“I would definitely contact the administration and have them put out a public notice. I would maybe consider taking classes at home or online.” -Sophia Belarde

Campus Conversations is an open forum for Riverside City College students to voice opinions and share ideas.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JACQUELINE LOPEZ A homegrower’s delicious THC/CBD cultivar becomes rich with tiny, sticky hairs (trichomes) in Whittier, CA.

Capitol Hill cannot stop cannabis

It’s been 50 years since the infamous Controlled Substances Act was signed into law by former President Richard Nixon, chaining the fower to the same DEA classification used for heroin.

According to Gallup, 66% of Americans now support nationwide legalization of cannabis for adult-use, and if the trend of the past decade continues, that support will likely increase to 75% by the 2024 election.

A lt hou g h t he c u r r e nt NOAH LOPEZ OPINIONS EDITOR With help from Millennials, Gen Z voters will close the fower gap left by Nixon political climate isn’t exactly friendly to cannabis, time will be. A decisive 81% of 18-29 year olds support legalization, quite literally leaving Generation X and Baby Boomer’s in the past. History tells us change may not happen overnight, perhaps not even for a career, but it also tells us that politicians will need much more than red tape to stop Americans’ embrace of fowers. With combined recreational and medical sales in the U.S. reaching almost 14 billion in 2019, the fower’s juxtaposition against federal policy which classifes it as devoid of medicinal value has become something of a green elephant in the Senate. The matter is immense in scope, undoubtedly requiring careful implementation, but hesitance from Republican lea de r s ha s compou nded problems exponentially from seed to smoke.

There is currently stalled legislation on the floor which would eliminate the costly gap between licensed cultivators and the federally insured banking institutions with whom they wish to secure their funds. In other words, cannabis companies would finally have access to basic banking services like the rest of the world.

No, grower’s can’t make deposits at the bank; and yes, they are literally spending millions on security guards to protect their cash fortunes. Despite passing the House with a landslide vote of 321 to 103, the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act has been in limbo since September.

Chairman of the Senate committee on banking, Mike Cr apo ( R-I D), ha s ma de nonsensical comments regarding the SAFE act in addition to opposing legalization. Among his chief concerns is a problem that by design, the bill obviously intends to correct, which is illicit funds being laundered into our fnancial system.

Within the context of the ongoing struggle, Crapo’s choice of words such as “bad actors” and “cartels” point to cheap, yet subtle diversion. By confating a specifc, urgent banking issue with a larger, more complex and unrelated issue such as the “high level potency of marijuana”, he has effectively halted all progress.

I n r e s p on se, 50 ba n k organizations from 49 states plus Puerto Rico issued a letter last week imploring the committee to move forward with the bill, encouraging an immediate markup. They also assert that the Act is independent of the broader, nationwide legalization debate and should thus precede it.

The paradox of federally insured banks receiving federal sanctions and penalties for accepting federally legal tender is only one among the myriad of logistic, legislative, economic and cultural problems which plague cannabis in the United States.

The US isn’t ready for electronic voting

Paper ballots best solution for accurate elections due to lack of digital framework

DANIEL HERNANDEZ

STAFF REPORTER

In the past decade, the United States has seen tremendous amounts of technological growth, making virtually everything from grocery shopping to fling taxes easily accessible from your cell phone.

However, there is one aspect of our lives that technology has not made more convenient for the American people: Voting.

Americans, for the most part, are used to going to a polling station to cast their vote via pen and paper or with outdated electronic voting booths that are older than most of the Gen Z population.

Isn’t it about time for the United States to upgrade the voting technology? The short answer: No, or at least not yet. I believe that the country shouldn’t upgrade its voting tech nolog y. Although the country has already begun to create new voting technology, America is still not ready to face the problems that electronic voting booths bring to the table. For example, Los Angeles spent around $300 million for electronic voting booths. At frst glance it seems like the perfect solution to revolutionize voting. The booths are touchscreen, with 13 languages available and audio headsets. There was even an option that allowed you to vote on your phone which in turn created a QR code which can be scanned and allowed the machine to automatically fll out your ballot.

The machines would also print your ballot so you can check for errors and reinsert the ballot when you are satisfied. That paper ballot then gets inserted in a secure box as a safety measure. But things didn’t go as planned on Super Tuesday. While there was no sign of foreign interference or hacking, the booths began to malfunction. Many machines began to glitch, tablets that were used to checkin voters had errors within the system, and long lines began to form. In a polling center where they had 36 new voting booths, only nine were operational. Other centers had fully operational booths, but only had one checkin tablet. Both of these issues caused people to wait over two hours just to vote.

L o n g w a i t t i m e s a r e discouraging to voters young and old. However, the youth vote is already low compared to other age groups. On Super Tuesday, while turnout grew in general, the youth vote actually dropped considerably.

2020’s voter tur nout is looking to be massive and these long wait times just give millenials and Gen Z another excuse to not vote. So for at least this election, I prefer the tried and true method of pen and paper over these new futuristic machines.