YC finds local to coach softball team

After spending 10 months out of the year commuting from Yuma to El Centro to coach softball, Santos Renteria is looking forward to the shortened drive time his new job provides as the new head softball coach at Yuma Catholic.

"It was hard to leave because it was a good team coming back, but it's closer to home and I had to do what was right for me and family," Renteria said. "I feel very comfortable with [athletic director Rhett Stallworth] and what he brings to the table. He holds you accountable for what you do, and when somebody challenges me that works for me."

Renteria spent the last two years at Central High School resurrecting a program that had only won two games in the past four years. Central won six games in 2008 and went 8-12 last year.

"Coaching is not a seasonal thing to me," he said. "It's a year-long deal that I put 100 percent into and I'm glad they're giving me an opportunity."

Renteria takes over for assistant coach Terra Martinez, who filled in as the head coach last year and will continue to work as a counselor at the high school. Yuma Catholic was 7-9 last year in AIA games.

"We had the job open, and of all the applicants he was the one that fit the mold for us," Stallworth said. "He has a good reputation as a softball coach, he's a proven winner and his philosophy fits with ours."

Area residents familiar with high school athletics in the last 30 years will recognize Renteria, who coached boy's basketball and softball at San Pasqual in the 1980s. He's also worked with a Yuma-area traveling teams and players around town, including 2009 Yuma Sun/Rotary Club All-Region Player of the Year Sarah Ray.

"Central is a 4A school, so we played a lot of San Diego teams, and our conference in the valley was very tough with teams like Brawley and Southwest. It's like facing teams like Cibola all the time," Renteria said. "It going to be a little different (playing in 2A). I've dealt with teams like Phoenix Christian and Bourgade (Catholic) and they can play with the 4A and 5A teams. Softball is a whole different situation than football and basketball, especially at a private school."

Renteria's team played in Yuma Catholic's softball tournament last year, but he has little knowledge of the players he is inheriting.

"I've been waiting to talk to her (Martinez) when she gets back in town to see what we have, but I've already got support from parents calling and congratulating me. Hopefully we can have a meeting in the next couple weeks and start to get the program turned out, and I think I can do it."