Jen Martinez hasn’t always been ready.

The senior third baseman and designated hitter knew she wasn’t ready to deal with the rigors of a four-year university and a major softball program out of high school. So she enrolled at Pima Community College and played softball for the Aztecs.

“I’m not very independent,” Martinez admitted. “Schoolwise, softballwise, I gained more experience. Looking back, it was a good decision for me.” [Read article]

Josh Pastner is finishing his third season as a full-time assistant coach for the Arizona men's basketball team, working primarily with the team's frontcourt players. He has helped recruit in such states as Texas in recent seasons, as well as develop the Wildcat big men. Pastner played in 42 games for Arizona and was part of the 1997 national championship team.

Pastner sat down with the Wildcat to discuss Hassan Adams' uniform next season, Salim's and Channing's draft prospects and the next - great? - Arizona point guard. [Read article]

Nobody was surprised when junior thrower Sean Shields broke the Arizona school record in the shot put with a throw of 65 feet, 7 3/4 inches, not even Shields himself.

"I knew it was just a matter of time before I was actually going to do it," the Pismo Beach, Calif., native said. "I was more relieved that I finally did it, because I knew I had the capability of doing it the last two years."

His throws coach, John Frazier, felt the same way. [Read article]

A pair of freshmen came to Tucson last season and had immediate impacts on the Arizona football team's defense.

Now, with a season of experience and conference accolades under their belts, cornerbacks Wilrey Fontenot and Antoine Cason look ahead to the fall with great anticipation.

"We want to be Pac-10 champs and make a bowl game," Cason said.

Arizona is laying the groundwork for those goals during its spring practices, the ninth of which was yesterday afternoon at Arizona Stadium. [Read article]

Heading into this weekend's home series with Pacific 10 Conference runner-up Oregon State, the No. 6 Arizona baseball team is coming off a program first.

The Wildcats swept consecutive Pac-10 road series for the first time in school history, and it was only the second time Arizona has swept two road series in a year.

Head coach Andy Lopez said sweeps in the Pac-10 are a bit of a rarity because of the conference's competitive nature. [Read article]