Page 9 - Dinuba Sentinel 6-28-18 E-edition

Sports
“I knew that if we could just hold them until we got to the top of our lineup we would have a very good chance.”
- Christian Guerrero, Braves head coach
The Dinuba Sentinel
B1
Thursday, June 28, 2018 Cal Ripken Baseball
Dinuba All Stars win District Championship
Team becomes the rst local Cal Ripken team to qualify for state playo s, enter as No. 1 seed
Orosco to take an early 4-0 lead.
After Prendez struck out his ninth consecutive
batter, Dinuba’s offense turned up the heat in the fourth inning. They scored four runs in the inning to take a commanding 9-0 lead. Starting off the rally was Dinuba’s Andrew Hernandez, who drove in teammate Jayce Prendez on a line drive up the middle.
He and Mendoza were then brought home when Keine Prendez got one past Kingsburg’s second baseman Trevin Wood for a two-run single. Dinuba’s catcher Noah Gonzalez drove in Prendez for the teams eighth run of the game and Armando Mejia, coming off a huge victory on Tuesday night with the city league’s Braves, drove in the team’s ninth run with a base hit that brought in Orosco.
Prendez, pitching a perfect game up until the fourth inning, had his first imperfection on a walk in the bottom of the fourth. However, Dinuba’s defense backed him up with a couple of tagged out runners and closing the inning out with a ground out. Prendez saw only three batters in the inning and still was still pitching a no-hitter.
Dinuba then took a 10-0 lead in the top of the fifth when Mendoza sent one into centerfield to score Jayce Prendez.
Keine Prendez’s only hit allowed came in the bottom of the fifth when Kingsburg’s RJ Hoenrg- Dennis just beat out the throw to first on a grounder to second. Prendez then closed out the inning by striking out two consecutive batters.
In any other tournament play, the game would have been called after the fifth inning on a mercy rule. However, in a championship game, the Cal
See Cal Ripken, Page B8
By Rick Curiel
Editor@thedinubasentinel.com
In only their second year back, Dinuba’s Cal Ripken Baseball is sending their 12-and-under All Stars team to the state playoffs.
As reported last week by the Sentinel, Dinuba hosted their first All Stars district tournament last week at KC Park. Thursday the team completed a three-game sweep of the tournament by putting on a dominant performance to beat Kingsburg 11-0 for the District IV Championship.
Part of the team’s dominance came at the hands of pitcher Keine Prendez, who was lights-out at the mound. Over the first three innings of Dinuba’s title game, Prendez was perfect, and perfect with an exclamation mark.
In what is seldom seen at any level of baseball, Prendez struck out the side in the first three- straight innings. He pitched five innings and allowed only one hit while compiling an incredible 12 strikeouts.
“He’s amazing,” said Cal Ripken commissioner and All Stars assistant coach Jose Guido. “He’s probably our best athlete on the team.”
Dinuba was also just as impressive in the batters box as they were on the mound, scoring in all but one of the six innings played.
Their first run came when Dinuba’s Jose De La Cruz drove in Prendez on a line drive to left field in the first inning.
Prendez would then drive in two runs in the second inning when he sent one into the gap in right-centerfield, scoring teammates Matt Guido and Carmelo Mendoza. Dinuba added another run on a sacrifice-fly ball to centerfield by Damian
Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
Dinuba Cal Ripken All Star pitcher Keine Prendez turned in a near-perfect performance in Thursday’s championship game against Kingsburg. He pitched a one-hitter while striking out 12 batters. He also had four RBIs to help lead his team to an 11-0 championship victory.
City Youth Softball
Lady Dynamite win league title, go 10-0
High School Football
Emperors
play in East-
West All
Stars game
By Rick Curiel
Editor@thedinubasentinel.com
There was no doubt last Friday that Lady Dynamite was in the Dinuba Majors Division Softball Championship to win. They did all their work early, scoring all their runs in the first two innings to claim the title with a 10-0 title victory over the younger Lady Giants team.
Even though Lady Dynamite entered as the clear favorite, having gone undefeated during the regular and post season, coach Jesse Sanders admitted before the game that the nerves were there.
“I don’t think I’ve slept in two days,” said Sanders prior to the start of the game.
Those nerves may have dissipated in the first inning when Lady Dynamite pitcher Bella Ortega started the game by striking out the side, never leaving the mound to give her team’s offense in prime position to take control of the game.
And take control of the game they did. Lady Dynamite brought up seven batters in the bottom of the first inning and took full advantage of coach pitches and errors to quickly get on the
See Dynamite, Page B8
Braves rally in pitcher’s duel championship
By George Villagrana
Dinuba Majors Division sotball team Lady Dynamite ran the table this year, finishing with an undefeated 10-0 record and capping off the season with a championship victory over the Lady Giants last Friday at Felix Delgado Park.
Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
There were plenty of big plays during the 51st annual Tulare-Kings All-Star football game and in the end it was the East squad posting a 33-12 win over the West Saturday night at Groppetti Automotive Visalia Community Stadium.
The East accounted for five touchdown passes and the defense forced five turnovers while limiting the West to 17 rushing yards on 24 carries.
Dinuba High School standouts Colton Martinez, Nathan Carrion, Lucas Tuttle and Elijah Rios were members of the West squad and made plays, according to Emperor coach Kevin Scharton.
“They represented Dinuba really well,” said Scharton. “It’s always fun to play in an all-star game.”
See Emperors, Page B8
Sports@thedinubasentinel.com
City Youth Baseball
By Rick Curiel
Editor@thedinubasentinel.com
In a pitcher’s duel resulting in two scoreless innings and both starting pitchers, Braves’ Armando Mejia and Dodgers’ Jose De La Cruz, throwing a no-hitter into the fourth, it was the Braves who made the best of few scoring opportunities to come away with a 4-2 victory in Monday’s Dinuba Majors Division Baseball championship game.
Monday’s matchup pitted two teammates against each other, as Mejia and De La Cruz actually play together on Dinuba’s Cal Ripken All Stars team, a team whose victory last Thursday day earned them a No. 1 seed in the state playoffs. But on Monday, the two All Stars faced off against each other for the city league title.
With the Dodgers coming into the game as the No. 3 seed, they represented the away team and batted first. Mejia went
to work by retiring the top of the lineup on a grounder and two strikeouts.
But De La Cruz pushed back on the mound and struck out three of the Braves’ first four batters, allowing only one walk in the bottom of the first.
The next inning went by even faster as both pitchers retired the sides, Mejia adding two more strikeouts while De La Cruz added another three.
It was the Dodgers who then broke the stalemate in the top of third. Two walks in the inning, Mejia’s first kink in the armor, ended up costing the Braves a run. With runners on first and third, a double-steal misplay by the Braves allowed Luis Martinez to come reach home when catcher Anthony Pompa attempted to throw out Santiago Villegas at second.
Mejia gathered himself, however, and closed out the inning
See Braves, Page B8
Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
Braves’ Anthony Pompa, right, celebrates in front of his team’s dugout after hitting a three-run inside-the-park homerun in the fourth inning to take a 4-1 lead over the Dodgers. His homerun was only the second hit of the game and led to a 4-2 championship victory.