Page 9 - Dinuba Sentinel 5-3-18 E-edition

Sports
“We’re ready. Our kids have been competing at a very high level.”
- Lucas Lichtenwaldt, Dinuba High Track Coach
The Dinuba Sentinel
B1
High School Baseball
Cardinals
surging
with arm of
Marroquin
Sophomore pitches two near-perfect games in one week
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Track & Field
By Rick Curiel
Sports@thedinubasentinel.com
Orosi High sophomore Justin Marroquin pitched the game of his life last Tuesday. He pitched a complete game 11-0 shut out to sweep the series with Laton. He also pitched a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and a perfect game into the fifth.
He allowed only one hit, a routine grounder with one out in the final inning. Marroquin also allowed no walks and had 14 strikeouts.
For the Cardinals baseball team, the 11-0 victory over the Mustangs may have been the fire in a surge that is now a four-game winning streak.
This past Tuesday the Cardinals added the fourth win of the streak with a 4-1 victory at home against Summit Charter Collegiate Academy. The Bears came into the matchup tied for second place in the East Sierra League with a strong Orange Cove team, both at 8-2.
Orosi came into the game with a 6-4 record, a three-game win streak and Marroquin back on the mound.
For the Cardinals’ baseball team, it was the right move. Marroquin picked up right where he left off, striking out the first two batters of the game. He then went six innings without allowing a run, seeing only a total of 21 batters and followed his one-hitter with a two-hit performance.
Orosi took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when an errant Bear’s throw to third allowed Cardinals’ Steven Arechiga to come home. They would then leave two runners stranded in the third before going on a defensive battle for the next two innings with Summit.
Holding on to the slim lead, Orosi’s defense came up big in the sixth inning when the Bears started connecting at the plate. Two grounders at the Cardinals’ defense were both saved by Orosi first baseman Valentine Quevedo Jr., who had to stretch out for short throws to make the outs.
After a walk, it appeared Summit would make a surge of their own when their go-ahead runner connected on a ball and sent it sailing into far right field. But Orosi’s defense came up big again, this time with a running catch in right field to close out the inning.
The Cardinals’ offense then took their defensive momentum and turned it into offense, scoring three more runs for insurance in the bottom of the sixth.
See Cardinals, Page B6
Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
Dinuba High School sophomore Brian Ortuno Campbell, center, runs the anchor in the mens 4x100 meter relay. Mt. Whitney won the event with the Emperors finishing just out of medals with a fifth place finish. Orosi’s Daniel Corpus, right, ran the anchor for the Cardinals, who finished seventh in the event.
Dinuba boys track prepares for another Valley title
By Rick Curiel
this is the most well rounded team I’ve coached,” said Dinuba High track team Lucas Lichtenwaldt.
Oh, and the team also happens to have the best hurdler in the league in Daniel
Martinez,
who is ranked No.2inthe 300-meter event and No. 3 in the 110- meter in the entire Central Section. He is also the 11th ranked hurdler in the entire state.
Put all that together and what you get is a team that’s hard to beat, even in one of the toughest leagues in the
Valley.
Last Friday at the Dinuba
Invitational, a meet the Emperors have dominated for several years now, it took a very good Division I
Mt. Whitney team to unseat the host champions.
“Mt. Whitney is a very good team,” said Lichtenwaldt. “Whenever you have them in the mix you know it’s going to be competitive.”
But the Dinuba track team has showed this year that it can compete
with the larger division track teams. Whether it’s Clovis or Redwood, Sanger or Buchanan, the Emperors
have held their own.
“We can compete with the best,”
said Lichtenwaldt. “We’ve got a great squad.”
Friday, the Mt. Whitney boys track team finished with 122 total team points to win the Dinuba Invitational. The Emperors finished less than ten points behind the Pioneers with 112.5 points. To put the difference in perspective; a first place finish in any event is worth ten points.
Dinuba ended up with four first- place finishes, as well as four second- place finishes. Leading the way once again for the Emperors was senior Daniel Martinez. Martinez, who looks to be the fourth consecutive Dinuba hurdler to compete in the
See Track, Page B6
Sports@thedinubasentinel.com
By the time the Dinuba Emperors’ boys track team competed for yet another league title yesterday afternoon, this edition was already in print. But chances are the Dinuba High track team is the Central Sequoia League champions for a fourth year in a row.
In previous years it may have been a solid hurdler, mixed in with a fast relay team that may have gotten the job done for the team. This year, the team has athletes everywhere. From long distance runners who can score points in a variety of events, to shot putters who are some of the strongest in the Valley, their numbers just keep adding up.
“In the 12 years I’ve been coaching,
High School Tennis
Emperors send four players to area nals
Dinuba boys tennis team nishes season in second place in Central Sequoia League
seed, Raj Bains.
At first the match went as one might have
expected, with Bains jumping out to a 6-2 lead. On the ropes, Sepulveda kept hanging in there. With the help of a few mistakes by his opponent, soon the young Dinuba tennis player made it a 6-4 match, then a close 7-6 match.
Before you knew it, Sepulveda was making all the right moves and was brewing an upset. An ace gave him a 40-30 advantage in the 7-6 match and a net ball by Bains then forced a tie-breaker match.
“I was just thinking inch-by-inch, play-by-play,” said Sepulveda of his thoughts before entering the tiebreaker.
Inch-by-inch, Sepulveda made it a 3-3 game and then rolled to a 7-4 victory to earn the upset victory. “He played incredible,” said Dinuba High School tennis coach Fadra Kiehn. “I’ve never been so proud
of him in my life.”
Though he would go on to lose his next two
matches, his performance against Bains was all the rave amongst his teammates, earning him high-fives
See Tennis, Page B6
Though not one of the four Dinuba High School players advancing to the Area finals, sophomore Alonzo Sepulveda turned in perhaps one of the biggest victories of the CSL championships. He scored an 8-7 victory over Selma’s top-ranked player after coming back from a 2-6 deficit to force a tiebreaker.
Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
After a historical run last year for the Dinuba High School boys’ tennis team, becoming the first team in school history to win a Valley championship, this year’s team is making strides of their own.
The team finished 7-3 in league and in second place behind a strong Central Valley Christian team. They also went 10-5 on the season and recently had a quality performance at the Central Sequoia League Boys Tennis Tournament, held last Friday at the Immanuel High School Sports Plex, by sending four players to the Area Finals.
The doubles pair of Henry Lowrey and Adrian Gonzalez, along with singles players Ulises Ramirez and Nate Carrion, all won two matches at the tournament, earning them a spot in tomorrow’s Area Finals.
But perhaps the most exciting match at Friday’s league championships was the improbable victory by Dinuba High sophomore Alonzo Sepulveda. In his first match of the day, Sepulveda, who is Dinuba’s No. 10 seed, was matched up with Selma’s No. 1
“In the 12 years I’ve been coaching, this is the most well rounded team I’ve coached.”
— Lucas Lichtenwaldt DHS Track Coach
By Rick Curiel
Sports@thedinubasentinel.com