Page 9 - Dinuba Sentinel 6-20-19 E-edition

Sports
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“My uncle has been telling me that I have the talent. I just got to put in the work.”
Dinuba Boxer Kevin Nunez
The Dinuba Sentinel
Thursday, June 20, 2019 City Rec nals are set
By George M. Villagrana
unbeaten record and are coming off a 12-0 win over the Indians on June 13. The Rangers’ Anthony Pompa hit a two- run blast to start the scoring in the first. With the bases loaded, Austin Hoover hit a triple to push the lead to 5-0. The Rangers would score two more times for a 7-0 lead.
In the top of the third, the Rangers increased their lead to 8-0 on a solo home run from Pompa. After a pair of walks, Hoover drove in two more runs with a double. The Rangers then tacked a pair of runs in the fourth.
In softball, the Lady Heet reached the title game after defeating the Bulldogs
See Finals, Page B6
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The first of two Dinuba Recreation championships is tonight as the Rangers and Dodgers will play for the baseball title at 6 p.m. at Roosevelt Park. Tomorrow night the battle for the softball crown will be played at 6 p.m., pitting the Warriors and Lady Heet Trucking.
On Monday night, the Dodgers advanced to the finale with a 16-12 win over the Mets at Felix Delgado Park.
The Dodgers scored nine runs in their opening at-bat for a 9-0 lead. The Mets scored a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning and in the second inning
Cal Ripken
season ends
at District
tournament
cut the deficit to 9-7. The Dodgers added five more runs in the bottom of the third.
The Rangers have been the team to beat as they are the top seed with an
George M. Villagrana | The Dinuba Sentinel
By George M. Villagrana
Cosper helps West all-star team to a 5-4 victor y
Staff report
Corey Cosper went out a winner as the former Dinuba High standout played a key role to help the West come out on top of a 5-4 win over the East in the 59th Annual Exeter Lions Club East/West All-Star game held at Rawhide Stadium Saturday evening.
The all-star game has been dominated by the West the past few years as they have captured five of the last six games against the East.
For Cosper it was a perfect ending as he went 1-for-2 and hit an RBI double in the sixth inning.
“It was my last at-bat of my high school career,” said Cosper.
Each time the West would score a run, the East would respond, according to Cosper.
The West committed five errors in the game and the East left 10 runners on base.
“I kind of felt we were in the driver’s seat the whole game.”
Cosper said the atmosphere at Rawhide was great.
“There was a lot of people,” Cosper said. “It was a fun game and the dugout had a lot of positive energy.”
The Most Valuable Player of the game was Hunter Bryan of Redwood, who hit a home run for the West.
Cosper said Bryan is committed to play at Fresno State and was drafted by the Texas Rangers.
All-star soccer game this weekend in Lindsay: The East/West all-star soccer match will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 21 at Lindsay High.
A pair players are on the East roster, Isabella Ramirez and Adalene Velasco, will represent Dinuba. Coaching the East team will be Darren Lasky of Exeter High School.
On Saturday, the all-star soccer matches continue as the East/West boys game will be at 6 p.m. at Lindsay.
Dinuba High’s Jorge Duran and Hilde Chavez are members of the East squad that will be coached by Jimmy Madrigal of Strathmore.
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The Dinuba Cal Ripken 10 and 8 and under all-star baseball teams had a tough time during their District 8 State qualifier tournament held last week.
The 10 and under team was ousted by Kingsburg on June 12 ending their season and a shot at the state tournament. The tournament was being held by Easton-Caruthers.
Manager Jose Guido said the team gained valuable experience playing in the tournament that was held at Raisin City.
This marked the first time for a 10 and 8 and under squad to play in the district tourney. Other teams in the district tournament have had a few years under their belts, according to Guido.
In their game against Kingsburg, Dinuba was handed a setback.
“It wasn’t our best game,” Guido stated. “It’s going to take time to get where we need to be, but overall it was a great experience.”
The team had opened with a tough loss to Kerman, 15-7, on June 11. Kerman broke open a close game with a big third and fourth inning.
The 8 and under squad opened the tournament on June 11 against host Easton-Caruthers. Dinuba eventually dropped the contest, 9-3, in Raisin City.
“Kids played good, but we are just too young,” said manager Bryan Patterson.
After their setback, the squad turned right around to play Kingsburg on June 12 and dropped that game, 12-2.
Guido noted that although the season is over, members of the teams will continue to play travel baseball and tournaments.
A season ago, Dinuba’s 12 and under all-star team finisehd with a 2-2 record in the Central California Cal Ripken State tournament held in Bakersfield.
George M. Villagrana | The Dinuba Sentinel
The last month has been a whirlwind for Dinuba’s Kevin Nunez. Nunez juggled school and family while training for his next bout.
Nunez has caught on to the sport of boxing and although, his interest developed late, he hopes to make a career out of it.
Nunez has put in the work to be at 138 pounds after weighing close to 170, according to his trainer Jaime Torres.
Nunez says he is no stranger to boxing as he had boxed in elementary for a short time, but now is fully committed to the sport.
“It will be a year in August since I started boxing,” Nunez said.
While boxing wasn’t his passion until his senior year at Dinuba High, he did play baseball before focusing on boxing. Nunez envisions himself boxing for a long time drawing inspiration from his mother as well as his grandfather and
Photo contributed
Dinuba Majors Division Baseball Championship
No. 1 Rangers vs No. 3 Dodgers
@ Roosevelt Park Thursday @ 6 p.m.
Zoe Adaoag is pictured during the 50 yard backstroke at Saturday’s Dennis Penner Memorial meet. Other teams participating were Reedley and Selma.
Aqua Emps solid at home
By George M. Villagrana
Kaydence Tristan, Charlotte Avila and Following up that performance was the
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Stella Janbergs won with a time of 2 minutes, 00.85 seconds.
Also in the 100 free relay, the 8 and under squad of Garrison Alvarez, Hezakyah Tristan, Rolando Arreguin and Nikolas Smoljian posted a winning time of 1:33.94. Dinuba continued to dominate the relays as the girls 9-10 100 relay foursome of Lana Garrison, Tacori Sotelo, Daniela Bergmann and Jade Gibson won the event in 1:13.63.
boys team of Magnuss Janbergs, Sean Argumendo, Jacob Guzman and Jorden Forbes who won in 1:12.02. The 200 FR team of Zoe Adaoag, Kylie Alvarado, Kaylee Rodriguez and Kathryne Forbes cruised to a victory in a time of 2:23.62. Forbes also posted a win in the 50 free (30.26), 50 fly (34.03) and 50 yard breaststroke (41.72).
See HOME, Page B6
Sean Argumendo gets off to a good start in the 25 yard freestyle. Argumendo had a time of 17.90 for fifth place overall and he also had a time of 25.09 in the 25 backstroke for sixth place. He also was part of a clean sweep in the 25 breaststroke for the Aqua Emps.
George M. Villagrana | The Dinuba Sentinel
The Dinuba Aqua Emps are making the most of their home meets that included a solid showing at the 15th Annual Dennis Penner Memorial meet held on Saturday.
Dinuba was joined by Selma and Reedley as the Aqua Emps got out to a quick start as the girls 6 and under 100 free relay team of Mylah Argumendo,
A Dodgers baserunner is tagged out at the plate in a semifinals baseball game late Monday afternoon.
Nunez excels in the ring
By George M. Villagrana
uncle. Nunez said his grandfather and uncle were successful boxers garnering plenty of victories and trophies. His uncle, Juan “El Tigre” Herrera was well-known in the area, according to Torres.
Now Nunez is trying to make a name for himself and is finding a way to early success.
During a recent boxing match sponsored by the Kings Boxing Club/ Police Activities League gym in Avenal this past weekend, Nunez posted a win against a 28-year-old opponent to remain unbeaten after four matches.
Earlier this year in a boxing match at Tulare, Nunez posted a win against a previously unbeaten opponent, according to Torres.
Nunez has done extremely well despite having to do all his training without a permanent boxing facility in the community. Although, the Dinuba Sportsplex serves as a spot to work out, it does not have a boxing ring, according to Torres.
Often times, Nunez has had to travel to various towns to train, according to Torres.
“We train six days out of the week,” Torres said. He went on to point out that they have had to travel to train in Hanford and Visalia.
“Basically we’re just everywhere,” Torres said. “We’re at the Sportsplex three times a week basically just training there. We tried to get a ring in there but we couldn’t do it.”
Nunez said its difficult not having access to a full scale boxing gym in Dinuba.
“It’s hard because you can’t get a lot of sparing and have to go to different gyms,” he said.
Despite the obstacles, Nunez remains confident he will continue to excel and remain undefeated as he awaits his next match.
“I could feel that I’m pretty good,” Nunez said. “My uncle has been telling me that I have the talent. I just got to put in the work.”
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Kevin Nunez, centered, picked up a win on Saturday to improve to 4-0. He is flanked by trainer Jaime Torres (left) and his uncle Juan Herrera (right).