Page 9 - Dinuba Sentinel 2-14-19 E-edition

Sports
B1
“We quali ed ve wrestlers and one alternate to the Central Section Masters
which is awesome.”
DHS wrestling coach Michael Wright
The Dinuba Sentinel
Road to state continues
Thursday, February 14, 2019 DHS Wrestling
The Dinuba High wrestling team had a tough outing at the Division I championships held this past weekend at Clovis North.
A bright spot for the Emperors was the performance of Daniel Long as the senior defeated Buchanan’s Rocco Contino, 7-4, in the finale of the 171- pound match.
His performance paced the team’s effort to a 14th place finish with 51 points. Dinuba may have climbed in
Season opening success
Daniel Long emerged as the 170-pound champion at the Masters Division 1 tournament at Clovis North. Long will be one of five Emperors vying for a Valley title and a state berth this weekend.
four to blow the game wide open. In the circle, the right-handed
DHS Baseball
Sentinel file photo
DHS Softball
Long captures a title
as Dinuba braces for
Master’s nals this
weekend in Lemoore
the team standings as Noah Cortez was unable to wrestle due to an injury, according to coach Michael Wright.
“This was a tough weekend of wrestling with the team placing 14th out of 17 teams, which is not up to our standards,” Wright said. “We qualified five wrestlers and one alternate to the Central Section Masters which is awesome. We would have liked to have gotten a couple of more through but we are happy with what we have going forward.”
On Saturday, Long had earned a spot in the championship match with a very close 4-3 win over Jarad Priest of Bakersfield in the semifinals. Long began the tournament with an 8-3 win over Austin Frantzich.
“Daniel wrestled very well all weekend and is really looking like one of the guys who can make a push to get into the
finals at one of the deepest weights in the state,” Wright said.
Long enters this weekend’s Masters asaNo.3seed.
At 115, Javier Castro finished eighth after posting a 7-4 win over Austin Onsurez of Bakersfield. Castro had dropped a 6-1 decision to Hayden Zinkin of Clovis North after defeating Xander Romero of Lemoore, 8-3. He started the two-day tournament with a tough 6-5 loss to Giovani Madrigal of Madera.
Lorenzo Arreola placed 8th at 122 after going 2-3. Arreola had a pin against Cristian Solorio of Madera before falling to Brandon Paulson of Clovis High. Arreola then posted a 9-0 major decision against Angel Casimiro of Foothill.
See Road, Page B8
By George M. Villagrana
Sports@thedinubasentinel.com
By George M. Villagrana
Dinuba on the short end of a pitching duel
Coach Brent Morrelli said he hoped for a better outcome.
“I was disappointed in the result,” said Morrelli. “I thought the guys were really prepared. I felt maybe they were a little nervous.”
Escobedo led the team offensively with two hits while Ridge Huckaby and Ochoa each had a hit.
Dinuba took a 1-0 lead when Ethan Tobias beat a throw to the plate in the
See Duel, Page B8
Sports@thedinubasentinel.com
“We started the game a little slow,” said coach Bryan Patterson. “It’s the first game of the year, then we started swinging the bats and hitting the ball pretty hard.”
Senior Kaily Manning went 2-for-4 at the plate driving in four runs. Classmate Alex Garcia had two hits, two RBI’s and scored three runs. Felicity Flores had a solid game scoring three runs to go along with 2 hits, and an RBI. Freshman Madison Bautista added two hits, scored a pair of runs and also drove in a run.
Martinez held Reedley to three hits with nine strikeouts.
“Kirsten pitched a good game and got out of a few jams,” Patterson said. “She did well for us.”
The game was tied 1-1 before Manning drove in two runs with a single and advanced to second on a throw to the plate. Manning would later score as Dinuba led 4-1.
The Emperors would then increase
See Success, Page B8
Dinuba High’s softball team banged out 12 hits and solid early season pitching from senior Kirsten Martinez resulted in a successful opening day for the Emperors as they defeated host Reedley, 11-2, to start the 2019 campaign on the right foot.
Dinuba’s bats came to life in the middle of the game as the Emperors pushed across three runs in the top of the fourth and an inning later added
By George M. Villagrana
OHS Girls Soccer
The Dinuba High baseball team couldn’t get on track on offense as the Emperors dropped its season opener, 2-1, against Reedley late Friday afternoon.
Junior right-hander Isaiah Ochoa got the nod to start for the Emperors and he did not disappoint going five solid innings with three strikeouts before being relieved by Josh Escobedo.
Sports@thedinubasentinel.com
Title defense underway Cardinals open Division IV playo s with a win against Desert
By George M. Villagrana
play during their 14-2-4 campaign, yet they enter the playoffs with postseason experience and it showed in a Division 5 playoff opening win over Desert late Tuesday night, 3-0.
The second-seeded Cardinals received goals from Amber Apodaca, Melanie Davila and Stephanie Figueroa. Orosi advances to the second round Friday night as they host the winner of Washington Union/Woodlake.
Coach Sara Vega said the team is
ready to defend their title and playing better.
“Our communication has been on, which is something we have been working on all season,” Vega said. “The girls our just connecting really well and they know it’s do or die right now.”
The top seed in the Division is Sierra Pacific, a team the Cardinals defeated a year ago for the Valley crown.
See Defense, Page B8
Sports@thedinubasentinel.com
A season ago, the Orosi High girls soccer team took the local prep scene by storm capturing a Central Section crown and a Southern Regional playoff win before the Cardinals’ season came to a close.
With a target on their back, Orosi has been tested and have dropped two matches both in West Sequoia League
George M. Villagrana | The Dinuba Sentinel
Isaiah Ochoa throws a strike during Dinuba’s season opener at Reedley.
DHS Basketball
Orosi’s Melanie Davila works her way through Desert’s defense during the first half of the Cardinals’ first-round playoff win late Tuesday night. Davila scored the first goal of the match as Orosi advanced to the quarterfinals of the Central Section Division 5 playoffs. The Cardinals will be in action at home Friday night to face the winner of Washington Union/ Woodlake. Pictured right is Victoria Quevedo with the ball as a Scorpion defender closes in.
George M. Villagrana | The Dinuba Sentinel
Emperors fall advance
Sentinel staff
The Dinuba High girls basketball suffered a 52-43 loss at Hoover in the first round of the Central Section Division IV playoffs late Tuesday evening.
The Emperors wrapped up their season with a 16-13 overall record as the Patriots move on to the quarterfinals.
Dinuba led 39-34 in the fourth quarter before the Patriots went on a scoring run to take a 41-39 lead with under 3 minutes to play.
Hoover’s lead increased to 52-39 before the Emperors scored the final
four points of the game.
Both teams started off well as the
score was tied at 12 at the end of the first quarter and Hoover moved ahead with a 22-21 lead at halftime.
The Patriots increased their lead to 30-27 entering the fourth quarter.
Emperors’ boys team land a four seed: The DHS boys basketball team goes into the playoffs as a four seed and faced 13 seed East-Bakersfield on Wednesday night.
The Blades were 14-13 overall and 5-5 in the Southeast Yosemite League. The winner will face either No. 5 seed Garces or No. 12 Templeton tomorrow night at 7 p.m.