Page 16 - Dinuba Sentinel 6-7-18 E-edition

B8 | Thursday, June 7, 2018
Sports
The Dinuba Sentinel
City’s Youth
Baseball/Softball
league prepares
for postseason
Playo s begin next week
Dinuba High senior Daniel Martinez surges ahead down the stretch of the 110-meter hurdles. Martinez placed third in the first of three heats at Friday’s State prelims with a personal record time of 14.40 seconds. His time was 11th overall in the State.
Martinez
Continued from Page B1
Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
Sentinel staff report
This year’s Dinuba City Youth Baseball and Softball League season didn’t get off to a smooth start. Rain delays and a downed light post forced the city Parks and Recreation Department into a scramble to get the season started.
Now, just a couple weeks behind schedule, the city league is starting to wrap up the 2018 season as the Boys Majors Baseball and Girls Majors Softball divisions finish the regular season this week and prepare for playoffs next week.
In the Boys Majors Baseball division, there are three teams fighting for the top two seeds and first round bye in the playoffs. The Braves currently set atop the division with a 5-0 record. But just behind them are the Dodgers and Braves, who sit one-game back at 4-1.
The Dodgers played the A’s on Tuesday, after publication. A win against the A’s would have put them in prime position for one of the two top seeds. However, with the Braves playing the Rangers tomorrow evening, there is a possibility of a three-way tie for first.
If both the Dodgers and Braves were to win this week, all three teams would end up
at 5-1.
According city Sports
Coordinator Richard DeOcio, “If there is a three-way tie we would sort it out that evening.”
The first round of playoffs for Majors Baseball begins on June 15 with two games featuring the lower seeds. Both games will be played at Felix Delgado Park, with the first game scheduled to start at 6 p.m. and the second game at 7:45 p.m.
The baseball championship game will be held on June 25 at Roosevelt Park, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
This year, because there are seven teams in the Boys Majors Division, a wild card game will be played prior to the playoffs to determine the final seed in the playoff brackets.
As for the Girls Majors Softball division, Lady Dynamite has secured the No. 1 seed in the playoffs by way of their undefeated record. The Lady Giants are sitting two games behind them with a record of 4-2.
Softball playoffs begin on June 14 with the first rounds. Both games will be played at Felix Delgado Park, also beginning at 6 p.m.
The softball championship will be held on June 25, also at Felix Delgado Park.
of qualifying. His personal record time of 38.37 seconds in the 300 would have qualified him, and also would have been good enough for eighth place in the finals.
“I feel grateful though,” added Martinez. “And I felt like I did okay for being under the weather.”
“He just missed out,” said Dinuba High School track and field coach Lucas Lichtenwaldt. “He is still the highest finisher of any athlete I’ve coached.”
Though Martinez missed out on being the first Dinuba High athlete to qualify for the state finals in the hurdles, according to Lichtenwaldt, he finished top of the class when it comes to a long line of great Emperor hurdlers, all while only standing 5’8”.
“You rarely see a guy of Daniel’s height at this level,” said Lichtenwaldt. “He really exceeded every expectation. I knew when he was a freshman that his guy was going
to score points for us. But what he’s done over the last few years, the work he’s put into it, it’s just amazing what he’s accomplished. One of my greatest joys has been seeing him do what most would think was impossible.”
Martinez follows in a long line of Dinuba High School hurdlers who have successfully and consecutively finished as the top hurdlers in the Valley. Martinez became the fourth hurdler in a row to represent the Emperors at the State meet.
Xavier Jones was the first to make it the state level in 2014. He was followed by Isaak Leppke, who is currently playing Division I football for the University of Wyoming, and last year’s Raymond Yan.
“Xavier was the guy who set the foundation,” said Lichtenwaldt. “He really had no one before him. I learned right there along with him. As he became successful, it made it easier to be successful with
others. All these guys just kept pushing the bar higher and higher. But right there with Xavier is Daniel. He didn’t have the natural body or natural tools as Xavier or other hurdlers.
“Daniel stepped up and put in the work. He worked for everything he got. For him to have accomplished what he did has been truly a great achievement. He would have been out there with no coach and he was never one I needed to talk to about being more devoted. As a coach you really can’t ask for anything more in an athlete.”
Next year, as the Lichtenwaldt looks to groom and prepare the next great Emperor hurdler, Martinez will keep running and continuing his education at Fresno City College, where he will be racing for the Rams’ track and field team.
Of this year’s experience Martinez said, “This was my best year. Out of all my four years this was by far my best year.”
Records still being broken at Lincoln Elementary School
Photos by Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
For 42 years, Lincoln Elementary School sixth-grade teacher Greg Olsen has been holding various events, like frisbee throws, softball throws, throwing a football through a tire, jumping rope and hula-hooping, just to name a few. The records of the events have been held at the school ever since in what is called the Lincoln Records. This year a number of those records were broken, some of which have been standing for many years. ABOVE: Lincoln sixth graders who broke records this year. TOP-RIGHT: The previous record in hula-hooping was one-hour and 41 minutes. This year four girls broke that record. Ruby Zambrano (far left) finished with a time of one-hour and 47 minutes and Adriana Quezada finished with a time of one-hour and 54 minutes. But the top time went to Alexandra Barajas and Catricia Alvarez, who both finished with a time of two-hours and 20 minutes. RIGHT: The previous record in the football accuracy contest was held by Tammy Allen, who set the record in 1982 with eight footballs through a tire. Her record was broken this year by Mya Martinez with nine footballs. Allen was present last week to present the award.
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Elijah Mayberry
DINUBA High SCHOOL BASEBALL
Dinuba High's Elijah Mayberry
was named Athlete of the Week for achieving what some may consider the Trifecta of All Star Accolades. The Emperor's center- elder was named this year's Most Valuable Player of the Central Sequoia League. He also made the starting lineup for Fresno's City vs County All-Star Game, played Sunday at Chukchansi Park, and will also be starting in tomorrow's East vs West All-Star Game at Rawhide Stadium this Saturday.
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