Page 7 - Dinuba Sentinel 4-12-18 E-edition

Sports
“If you open that door a little bit, good teams are going to step through that door, they’re going to push that door open and they’re going...”
- Bryan Patterson, Dinuba High Softball Coach
B1
Thursday, April 12, 2018 High School Softball
The Dinuba Sentinel Track & Field
Emps’ track
& eld wins
fth meet of
the season
Sentinel sfaff report
The Dinuba High boys track team captured yet another win after traveling to Reedley last Friday, finishing on top at the Kings River Games for their fifth meet victory of the season.
The Emperors boys track finished the meet with a total of 128 team points, edging out second place Reedley, who finished with 104 points. Central Valley Christian finished in third place with 66 points.
Emperor senior Daniel Martinez put in another solid performance as he came away with three first-place finishes. Martinez took first place in the 110-meter hurdles by finishing the event in 15.38 seconds. He also set personal records in the 200-meters race and long jump event. His time of 22.76 seconds was good enough for first place in the 200-meters event and his jump of 21’09” was also long enough for first place in the long jump, beating out second place Deshaun Littlejohn of Sierra Pacific by 1’8”.
Martinez was also the anchor on a Dinuba 4x100 relay team that took first place. The team, made up of Brian Ortuno-Campbell, Arnel Bergonia, Josh Huerta and Martinez, beat out Reedley with a time of 45.68 seconds to finish as the top team in the event.
Bergonia also scored points for the team in the 100-meters race, finishing in fifth place with a time of 11.89 seconds.
Dinuba’s 4x400 relay team also took first place at the meet, finishing in 3:28.10 to tie with the team from Mendota. Emperors Nathaniel Medina, Danny Araujo, Leo Jimenez and Diego Estrada made up the 4x400 team.
See Track, Page B6
Tigers too much for Lady Emps
Dinuba opens
league play with an
11-1 win over CVC,
travels to Kingsburg
tomorrow night
By Rick Curiel
Sports@thedinubasentinel.com
Before the Lady Emperors entered league play on Tuesday against Central Valley Christian, they had one more game to get through, a makeup game against the Edison Tigers. As it turned out, Dinuba faced perhaps one of their toughest competitors yet with Edison sporting three seniors on their team who will be playing at the next level next year, two of whom have committed to Division I colleges.
Yet, in spite of the experienced talent in the Tigers dugout, the Lady Emperors put up a valiant effort to keep the game competitive throughout. But in the end, errors would cost Dinuba the game as the Lady Emperors fell to the Tigers 5-2.
“Edison is a tough team,” said Dinuba High softball coach Bryan Patterson. “They have some girls who can really hit the ball.”
The game began with a solo homerun by Tigers’ senior Jovanna Montejano in the first inning to give Edison an early 1-0 lead.
Dinuba responded, however, in the bottom of the inning when Lady Emperor senior Carlee Newlin took a 0-1 pitch deep in a rainbow shot over the left field fence to tie the game.
After two scoreless innings the Tigers added three runs in the fourth inning. With runners on first and second, and two outs against them, Montejano again connected. This time she hit a line drive to Dinuba third baseman Felicity Morales who scooped up the ball, but then delivered the ball wide to first base.
The ball got past Lady Emperors first
Youth Baseball & Softball
City youth league’s season starts today
Sentinel staff report
Saturday’s rain ended up canceling the opening ceremonies of the Dinuba youth baseball and softball league. As a result, today will mark the opening day of the city’s youth program, as teams will take the fields at Roosevelt Park tonight at 7 p.m.
There will be two games tonight, one baseball game and one softball game, with the major’s Braves taking on the Blue Jays at the baseball diamond and the Lady Yankees taking on the Lady Giants at the softball diamond.
Last year the Blue Jays, coached by Josh Sanders, made it all the way to the championship game but ended up losing to the Dodgers. This year’s Blue Jays team is coached by Jesse Sanders, the father of Josh Sanders.
Tomorrow night will feature a double- header on both fields. At 6 p.m. the Giants, coached by Harvey Moreno, will be taking on the Pirates. The Pirates are coached by Juan Lara, who also coaches the Rookies’ Dodgers team.
At 7:45 p.m. the Rangers will play the last year’s championship team Dodgers. Returning to coach the Dodgers this year is Marcos Nunez. The Rangers are coached by Jimmy Hignojoz.
On the softball field, the first game tomorrow night will feature the Lady Dragons against the Lady Dynamite team. The Lady Dragons are coached by Mauricio Gomez and the Lady Dynamite team is coached by Jesse Sanders.
The second game on the softball field will feature last year’s championship team Running Rebels against the Devastating Forces team. This year the Running Rebels are coached by Joe Bueno. Richad DeOcio is the coach for Devastating Forces.
Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
Dinuba High sophomore catcher Jordynn Acevedo attempts to make a play at home as the Edison Tigers score the go-ahead run in Monday’s non-league game. The Tigers went on to beat the Lady Emperors 5-2.
baseman Kaily Manning and scored Edison’s second run of the game and leaving Tiger runners on base.
With momentum shifting to Edison’s side, the Tigers’ next batter Kayla Bowen, who has committed to play for New Mexico State next year, then hit a base-hit double to right field. Bowen’s hit scored two runs and gave the Tigers a 4-1 lead.
In response, Dinuba put together a small rally in the bottom of the fourth inning. A base hit to left field by Manning put runners on first and second for the Lady Emperors, after freshman Faith Hernandez was walked.
The Tigers then walked Dinuba
junior pitcher Kirsten Martinez to load the bases with only one out, leading to a base hit single to left field by senior Faith Kodur to score the Lady Emperors’ second run of the game.
Still needing two runs to get back into the game, Dinuba needed to stop the Tigers and get their offense rolling. Martinez allowed only one hit in the fifth inning, but the Lady Emperors left a runner stranded in the bottom of the inning.
After getting two quick outs in the top of the sixth, Edison’s Bowen showed why she is a Div. I athlete by sending one deep over center field to give the Tigers a 5-2 lead.
Dinuba then managed to put two runners on base in the bottom of the sixth inning, but ended up stranding the runners.
“We had some scoring opportunities,” said Patterson. “The girls didn’t give up.”
After Edison went three-and-out in the top of the seventh, the Lady Emperors were left with their final chance to get back into the game. Once again, Dinuba put two runners on with base hits by Hernandez and Manning. However, once again both runners were left stranded on base and Dinuba
See Lady Emps, Page B6
High School Baseball
Dinuba High senior Elijah Mayberry steals second base in a game last Wednesday against Immanuel. As of Tuesday, Mayberry led the league in stolen bases with 17 on the season. Immanuel beat Dinuba 7-1 and Mayberry finished 1-for-3 at the plate with the game’s only RBI.
Dinuba has up and down week
Emperors will host Central Valley Christian tomorrow in third meeting of season
Rick Curiel | The Sentinel
By Rick Curiel
Sports@thedinubasentinel.com
It’s been an up and down week for the Dinuba High baseball team, losing a lopsided 7-1 game to Immanuel before turning the tables on Exeter with an 18-3 dominant performance. Then in a Saturday game, the Emperors found themselves on the losing end of a Sanger walk-off in extra innings, losing to the Apaches 3-2.
Last Wednesday the Emperors hosted Immanuel in what was their fourth league game of the season. Dinuba dug a hole for themselves early as starting pitcher Ridge Huckaby struggled on the mound, allowing four runs in the first inning.
With just one out in the first inning, the Emperors were down 4-0 and facing bases loaded, forcing Dinuba High baseball coach Brent Morrelli to make a pitching change, moving senior Mikey Curiel from third base to the mound.
Curiel allowed two runs in four-and-a-half innings pitched, but the Emperors offense struggled to get
anything going, leaving a couple of runners stranded in both the first and second innings.
Dinuba’s lone highlight against Immanuel was a triple by senior Elijah Mayberry in the bottom of the fifth inning. As he has done many times this year, Mayberry took a ball deep to left field. The ball fell only a few feet short of the fence but had enough on it to get past the Eagle’s left fielder.
The base hit brought in Dinuba sophomore Josh Escobedo, who got on base with a single prior to Mayberry, for the Emperors’ only run of the game.
Dinuba then went from an inept offensive performance against Immanuel to an offensive explosion in their next game against Exeter last Thursday.
After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning, the Emperors rallied off seven runs in the third inning. The Monarchs then responded with two runs in the fourth inning but Dinuba’s offense did not let up. The Emperors went on to score four runs in the fifth inning, three runs in the sixth inning and finally adding four final runs in the seventh inning, cruising
to an 18-3 victory over the Monarchs.
Dinuba had five players bat over .500 for the game.
Sophomore Noah Cortez went 2-for-3 at the plate and had one run and one RBI. Junior Ridge Huckaby went 3-for-5 and had two runs and two RBIs. Senior Jose Guido also went 3-for-5, adding two runs and one RBI. And sophomores Pompa Andrew and Josh Escobedo both finished the game 3-for-5 with two runs and three RBIs.
Mayberry went 2-for-5 at the plate and scored two runs and also had an RBI.
On Saturday Dinuba played a non-conference game against Sanger. The neutral game, played at Fowler High School, was a far contrast from the Emperors’ previous two games.
Runs were a high commodity in the Emperors’ low-scoring game against the Apaches. Sanger took the early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. However, Dinuba quickly responded in the top of the fifth by bringing in two runs to capture the lead.
See Baseball, Page B6