Maranatha has reason to celebrate, wins titles
Going on hour No. 12 for the day. Not quite running on fumes (yet) so I thought I'd bring a brief recap of Thursday's thrilling game at Downey before I leave the office.
Maranatha blew a five run lead in the sixth and came back in the eighth to win, 15-14, over Calvary Chapel to clinch a third straight Alpha League championship. Cory Popham held an, 8-5, lead in the sixth, and as Minutemen coach Brian DeHaan said, Maranatha (21-5, 10-2) tried to give it away. The Minutemen gave up eight runs in the sixth to go down, 11-8. In the top of the seventh, Dylan Covey led off with a base hit, Popham came up with a base hit, too, and Jordan Calloway's double scored Covey and Popham to make it, 11-10. In the eighth, Danny Beckwith led off with a base hit and Matt Chavez also got on base. Covey hit a three-run home run to help Maranatha retake the lead, 14-11. Calloway later scored on Schafer Chulay's base hit to make it, 15-11. But Calvary Chapel (17-6, 9-3) wouldn't go away. They scored three more runs before Covey struck out three to record the win. The bats came alive for Maranatha tonight. Chulay went 3-for-4, Covey went 3-for-5 with two home runs and Beckwith went 3-for-5 as well. "We gave them a lot of outs in the eighth," DeHaan said. It's unclear where Maranatha will finish in the final CIF-Southern Section Division V Coaches' Top 10 poll. San Jacinto likely will finish on top after finishing the season with a 23-0 record. Marantha seems to have a nemesis in every sport, from football (St. Margaret's) to baseball (San Jacinto). They beat Maranatha two seasons ago, 5-2, in the second round of the playoffs and won again last year, 3-2, in eight innings in the Division VI championship game. Despite moving up a division, DeHaan feels the Minutemen are contenders again. "I think we're peaking at the right time. You plan your season and you hope as you end the season you peak, and for us to win three games last week and to have to win two this week and to win in the fashion that we did was just amazing. We hope to ride ride that momentum in the playoffs." Maranatha ends the regular-season on a five-game winning streak that included a 12-2 drubbing over Calvary Chapel on Tuesday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Maranatha will probably be seeded three but DeHaan is hoping for a No. 2 seed. If he gets his wish, the Minutemen will play against a team that will have to advance out of the wild-card round. You can bet DeHaan & Co. will be at that game.
On a related note, the Maranatha boys and girls swimming teams are bringing home CIF titles. Here's an early excerpt of what's coming in Friday's pages:
It takes more than club swimmers to win CIF-Southern Section championships.
Sure, those swimmers garner the big points in the big meets, but it's the part-time swimmers who must come through in the clutch to win CIF-SS titles.
The Maranatha High School club swimmers did what they were supposed to do in the Division IV finals on Thursday evening at Mt. SAC, but it was the Minutemen's lesser-known swimmers, providing key swims in the relay races, who provided the the program, in its fifth year, with its first CIF-SS title.
The Maranatha girls opened the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay and finished the meet with a win in the 400 freestyle relay. Club swimmer Isabella Schamber, a freshman, won the 200 individual medley in 2:11.04 and took second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.98.
Maranatha's Jonathan Masehi-Lano won the 100 breast in 59.13 and also took second in the 200 IM in 1:57.91.
RELATED LINKS
PREP SWIMMING: Maranatha swimmers come up big (Star-News)
PREP SWIMMING: La Cañada's Geyer wrapping up stellar career (Star-News)
PREP SWIMMING: La Cañada's Geyer wins fourth consecutive Div. II title (L.A. Daily News)
PREP SWIMMING: La Cañada boys seek a fast finish in Div. II (L.A. Daily News)
PREP SWIMMING: Mt. SAC fills in as host for CIF meet (San Gabriel Valley Tribune)
PREP SWIMMING: Shields breaks national record (Orange County Register)
VIDEO: CIF-SS Division I Boys Finals preview (Orange County Register)
VIDEO: CIF-SS Division I Girls Finals preview (Orange County Register)
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About this blog
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Melendez worked as a correspondent for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune for three years and later landed a job as a freelance writer at the Los Angeles Times before accepting an offer at The Orange County Register covering high schools. Melendez covered Major League Soccer at The Register for three years before being promoted to report on the Lakers, Angels and Dodgers for the Web. Melendez also worked for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune and The Boston Globe. E-mail opinions, suggestions and tips to miguel.melendez@sgvn.com. |
Wow, amazing blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy.
You make blogging look like a walk in the park! I've been trying to blog daily but I just cant find writing material.. you're an inspiration to me and i'm sure many others!
Valley Kid you are right. Burbank finished 11-11-1. My bad. Your point is what, that they are great?
Amused Reader - please get your facts straight. Arcadia lost 2 games to Burbank = definitely not a sub .500 team.
insulting people on blogs isn't exactly bein a man either...
your soooo hard cuz your from a public school. wow
Arcadia Boy you're talking bad about Maranatha when you should be worrying about your own house. What would worry me is the fact that 3 of your 4 losses were to sub-500 teams. That doesn't bode well come playoff time.
Arcadia Boy you're talking bad about Maranatha when you should be worrying about your own house. What would worry me is the fact that 3 of your 4 losses were to sub-500 teams. That doesn't bode well come playoff time.
Nobody cares about that sorry private school Maranatha, if their kids had any balls they would man up and go to a public school. Tell their kids to grow up and get out of their sheltered little lives.
La Canada is mentioned in swimming. How about Keppel's quest for a three-peat? Buried, as usual? I think Alhambra has a beef in your coverage as well, but as long as Arcadia is happy who cares right?
Maranatha wins league and also wins swimming and not only do they need to share a thread, they need to share with other schools? Maranatha is in Pasadena you know? La Canada at least has the Glendale paper to cover them.
Maranatha wins league and also wins swimming and not only do they need to share a thread, they need to share with other schools? Maranatha is in Pasadena you know? La Canada at least has the Glendale paper to cover them.
Maranatha wins league and also wins swimming and not only do they need to share a thread, they need to share with other schools? Maranatha is in Pasadena you know? La Canada at least has the Glendale paper to cover them.
I know this has nothing to do with this article but as an MHS parent and fan, I just have to say that THAT is the UGLIEST mascot on the planet. Can we PLEASE get a REAL guy dressed as a Minuteman next year...PLEASE!!!!!!
I've said it all along that the playoffs will change everything, like last year when the Minutemen were the only area team standing at the end. Considering the fact that the Maranatha campus is probably the closest one to the Star-News and is one of what... 4 high schools with baseball in the city of Pasadena, it's shameful how they can have such a great regular season and be basically ignored by the PASADENA Star News.
Miguel, It's time to REALLY discover this team and join us for the first round at home. Who cares if Arcadia is playing, send someone else, Monrovia has had their share also, as has San Marino, Temple City, Pasadena and several others. If you don't show, I would say that this will have gone way beyond bias!
damn... even when maranatha gets some love there are still people tripping.
Is that "the Burger King" in the photo? See you in the playoffs. Nice win.
And a picture of a Edison swimmer has nothing to do with Maranatha baseball. That must have been his favorite school at his old job.
Gotmego at least the paper should know what league Marantha won the last two years. Isn't that part of the job?
Looking at the archives when Arcadia and Keppel won CIF they had a blog post full of pictures with the CIF trophy. All Maranatha gets is a brief writeup and a link to the story in a post with a football picture. Nice. But hey it's better than nothing.
Amused reader -
Would you like some cheese with your whine?
Where are the sane Maranatha parents to calm you down?
When Miguel on his 12 hour days goes and actually sees Maranatha and knows what league they're in, I'll believe he's not bias. Maranatha was not in the Alpha League the last two seasons they won the Delphic League. At least he was man enough to talk to the coach over the phone. When Aracadia makes the kind of run Maranatha did last year, then be biased. A team that has been ranked #2 with one of the top area pitchers and not seen by the guy in charge? I will see it was a really good writeup though.
This should keep them quiet and pacified for a while.
here's that Arcadia bias showing up again... Sheesh Miguel...