Sports
Marquez, Jump Close Prep Careers as All-Stars
Redondo Union seniors square off on opposite sides in the South Bay Athletic Club All-Star baseball game, which was won by Jump and the Red Team 5-4.
It was a night of goodbyes and hellos for 42 high school seniors from 18 local schools on Friday at the South Bay Athletic Club's All-Star baseball game — goodbye to their high school careers and hello to fellow all stars that they have competed against the past four years.
Teammates were pitted against each other and rivals played side by side in a nine-inning contest at Redondo Union High that the Blue All-Stars won 5-4 over the Red All-Stars.
The Sea Hawks were represented by Daniel Marquez on the Blue Team and Chris Jump for the Red Team, and both said it was special playing their last high school baseball game on their home field.
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After playing for several coaches over his career, Jump felt it was a great experience overall and he feels he has improved a lot over the last year. "I felt I had more of a complete season this year both offensively and defensively,'' said Jump, who as a senior led Redondo with a .375 batting average, 27 hits and 23 runs scored. ''It was fun playing against Daniel in our last game at Redondo."
Jump is not sure where he will play next year but he is thinking about going to El Camino College.
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Marquez is a two-sport star at Redondo, also playing both offense and defense on the football team for the Sea Hawks. "It seemed like a regular home game tonight. It felt good and it was great to have my last baseball game on my home field," he said.
Playing for new coaches in his last two years at Redondo didn't have a huge impact – he hit .329 as a senior with a solid .440 on-base percentage and stole 13 bases.
"It really didn't affect me. It was a new coach, yeah, but I'm still going to play my game how I play my game. I went out and played my hardest, no matter who the coach was," he said.
Marquez is planning to attend Harbor College and play baseball next year. He would like to continue his baseball career after his two years at Harbor and if that doesn't work out he plans to go to the Fire Academy.
What were his last thoughts on playing at Redondo? "It's great to be a Sea Hawk, Fly High!"
