CNMI, RP win Junior debuts

The CNMI and the Philippines won their Junior League debuts in the 2008 Asia-Pacific Regional Little League Tournament, but not before getting a scare from their opponents yesterday at the Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field.

In the first game, the CNMI Junior All-Stars staved off a gallant comeback by Indonesia before exploding for five runs in the seventh inning for a 9-6 win.

The host team was comfortably ahead in the bottom of the sixth inning, 4-1, before the Indonesian team finally figured out the puzzle that was CNMI starting pitcher Henry Nakamura.

Kogi Putratama was the first to get on base and then swiftly stole second. Ariesta Hakim gave Indonesia two base runners on an error and then the two scored on a sacrifice fly by Ikasan Adityama to make it 4-3.

The CNMI actually had a chance to break up the play but instead of heading off Putratama and Hakim at home plate, CNMI catcher Anthony Salas opted to throw to first base.

Robert Staa then equalized the game when Salas failed to handle the pitch from Nakamura.

That was it for Nakamura as CNMI Junior All-Stars manager Vinnie Sablan lifted his ace in favor of Peter Tenorio. The move immediately paid dividends as the Indonesians went down for the second and third outs of the inning.

CNMI then answered the Southeast Asian nation’s three-run sixth with some nifty hitting of its own in the seventh.

Aware that an upset was in the works, the host team’s bat didn’t take long to heat up in the final frame of the ballgame.

McGarett Duenas started the fireworks when he drilled relief pitcher Muhammad Defrin with a single. Defrin was then chased from the mound when a pass ball allowed Lamarc Iguel to advance to first and Duenas to second.

Richard Dela Cruz didn’t give Defrin’s replacement, Staa, any breathing room when he also hit a single and Duenas and Iguel shortly scored after that to make it 6-4.

After Dela Cruz was brought in by Justin Kintol, Tenorio and Rocco Reyes would follow suit after Nakamura’s single allowed them to cross home plate, giving the CNMI a 9-4 lead.

Indonesia’s comeback in the bottom of the final inning got off on the right foot as Jonathan Klavert and Naufal Kurniawan’s back-to-back singles—leading to runs—gave the visitors some hope.

But starter Richard Dela Cruz was called on to assume the closer’s role and followed a Hakim walk with a strikeout of Adityama. He then polished off the win for the CNMI by inducing Staa to ground out and Gyaziandri Sumawinata to fly out to second base.

In the second game, the Philippines took a commanding 6-0 lead only to see Guam level the count with a six-run explosion in the fifth inning.

Luckily for the Philippines, who were buoyed by the presence of more than 70 Filipinos on the stands, Lorenzo Ramos salvaged the win when his sacrifice fly in the sixth brought home Miguel Habana to peg the count at 7-6.

Miguel Santos, the fourth pitcher used by Philippine team manager Alberto Catangui in the game, then preserved Ramos’ heroics by going 1-2-3 in the seventh. He first struck out Zacarias Bukikosa then forced Jermaine Tenorio to ground out before a fly out to second base by Philbert Flores ended the game.

Rain wrought havoc to the tournament’s Day 2 schedule forcing the Philippines-Guam game in the Senior League to end close to 7pm. The Guam Seniors took that match 6-2. Results of the fourth match of the day between the Philippines’ Big League team and Guam’s was still not available as of press time.