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SaiPal stuns Shell Marianas
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Posted on Sep 15 2008
In a reversal of fortune, SaiPal won twice over Shell Marianas to rule the third qualifying round of the 2008 Budweiser King and Queen of the Diamonds Modified Co-ed Slow-pitch Softball Tournament at the Capital Hill Ballfield.
With the win, SaiPal earned a ticket to the Final Four and a chance to represent the CNMI in the Tournament of Champions in November in Palau.
Shell, which won the first (May-17-18) and second (Aug. 2-3) qualifying rounds, had already occupied the No. 1 position in the Final Four to be played on Oct. 11-12.
Natibu, which placed second in the second round, took the No. 2 slot.
The owner of the No. 4 slot will be determined via the wildcard tournament on Oct. 4-5, which will give other teams, Total Chaos, On Da Rox, SUFA, Redemption, and PTI a chance to make up for lost ground.
SaiPal was undefeated in four games, having beaten Redemption, 13-0, and Awel Awel, 11-3, in the preliminaries.
Then, SaiPal outsmarted Shell, 4-1, in the semis to advance to the championship game with a twice-to-beat advantage. SaiPal’s semis win relegated Shell (formerly No Ka Oi) , the three-time defending champion of the Budweiser Tournament of Champions, to the losers’ bracket.
While SaiPal had the chance to rest as it waited for its opponent in the championship game, Shell needed to sweat it out against Natibu before nailing a 14-4 victory.
Shell ran out of gas while Saipal was in control early with five runs at the top of the first inning behind Lefty Shiro, Leo Bobai, Gloyd Martin, Poland Masaharu and Clifton Sillil.
Though, Shell’s Roy Celis, Jerry Ayuyu and Manny Sablan showed a semblance of their strong performance in previous matches after the trio scored runs at the bottom of first and cut the deficit to 3-5, SaiPal added four more runs from Kuich Damian, Tyrone Omar, Shiro, and Bobai in the second for a 9-3 lead.
Shell came up with four runs by Celis, Ayuyu, Mel Sakisat, and Manny Sablan in the third to close the gap at 7-9. But SaiPal quickly answered with Bobai and Damian reaching home plate anew in the fifth and sixth inning, respectively, to secure the win, 11-7.
