Ngaraard Redmen pelts Momma Charo, 22-7

A Ngaraard Redmen batter eyes and swings at a pitch by Momma Charo pitcher Leo Bobai in the men’s division of the 2022 Budweiser Belau Amateur Softball Association League last Sunday at the Dandan Softball Field. (LEIGH GASES)

Ngaraard Redmen defeated Momma Charo, 22-7, in a rare double playdate for the team in the men’s division of the 2022 Budweiser Belau Amateur Softball Association League last Sunday at the Dandan Softball Field.

It was a run-ruled game that lasted only until the fifth inning as Redmen pelted the opposition with hit after hit, with John Taitano completing the first cycle of the season.

A cycle in baseball and softball is when a batter hits a single, a double, a triple, and a homerun in one game, which Taitano completed and which earned him seven RBIs.

Not only was Taitano on a hot streak, the regular hard hitters for the Redmen came to play as well. Ton Pangelinan came just a single  shy of hitting a cycle as he had a home run, a double, and a triple.

Pitcher John Diaz put in the work with the bat as well as he hit a home run and had two RBIs, hitting 3-of-4 at-bats. On the pitching side, he struck out four of Momma Charo batters.

Mike Tomokane added one more home run and had a triple, with three RBIs. 

The Redmen put up two runs in the first inning, six runs in the second inning, one run in the third inning, nine runs in the fourth inning, and four runs in the fifth and last inning.

Over in Momma Charo’s side, they started the game off with a home run by Barrie Maratita but only managed to put up two runs in the first inning. They couldn’t get past the pitches of the Redmen as they came up with goose eggs in two straight innings, managing to put up only four more runs in the final innings.

Maratita and J.J Laniyo had one home run and two RBIs each and Chico Ilo had one home run and one RBI for Momma Charo.

The Redmen went up to 4-4, while Momma Charo went further down the loser’s bracket with a 3-7
 
Ngaraard Redmen 20, Sufa 19
Redmen escaped with a win over Sufa, 20-19 in a hitting match as both teams took turns scoring runs. The former was making up for a rained out match the previous Sunday.

In a game where statistician Ray Palacios got a workout, it seemed like Sufa was on the way to winning as they put up 12 runs in one inning alone. 

However, it was a valiant effort as in the end, the Redmen tallied more runs over the course of the innings, with just two runs in the final inning to take the win.

Lefty Shiro started the game inning off with a bang as he hit one home run to get the momentum going for the Redmen. In the end, he piled up two home runs, one triple, one double, and five RBIs, one shy in a day of batters almost completing a cycle.

Jason Reyes, Juan Reyes, Greg Magofna, and John Diaz all had one home run each.

With this win plus the win in the game before, they are now up 5-4, with Sufa at 4-4.
 
Sufa 34, Peleliu 29
In this almost never-ending run-filled game, Sufa took the win over Peleliu, 34-29, in their first game of the day.

Audie Maratita, who came back after missing previous games, hit three big ones out of the park out of five hits in his six at-bats, resulting in six runs batted in. 

Maratita’s teammates put in the work as well as Calvani Deleon Guerrero and Mel Sablan had one home run and three RBIs each. Paul Salalila had two home runs and four RBIs, Pat Deleon Guerrero had two home runs and brought in the most RBI’s which is nine, and Mel Manahane had two RBI’s.

Sufa racked up the runs in each inning as they brought in six runs in the first inning, two runs in the second inning, six runs in the third inning with three home runs, six runs in the fourth inning, three runs in the fifth inning, three runs in the sixth inning, and eight runs in the seventh and last inning.

Peleliu had their fair share of hits and runs scored in too but it was short as they fell to Sufa in the last inning, bringing in only one run. 

Cartfield Sablan and Charley Kenti had a home run apiece, while Alvin Salas hit two.

With the win, Sufa went up 5-4 with Peleliu at 4-5.
 
Tokahao 16,
Hagu La’mun 4
Coming off a win last Sunday, Hagu La’mun couldn’t keep the winning streak alive as they fell to Tokahao, 16-4. 

The bats didn’t resound in this game for Hagu La’mun as they couldn’t get past Tokahao pitcher George David.

Meanwhile, Tokahao blasted eight home runs in the game, three of which were courtesy of Jeff Cruz. Robert Bansil and Jerome Delos Santos had two home runs each, while Marco Peter had one.

Majority of the runs scored by Tokahao were in the second inning with six, as they pulled further away from Hagu La’mun. In the end, Hagu La’mun could only put up four runs and was overpowered by Tokahao.

Tokahao is up ahead in the leaderboard at 6-3 with  the victory, while Hagu La’mun fell to 5-4.