Braves, Cardinals overpower foes in SBL

The Braves team poses before their 2023 Tan Holdings-Saipan Baseball League game against the Bandits last Thursday at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field. (LEIGH GASES)(

The Braves and Cardinals overpowered their foes in the  2023 Tan Holdings-Saipan Baseball League during their games last Thursday and Friday night at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field.

The Braves stole the W from the Bandits, 18-11, on Thursday, while the Cardinals are still undefeated after giving the Blue Jays a 14-3 beating on Friday.

The Bandits put up more runs than the Braves in the first inning for a 5-2 game. The Bandits continued swinging hotly in the second and third for additional five runs and had a 10-4 lead at this point.

However, the Braves were not going out without a fight and a combination of their starting pitcher and bullpen consecutively shut down the Bandits’ bats in four innings.

The Braves were still struggling to bring home more runs until they tied up the game in the seventh inning when they brought in five. The Bandits’ pitcher was falling apart when he couldn’t locate the strike zone and walked four Braves’ batters who capitalized and came home on singles by V.J. Igitol, J.J. Teigita, and Josenio Alvarez.

The game went into extra innings when they were tied at 10-10, and in the last inning, the Braves scored an eight-run rally to defeat the Bandits.

From the top of the lineup to the bottom, the Braves delivered after their offense was dormant throughout the game. 

Teigita hit another RBI single, while Antonio Norita had one himself, along with Lamarc Iguel.

The Bandits tried to stage a comeback but were only able to bring in one more run and the Braves stole the W from under their noses.

The Cardinals are still a force to be reckoned with as the game against the Blue Jays ended early on account of run-mercy
ruling.

The Cardinals pelted Blue Jays pitching in the fourth inning with nine runs which was started by a single by Thorn Sablan who then stole second base, followed by multiple base hits down and up the lineup. Jerald Cabrera had a two-run RBI in the same inning. 

At this point in the game, the Blue Jays have scored one in the third from Jobe Reyes’ single that brought in James Salalila. A run scored in the fourth after an RBI base hit by Denri Fiden. 

In the first inning, the Cardinals had four runs going into the fifth and last inning, it was 13-2.

The Cardinals’ Nokki Saralu then hit a solo home run in the fifth and the game ended as the Blue Jays could only bring in one more run in their last at-bat.