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Hustlers win Fall League pennant
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Posted on Dec 05 2004
The Rep. Dave Apatang Hustlers’ silenced the bats of the Kautz Glass Glazers in a one-game tiebreaker to determine the pennant champion of the Saipan Major League’s fall edition regular season at Francisco M. Palacios baseball field on Saturday, and they needed solid outings from three pitchers to do it.
The defending champion Hustlers scored five runs by the sixth inning before the Glazers answered back with a pair of runs to repeat their feat from last year. The three amigos took care of the rest, as the Hustlers’ defense was securely anchored upon the mound by the strength of the arms of Roy Celis, Byron Kaipat, and Jonathan Camacho.
Celis took care of the Glazers in the bottom of the first inning before heading out to right field in a swap of positions with Kaipat. “Lord Byron” took the mound in the second inning and recorded three strikeouts to end the inning. Second baseman Dane Lizama got Kaipat a run when he singled Celis home in the top of the third to get the ball rolling.
It was Celis’ turn to aid Kaipat in the top of the fourth when he doubled home catcher Manny Sablan and first baseman Jester Garcia to give his team all of the runs that they would need.
Kaipat managed Glazers’ offense from there, as he allowed two runs off of five hits over five innings of work before being relieved by Camacho. In the final three innings, Camacho surrendered three hits and walked a pair to seal the victory for the Hustlers.
Celis finished the game with a 2-for-4 performance at the plate that yielded a pair of doubles, two scores and two runs batted in, while teammate Lizama was 2-for-5 with a pair of singles.
The Hustlers found themselves floundering early on in the season, but they clawed their way out of a 2-4 hole and into first place by winning their last three games to force the tiebreaker with the Glazers.
With the win, the Hustlers earned top billing in the playoffs, and now face the Speaker Fitial Pirates in a best-of-three series, while the Glazers will meet with the Heinz & David North Stars.
