SML leaders a step above

While the four teams of the Saipan Major League baseball’s fall edition have wrapped up their season and already started the playoffs, the statisticians have released the final results of the top hitters and hurlers.

The Rep. Dave Apatang Hustlers repeated as pennant champions with a 6-4 record following a tiebreaker with the Kautz Glass Glazers, and they did so with some of the top hitters in the game.

J.R. Suel (.353), Manny Sablan (.286) and Roy Celis (.270) make up three of the Top 10 hitters in the league. Only four batters have had more success than Suel, who is also tied for second in doubles (3), and runs batted in (7).

Sablan is one of those tied with Suel in doubles, but he is in a world of his own in one category, as he knocked the first homerun of the wooden bat era last week. The steady catcher provides the power when needed, but teammate Celis produces offense all over the board.

Celis is also tied with Suel and Sablan with three doubles, scored the most runs (14), runs batted in (8), and is tied with teammates Jerome Delos Santos, Byron Kaipat and 10 players with one triple.

The Hustlers also lay claim to the top doubles hitter in Oliver Secharmidail (4), but with all of their top performers they still had to claw their way back from a 2-4 record to take the top spot.

The Kautz Glass Glazers finished the season in second place at 5-5, but they had a 1-2-3 punch of hitters as well in Tyrone Omar, J.P. Sablan, and Tony Palacios.

Omar finished fifth in the batting race with a .333, tied Celis with 14 runs scored, and a triple. Sablan hit .308, scored nine runs, and is one of the few that hit a triple in league play. Palacios finished with a .286 at the plate, while teammates Ben Taisacan and Bill Kaipat tied with six runs batted in.

Finishing in third with a 4-5 record were the Heinz & David North Stars, but they boasted the league’s top hitter in Mike Cruz. The brightest North Star was 13-for-33 at the plate for a .394 batting average, but Cruz could not carry the team to the pennant by himself.

Cruz was joined by teammate Jesse Ramon on the list of top performers, as Ramon also smacked a triple this season.

The Speaker Fitial Pirates also finished with a 4-5 record in what has shaped up to be not a big season for them. The Pirates had their sights set on reclaiming the pennant, but a string of losses put an end to their hopes.

The second and third finishers in the batting race both played for the Pirates, as Pete Tomokane (.375) and Matt Kintol (.371) consistently found a way to produce for their team.

Tomokane, with teammates B.J. Seman and J.J. Taitano landed on the triple list, while fellow Pirate Dwight Quitano finished the season with six runs batted in.