Eliminators advance, protest looms over La Chai

The second-seeded Eliminators continued their march to the championships on Friday night when they notched back-to-back wins over Natibu during the Island Wide Slow Pitch Softball League playoff quadruple-header at the Oleai Sports Complex.

There was no doubt that the top remaining seed in the postseason was ready to go, as the Eliminators jumped out to a 5-0 lead early to get the first game of their doubleheader underway. They got more offense in the second inning, as second baseman Tony Celis smacked a three-run homerun out of the park to give the Eliminators a 9-0 after two.

A string of errors paved the way to three more runs in the bottom of the third inning to increase the advantage to 12-0, but Natibu finally answered back in the top of the fourth when shortstop Ned Norita homered in Nick Castro to close the gap to 12-2.

Leftfielder Oscar Sablan later scored to make the score 12-3, but the Eliminators put the game away for good in the bottom half of the inning by scoring eight runs off of seven hits, en route to winning the game 20-5 via the 10-run mercy rule.

The umpires called their second head-to-head match short as well, as the Eliminators once again made use of the mercy rule by overpowering Natibu 14-4 to advance to the championships.

This time around, the Eliminators capitalized on their ability to hit the long ball, as Roy Celis (2), Tony Celis, Manny Sablan (2), and Frances George all homered to give their high-powered offense nine runs.

Sablan finished a perfect 3-for-3 on the night with a pair of dingers and a single, which he later turned into a run for the Eliminators when he stole home in the fourth inning.

The other half of the double-double wasn’t so cut and dry, as X-Clusive had a beef with the La Chai team uniforms that led to them filing a protest that still needs to be settled by members of the Saipan Softball Association’s rules committee.

When a couple of players failed to have the proper uniforms and numbers at the start of the first gamer, X-Clusive cried foul, and that may have extended their postseason, as they were ousted from the playoffs by La Chai in two games, 10-7 and 16-9.

Ben Jones led La Chai in the first go round with a perfect 3-for-3 performance at the plate, netting three singles, a score, and a run batted in.

Teammate Elias Rangamar was also unfazed by X-Clusive pitching, as the La Chai pitcher extraordinaire hit a pair of singles to finish 2-for-2 with a walk and a plate crossing.

John Reyes had a solid outing in the opening game of the night as well, as the shortstop smacked a two-run homerun in his first at bat to get the ball rolling, followed by a walk and a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth inning.

There was much of the same when the teams returned to the field for their second contest, but this time out it was Joey Dela Cruz providing the muscle, as the second baseman went 4-for-4 at the plate with a pair of homeruns, a pair of singles, and a trio of runs batted in to lead his team to its second win of the night.

Rangamar returned to pitch another solid match, and the cross-handed hitter went 3-for-5 with three singles, two ribbies, and a plate crossing.

While the decision still looms over La Chai, their advancement to the championship hangs in the balance as well. If the X-Clusive protest goes through, La Chai will have lost the first game of the best-of-three series via forfeit, and even though they swept the series, they will be forced to play a deciding third game tonight.