Rangers rule this year’s SML

After losing the first game to the pennant champions Northern Yankees, the Ford Rangers won their third successive game to take the 2005 Saipan Major League Baseball Association crown at the Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field yesterday, taking the best-of-five series three games to one.

Weeks of delays and poor weather forced the primetime players into the sun, and the Rangers took full advantage of the situation by rebuffing every Yankees outburst with a rally of their own.

Hurler Pete Sablan led the Rangers charge from the hill with six solid innings in which he allowed four runs off five hits before Mr. September Craig Sanchez came from behind the plate to close the door on the pinstripers.

A day after pitching a complete game that game his team a 2-1 edge in the series, Sanchez rose to the occasion by not allowing a run and fanning three in the final three innings.

Sanchez also provided a punch by pounding in a pair of singles and driving in a run, but he didn’t do it all himself, as a stable of hitters showed up for the finale. Shortstop John Reyes continued to show why he is one of the top players in the league by hitting 2-for-3 with a single and a two-run double. The speedster also picked up a couple of stolen bases. His neighbor in the infield Pete Tomokane also drove in a run on the strength of a double to finish the day 1-for-4.

Reyes got the ball rolling for the Rangers with two outs in the bottom of the third when he reached base on error. He turned on the wheels to steal second and third before capitalizing on an error to put the Rangers on the board 1-0. He was joined in the dugout by Mario Sablan when Tomokane doubled him in to give the silver and black a two-run advantage heading into the top of the fourth.

For the first time in the past three games, the Yankees answered back to take the lead with three runs off of a pair of hits in their next at bat. The pinstripers took advantage of a handful of miscues, as Mel Sakisat and Greg Camacho were the recipients of complimentary bases on balls. Sakisat and Tony Camacho later scored to give the Yankees a 3-2 advantage on a pair of passed balls.

The lead didn’t last long, as the Rangers rallied in the bottom of the fourth by riding the tide of mistakes as well. J.J. Laniyo reached base on error, advanced to second on another, sprinted to third on a wild pitch, and tied the game on another error.

First baseman Fred Kaipat and Jason Gay piled on another pair to give the Rangers a 5-3 lead that would hold for the duration. Though the Yankees pulled to within one run in the top of the sixth when John M. Reyes singled Tony Camacho across the plate, the Rangers added the final runs of the game when Jerome Delos Santos singled in Tomokane before the favor was returned by Sanchez.