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SML Fall comes home this weekend
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Posted on Feb 07 2006
A week after the Hustlers returned to the ranks of the winning by defeating the Pirates, 13-9, at Kan Pacific Baseball Field, the Saipan Major League Fall championship series will return home from its temporary Marpi lea to the familiar confines of Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field in Oleai.
Players and fans will save on gas and travel time when the teams take the newly refaced diamond for the first time since Bob McKenzie and the crew from the Laolao Bay Golf Resort donated their time and collective efforts to bring Saipan a Major League Baseball-quality surface.
The Pirates are looking for revenge by eliminating the Hustlers after the boys in blue took the pennant. They are just a game away from pulling off the upset, but there is much to be done of the black and gold is to pop the celebratory ginger ale this Saturday.
The Pirates won the first game of the series ala-Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys took Fort Ticonderoga—without a shot—as the Hustlers lost via forfeit by failing to field a team.
The Pirates took advantage of the empty field by holding practice—something that paid dividends with a 9-4 win in Game 2. With a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-five series, the Pirates lost out on their chance for the sweep when Manny Sablan and the Hustlers turned on the heat to take Game 3 last Saturday.
Both teams were ready for Game 4 the following day, but Mother Nature foiled their plans to play with a rash of rain in the northernmost baseball field in the Marianas Islands chain.
The SML Fall championships continue this weekend when Hustlers look to stave off elimination on Saturday morning, Feb. 11, at 10am at Tan Ko. If necessary, Game 5 will be played on Sunday, Feb. 12.
