Flyers soar above Eliminators, 35-27

In a clash of the Saipan Softball Association’s titans, the Master Construction Flyers handed the Eliminators their second loss of the season Monday night at the Oleai Sports Complex in a stunning 35-27 slugfest, which solidified their standing atop the Men’s Island Wide Slow Pitch Softball League.

Frank Camacho led the way for the Flyers, hitting 5-for-6 at the plate with four homeruns and eight runs batted in, while teammate Ben Mesa went 3-for-6 with a pair of homers and five ribbies.

With two of the league’s top offenses, it was no surprise that the Flyers (11-1) and Eliminators (9-2) lit up the scoreboard for a combined 62 runs in seven innings of work, however no one in attendance expected the Flyers to win by such a wide margin.

The Flyers took a 3-1 lead into the top of the second inning before scoring a wave of 12 runs off of 12 hits to increase their lead. The Eliminators answered back with 10 of their own, and after two innings, the score was 15-11.

Heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, the Flyers were ahead by 13 runs, before the Eliminators rallied again for nine runs to cut the lead to 24-20. Each team scored a run in the fifth, and the Flyers tacked on a pair in the top of the sixth to improve their lead to 27-21 before the Eliminators came all of the way back to tie the game at 27 apiece en route to the final inning.

In the top of the seventh, the Flyers scored a flurry of runs that was highlighted by a grand slam by Roque Camacho. By the time the dust settled, the Flyers had retaken the lead. 35-27.

The Eliminators were unable to generate any additional offense in their final at bat, and the game ended with the Flyers running onto the field following the final pop up to right.

Roy Celis and Manny Sablan put up solid numbers for the Eliminators, as Celis went 4-for-5 with four homers and five ribbies, and Sablan went 4-for-5 with three homers and seven ribbies.

The second game was decided by the 10-run mercy rule, as Team Juan Santiago (2-8) earned its second win of the season against Buddzz (3-7), 30-12.
The game was tied at a run apiece after the second inning before Team JS erupted for 15 runs off of 13 hits to take the lead, 16-1. Buddzz would later make the game interesting when they rallied for seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to make the score 19-9, but Team JS tallied another 11 runs in the top of the fifth to put the game away.

Jesse Stein went 4-for-5 with a single, a double and a pair of homeruns in his debut for Team JS, and youngster Herman Kintol knocked four singles and scored three times en route to a 4-for-5 performance at the plate.

Tragedy struck the third game of the tripleheader, as Outlaws pitcher Frankie Angel was struck in the face by a softball in the third inning against X-Clusive. While Angel was being taken to the hospital via ambulance, his teammates decided to cede the game to X-Clusive. Angel remains at the Commonwealth Health Center where he is being kept for observation.