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Ayuyu hurls Rock Steady past Falcons
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Posted on Mar 31 2009
Giovanni Ayuyu helped defending champion Rock Steady rally in the eighth inning to beat the Falcons, 10-7, Friday night in the 2009 Budweiser Saipan Major League at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Ballfield.
Ayuyu’s late-game heroics allowed Rock Steady to return to winning form following its loss to San Roque D-9ers the previous week.
Ayuyu moved from third base to the mound in the bottom of the seventh replacing starting pitcher Shane Mendilola with Rock Steady trailing, 5-7.
Prior to that, Rock Steady was on top at 5-2 but the Falcons came up with two runs on a string of fielding errors and wild pitches in the top of the sixth.
The Falcons then took the lead with one swing of the bat from slugger Ned Norita, which brought home three runners.
Ayuyu was then summoned to the mound and struck out the first batter he faced. He then forced Mike Pangelinan and Norita to ground out to end the inning.
After another unproductive inning for the defending champions, Ayuyu gave Rock Steady a chance by finishing off all three batters he faced on a couple of groundouts and a strikeout.
Rock Steady’s rally in the eighth began with consecutive singles by Byron Kaipat and Ben Guerrero.
Ayuyu then hit a game tying two-run double and Juan Tenorio gave Rock Steady the go-ahead run on a single by Mike Pangelinan.
After Mendiola was struck out by Falcons reliever Pete Teigita, Ayuyu reached home plate on a single by Secharmidal and Pangelinan scored the game’s final run with another single by Toi Celis.
Ayuyu allowed Suel and Nunu Kapileo to reach base with one out before the reliever settled down in the ninth by forcing Norita to fly out to third and Kapileo to ground out.
With the win, Rock Steady joined the Ford Rangers on top with a 4-1 win-loss record, while the Falcons slipped to fourth at 3-2.
