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Bears dominate SBL awards
The Bears’ A.J. Lizama is at bat one of their games in the 2016 Saipan Baseball League at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Ballfield. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
With their regular season and finals sweeps, it’s no longer surprising to see the Chalan Kanoa Bears collect the most individual awards in the 2016 Saipan Baseball League last week at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Ballfiel
The pennant and 2016 champions hauled nine trophies, four of them came from A.J. Lizama, who was named the batting and RBI champ and also took the regular season and Finals MVP awards. He had a batting average off .466 after going 27-for-58 in the Bears 14-game sweep in the elimination and recorded 20 RBIs.
Other Bears awardees were ERA champion Jeffrey Lizama, Manager of the Year Henry Lizama, Coach of the Year Joe C. Lizama, and Golden Glove (outfield) Henry Lizama Jr.
The BSI Aces’ Lamarc Iguel shared the Golden Glove (infield) award with Lizama Jr., and the former added the triples and home run champion trophies to his credit. Lamarc had four triples, matching the output of GSM Brewers’ Nokki Saralu and the two players were also the winners in the home run race, joining the Bears’ Peyton Lizama in a three-way tie after each rounded the bases just once this season.
Saralu got his second individual award when he took the doubles champion trophy. He made six doubles. The BSI’ Aces’ Juan Iguel was also the lone recipient of the most runs awards after posting 24.
Completing the list of the awardees for the 2016 season were Juan’s teammate Michael Muna and the GSM’ Brewers’ Pat Alepuyo. Alepuyo was the Catcher of the Year, while Muna took the Pitcher of the Year award along with the strikeout champion trophy after fanning out 64 batters in the elimination round.
