Red Sox are Junior League champions

The Red Sox upset pennant champion Hawaiya Technologies, Inc.-Ol’Aces, 8-7, to win the Junior Division championship of the 2012 Saipan Little League last Sunday at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Ballfield.

Tied at 7-all in the sixth inning, the Red Sox scored the go-ahead run in the seventh then pulled out an unexpected double play that shocked the pennant champion off the field in what was an electric duel for the Junior League championship.

Last Sunday also saw the Senior and Big leagues crown their respective champions, but results will be published by the Saipan Tribune in the days ahead.

It was an exciting finals for the Junior League to say the least with Ol’Aces drawing first blood when Mike Muna and Kenji Yamagata lifted a pair of sacrifice fly balls in the top of the first inning.

Red Sox, however, would answer immediately in the bottom frame with two RBI base knocks by Roke Tenorio and Nathan Camacho.

The team then pushed ahead, 4-2, in the second inning off errors, but Ol’Aces recovered from the plate and took the lead, 5-4, off three hits in the top of the third.

Ol’Aces’ Jessie Brel drove in Giovanni Taitingfong and Verlance Secharmidal hustled all the way around off errors.

Red Sox got out of the jam with runners at first and second, but went three up and three down in the bottom portion.

Ol’Aces produced two more runs in the fourth inning, but the Red Sox tied the game at 7-apiece in the bottom half.

Ol’Aces’ Payton Lizama reached on a fielder’s choice and scored off an error, while Brel was singled home by Muna, but the Red Sox sifted out three runs to close the frame off four hits.

Won Jong Seo drew a walk and Jhace Palacios reached on a fielder’s choice, which set up a two-RBI base knock by Craig Aguon.

Aguon was caught in the path, but Jerald Cabrera kept them alive with a two-out single and scored the tying run thanks to a costly infield error.

Ol’Aces escaped and then put runners on the corners with one out in the sixth inning, prompting the Red Sox to bring Cabrera to the rubber for Palacios.

Cabrera kept Ol’Aces at bay and went on to score the go-ahead run himself in the bottom half, reaching and scoring off errors as Ol’Aces’ defense crumbled in the clutch.

Then in the final stand, Ol’Aces had the tying run 90 feet away, but a one-hop sizzler down the third base line was snagged in fair territory by Red Sox’s Melvin Sakisat who applied the tag on the runner.

It all happened so fast that Sakisat almost forgot to throw it over to first base to complete the game-ending double play.

Ol’Aces were in disbelief that it all ended so quickly and lobbied for a foul ball, but it fell on deaf ears as the umpires were on top of the play from the start.

Despite going just 1-for-3 at the plate, Red Sox’s Cabrera scored three runs, two of which came during crucial points of the game. Ol’Aces’ Brel batted 3-for-4 with an RBI and three runs.

Other Red Sox players include Vincent Leon Guerrero, Jeffrey Palacios, Jobe Reyes, Jesse Sablan, Jonathan Sagun, Berneil Taisacan, Rayvan Tudela, and Joseph Tyquinco.

Manager Anthony Leon Guerrero with coaches Randall Aguon, Thomas Camacho, Paul Reyes, and Dennis Cruz fronted the squad.