Braves, Enforcers make it two in a row

A Red Sox runner returns to second base safely during their Senior League game against the Enforcers last Monday in the 2014 Saipan Little League Baseball at the Francisco ?Tan Ko? Palacios Ballfield.(ROSELYN B. MONROYO)

he Enforcers and the Braves Senior League bagged back-to-back wins against the same teams in the Senior League division of the 2014 Saipan Little League Baseball.
The Enforcers, who snapped the Red Sox’s winning run last Saturday, 16-3, picked up where they left off, downing the latter anew, 10-4, last Monday at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Ballfield.

The Braves, on the other hand, was pitted against the Fielders and eked out a 4-3 win in their first meeting last Saturday before registering a 6-2 victory in the second outing last Monday.

With the twin wins, the Braves grabbed the top spot from the Red Sox with the former improving to a 7-1 record. The Red Sox fell to a 6-2 slate, but are still assured of a playoff berth, along with the Jets (7-2), and the Enforcers (5-4). The Fielders (1-7) and the Lions (0-8) are out of contention.

The Braves needed two extra innings to thwart the Fielders in their first duel and leaned on A.J. Evangelista to pull off the close victory. The Braves starting pitcher hit a two-run single at the bottom of the ninth inning for the one-run win.

The match went the distance, as the Braves and Fielders engaged in a deadlock after seven innings, 2-2. J.J. Lifoifoi and Logan Martin stole home in the second inning to put the Braves on the board, while Dane Salazar and Ian Agulto scored for the Fielders in the third inning off errors. The Fielders then broke the long standoff at the top of the ninth off J.P. Taitano’s RBI single before Evangelista countered with the game-winning hit at the bottom.

In their second duel, the Braves shut out the Fielders in the first six innings and racked up insurance runs at the bottom of the sixth to make it 2-0.

Lifoifoi and Angel Palacios each bagged RBI singles in the sixth inning, while Juan Quitugua scored off a passed ball, and Ian Norita reached off a Fielders miscue to turn a 2-0 lead to a 6-0 advantage, going into the last inning. The Fielders nailed only two runs at the top of the seventh, awarding the Braves another win half an inning earlier.

In the Enforcers’ second encounter against the Red Sox, the former scored two homers to frustrate the latter anew. Jeff Dela Cruz blasted a two-run homer at the top of the seventh inning, while Darion Jones came up with a three-run homer in the sixth inning.

With Jones and Dela Cruz on target, the Enforcers built a 10-1 advantage six innings before the The Red Sox managed to trim the deficit to a decent number after gaining three runs in the last inning.

In the other Senior League game last Monday, the Jets zoomed past the Lions, 22-2.

It took the Jets only four and a half innings to nail the lopsided win, as they got off to a jackrabbit start, recording 13 runs at the bottom of the first inning. K.J. Deleon Guerrero went 2-for-2 in the first inning and had three RBIs, while six other Jets batters contributed one RBI each, and five scored two runs apiece.