Enforcers, Falcons ease past foes

The Enforcers bagged twin wins to take the early lead in the six-team group. They first triumphed against the defending champions Red Sox, 9-1, in the Junior League opener last Saturday at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Ballfield and then topped the Comets, 6-1, last Monday.

Against the Comets, the Enforcers were on target early, scoring three runs apiece in the first and second inning to take control of the match. The Comets never threatened the Enforcers, as after gaining one run in the second inning, the former went scoreless in the last five innings.

Virgil Secharmidal put the Enforcers on the board at the bottom of the first, as he singled, advanced to second off a passed ball, and made it all the way home off Comets errors. The Enforcers then moved up, 3-0, after Ethan Babauta blasted a two-run double, and got three more runs in the second off the Comets’ two miscues and a passed ball.

The Comets answered with only one unearned run in the second then struggled against Kier Agda’s pitching in the last five innings. Agda, who came in for Secharmidal at the start of the third inning, allowed only two hits and had three strikeouts.

Agda also pitched for the Enforcers against the Red Sox and nearly shut down the defending champions, giving up only one hit and no runs in 2.1 innings pitched. Secharmidal took over and denied the Red Sox’s bid for the elusive first run, allowing no hits, walking one, and striking out four.

The Red Sox finally ended the drought at the bottom of the sixth with the Enforcers bringing Babauta to the mound. Tindin Leon Guerrero, who recorded one of the Red Sox’s two singles in the sixth, scored off an Enforcers’ error at third, but he failed to start the team’s rally, as JPO scored four runs earlier at the top for the 8-run lead.

Before their four-run top of the sixth, the Enforcers notched three in the fourth and saved one run each in the first and fifth to gain cushion against the Red Sox. The Enforcers got most of their runs off the Red Sox’s mistakes.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox absorbed another loss when it bowed to the Falcons in last Monday’s third and final game.

The Falcons were leading the Red Sox, 10-2, at the top of the sixth inning when it rained and league officials decided to call it a game several minutes later. League rules state that a leading team can be declared the winner in a rained-out game provided at least five complete innings had been played.

The Falcons dominated the Red Sox when they scored four runs each in the first and fifth inning and added two more in the sixth. The Red Sox, on the other hand, struggled on offense, getting one run each in the first and third.