CNMI falls to Hawaii in World Series

The CNMI Senior All-Star Team players and officials huddle before heading to the field during their opening game in the World Series against Bangor in Maine last Monday at the Shawn T. Mansfield Stadium. (Contributed Photo)

The Commonwealth players surrendered eight runs to Hawaii at the top of the first inning to fall behind early and never recovered to absorb back-to-back defeats in Pool A. With their 0-2 record, the CNMI Senior All-Stars must sweep their last two games to have a chance for the two playoff berths in their pool. The Asia Pacific champions face a team from Saskatchewan, Canada today, and a squad from Dumfries, Virginia tomorrow. The Virginia team has a 2-0 record, sharing the top spot with host Bangor, while Hawaii is at third place with its 1-1 slate, followed by the CNMI (0-2), and Canada (0-3).

Hawaii, which is represented by the Central East Maui Little League from Wailuku, capitalized on the CNMI’s early struggle on the mound to take control of the match and hand the Asia Pacific champions back-to-back losses.

Franko Nakamura started out for the CNMI and gave Hawaii’s first two batters a free pass to first off a walk and hit by pitch. He went on to give up four hits and seven runs before being brought back to the bench in favor of Kenji Yamagata, who did not last long, too, as he was done after only three pitches and was replaced by Joseph Lifoifoi with the CNMI behind, 0-8. Hawaii got the eight runs at the top of the first off Shadd Santos’ two-run single, Orion Miyasato-Farias, Ka’O Mindoro, and Colby Tam’s RBI singles, Lane Kashiwamura’ s two-run double, and Rylie Velez’s groundout.

With Lifoifoi taking care of business on the mound, he managed to neutralize Hawaii’s batter, giving up only two runs and shutting out their foes in three of the last five innings. However, while the CNMI sluggers were able to regroup on defense, they could not do the same on offense against the steady pitching hands of Hawaii’s Kristian Gilliland. Gilliland allowed only two hits, had no walks, and struck out four in six innings pitched and drew help with their outfielders, who caught several fly balls.

With the CNMI batters off, they failed to move past second base and were called for 1-2-3 plays in four out of the six innings, experiencing the tough luck in three straight innings (second to fourth). The Patrick Tenorio-managed squad could only counter with a single to shorts stop from Nathan Camacho at the bottom of the first and the CNMI’s third batter was stranded at first, as fourth batter Darion Jones flied out to centerfield. Jesse Brel also flied out earlier for the second out, while leadoff batter Virolanson Secharmidal grounded out to second.

The CNMI’s misfortunes continued in the next three innings, while Hawaii bagged one more run at the top of the third off a sacrifice fly from Kashiwamura to move one run away from clinching the win via 10-run rule. Hawaii missed the needed one run at the top of the fifth, as Jones and Brel teamed up for a double play at shorts stop and second base and left two runners stranded.

At the top of the fifth, the CNMI got off to a good start with Palacios hitting a double to left field. However, he was stuck there as, the next three batters were unsuccessful with Gilliland striking out Yamagata, K.J. Deleon Guerrero flying out to center, and Lifoifoi grounding out to first.

After frustrating the CNMI at the bottom of the fifth, Hawaii put more pressure on its foe at the top of the sixth with Santos blasting an RBI triple to center for the 10-run lead. Now down by twin digits, the CNMI must score at least one run at the top of the sixth to extend the game, but got none, as Hawaii forced another 1-2-3 play. A.J. Evangelista led off and flied out to center, while Secharmidal grounded out to shorts stop, and Brel flied out to left field.