Comets sweep elims; IT&E avoids cellar

Kagman IT&E’s Patrick Celis delivers a pitch to McDonald’s during their game in the Majors division of the SLLB last Saturday at the Miguel “Tan Ge” Basa Pangelinan Ballfield.
(Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The Comets kept their perfect record in the regular season of the Majors division of the 2016 Saipan Little League Baseball after beating the Docomo Ol’Aces, 6-3, while IT&E moved out of the cellar after winning its final two games last Saturday at the Miguel “Tan Ge” Basa Pangelinan Ballfield.

The Comets finished the elimination with a 12-0 record to get the top seeding in the single-elimination playoffs, while IT&E finished the regular season with a 4-8 mark following victories over the Pirates, 14-4, and McDonald’s, 11-0. The pair of wins helped IT&E avoid a collision course with the unbeaten Comets in the first round of the playoffs, which will begin this Saturday. Instead, IT&E will duel the second-ranked Falcons (9-3) in the second playoff match at 11pm, while the Comets will face McDonald’s (3-9) in the first game at 9pm. The two other pairings are Kagman Little Legals (9-3) versus the Braves (6-6) at 1pm and the Docomo Ol’Aces (7-5) against the Twins (6-6) at 3pm.

The playoff round will continue this Sunday with the winners in Games 1 and 4 squaring off in the first semis game and the victors in Games 2 and 3 meeting in the second Final Four match. The finals will then be played on May 22, while the consolation game is set for May 21.

Despite being highly favored to win against the Ol’Aces, the Comets nearly saw their hopes for an immaculate slate crush by the former, who led, 3-1, after four and half innings. The Ol’Aces held the Comets without a run in the first three innings before Sabby Saures scored off a stolen base at the bottom of the fourth. The Ol’Aces, who got into the board in the first inning from Ohane Borja’s run off a wild pitch, got the one run back, plus one in the fifth off Lufo Babauta’s two-run double to threaten the Comets.

However, the regular season champions fought back at the bottom of the fifth, thanks to Vincent Nakamura’s two-run double, JP Castro and Saures’ RBI singles, and Reid Teregeyo’s run.

Now ahead after their offense worked in the fifth, the Comets turned to their defense at the top of the sixth to foil the Ol’Aces’ upset bid. Nakamura, who was called for a hit by pitch on Ol’Aces leadoff batter Andre Macaranas, got the first stop when he struck out second batter Latrel Deleon Guerrero. He then gave up a single to Janna Hajishima before being relieved by Saures. Saures went on to get the last two strikeouts, leaving Macaranas and Deleon Guerrero stranded at third and second and securing the perfect record for the Comets.

Meanwhile, IT&E finished strong in the regular season after routing the Pirates and McDonalds.

IT&E needed only four innings in both games to notch its third and fourth win and moved out of the cellar.

Patrick Celis led IT&E’s victory against the Pirates, as he went 3-for-3 at bat and scored three runs and two RBIs. He had two singles and a triple. Jayart Palma was also perfect in his three trips at bat, duplicated Celis’ three runs, and made one double and two singles.