Little Legals bring down Falcons

The Little Legals third baseman gets ready, while a Falcons runner checks on the action at home plate during the bottom of the fifth inning of their Majors division game in the SLLB last Saturday at the Miguel “Tan Ge” Basa Pangelinan Ballfield. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The Little Legals made the necessary defensive stops to nip the Falcons, 5-4, in their Major division game in the 2016 Saipan Little League Baseball last Saturday at the Miguel “Tan Ge” Basa Pangelinan Ballfield.

Pitcher Delbert Sablan picked up a grounder from the Falcons’ sixth batter and threw to first base for the third and last out at the bottom of the sixth inning. Before the final out, the Falcons threatened the Little Legals, as Kyke Kapileo hit a two-run homer that brought the Little Legals’ lead to one with only one out.

The Little Legals then got the second out after some clarifications, as Santiago Kani was beaten to first. The umpire near first base earlier decided the runner was safe due to running path violation by the Little Legals’ Alexina Tyquenco. However, head umpire Manny Tenorio reversed the call and charged the Falcons with the second out.

Despite the tough break, the Falcons remained in contention when Christopher Gonzales advanced to first off the Little Legals’ error at third base. But, Gonzales was left stranded at third as the next Falcons batter went down on a 1-3 putout play.

The win was the Little Legals’ first, as their earlier debut (against McDonald’s) during the league’s opening day was rained-out.

Versus the Falcons, who absorbed their second loss after bowing to the IT&E Regulations last Feb. 29, 1-10, the Little Legals grabbed the lead from the former after a three-run top of the second inning, 3-2. Justin Agulto, Courtney Lizama, and Alvin Hocog scored the three unearned runs for the Robert Torres-backed Little Legals in the second inning, while the two other runs came from Miku Torres’ RBI single and Lizama’s sacrifice fly.

The Falcons, on the other hand, recorded their two runs at the bottom of the first inning. Keoni Serrano reached off the Little Legals errors at home plate, while Jonathan Riungel made it home off a sacrifice out from Kapileo. The Falcons went cold in the next four innings and had to play catch up in the last and fell short.

McDonald’s 15, Twins 4
In the first game last Saturday, McDonald’s eased past Twins.

McDonald’s recovered from a lethargic start as it scored in the last four innings after being silent in the first two. It tacked on five runs at the top of the third to take the lead, 5-1, and added three each in the fourth and fifth before closing out with four runs in the sixth to cruise to its first win of the season.

L.J. Reyes hit 3-for-5 for McDonalds and tallied two runs and two RBIs. Lance Acosta also had two RBIs off a 2-for-4 performance at the plate. Lily Podziewski was only 1-for-5, but recorded four runs.

Ol’Aces 8, Twins 4
In other results, the Ol’Aces also defeated the Twins during the opening week of the Best Sunshine International-sponsored SLLB.

The Ol’Aces collected four runs at the top of the fifth inning to break the 2-2 deadlock and hung tough to keep the lead and the win. Kenneth Kaipat and Andre Macaranas each knocked an RBI single, while the Ol’Aces got the other runs off the Twins’ miscues. Kaipat added one more RBI single in the sixth, while Lufo Babauta had the same to give the Ol’Aces enough cushion. The Ol’Aces’ first two runs were registered in the fourth inning off Nathan Aizon’s RBI single and the Twins’ errors.

The Twins, who posted two early goals at the bottom of the first, dropped their opener after failing to score a single run in the next three innings and getting only one run each in the fifth and sixth.