Little Legals tops Braves; Falcons, Comets prevail

A Little Legals runner heads to first base during their game against the Braves in the Majors division of the 2017 Saipan Little League Baseball last Saturday at the Miguel “Tan Ge” Basa Pangelinan Ballfield. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The Little Legals, Falcons, and Comets dominated their respective opponents in the Major division of the 2017 Saipan Little League Baseball last Saturday at the Miguel “Tan Ge” Basa Pangelinan Ballfield.

The defending champions Comets shut down Bank of Saipan, 12-0, while the Falcons also blanked the Docomo Ol’Aces in similar scores, and the Little Legals downed the Braves, 10-2.

Delbert Sablan powered the Little Legals to the easy victory after going 4-for-4 at bat, which he highlighted with a two-run homer at the top of the sixth inning. The Little Legals closer also scored four runs, a single, and a double. Kaipo Dikito contributed two runs off a 2-for-4 performance at the plate.

The Braves lost the match as they hit the board only in the third and fourth inning off Taisei Desebel’s RBI double and Angelo Igitol’s RBI triple.

Gunner Sablan pitched for the Little Legals and had six strikeouts, while Delbert relieved him in the fifth inning with the latter fanning out four batters and giving up only one hit.

In the Falcons-Ol’Aces tiff, Jonathan Renguul pitched in no relief for the former and threw a two-hitter in four innings. Renguul struck out nine batters, including the Ol’Aces’ first three at the top of the order at the bottom of fourth to cap his outstanding work on the mound. Renguul also scored three runs and two RBIs on a 2-for-4 at bat.

Achilles Evangelista added three RBIs on a 2-for-3 showing at the plate for the Falcons, while Chris Gonzales made three RBIs, too, along with three runs after hitting 3-for-3 at the plate.

Tyler Taitano and Tristan Rogolifoi recorded the only two hits for the hapless Ol’Aces with both of them registering a single. However, that was it for them and the rest of the Ol’Aces, as they never made it to scoring position against the Falcons’ solid defense and pitching.

In the Comets-Bank of Saipan game, the match also ended after only four innings with the defending champions securing the victory via 10-run mercy rule after scoring five runs at the top of the fourth and forcing their foes to a 1-2-3 inning at the bottom.

Jason Reyes gave up only two hits in four innings and earned six strikeouts. With him on the mound and his teammates also holding their ground on defense, Bank of Saipan reached second base only once, while the other runner was beaten to second at the bottom of the fourth inning as the Comets ended the one-sided match with a double play.

On offense, Alvin Hocog paced the Comets as he was 3-for-3 at bat and registered three runs and two RBIs. Reyes added two runs.