Red Sox bag Senior League pennant

Red Sox first baseman Bradley Lieto tags out a Fielders runner during the top of the third inning of their game in the Senior League division of the 2014 Saipan Little League Baseball last Sunday at the Francisco ?Tan Ko? Palacios Ballfield. (ROSELYN B. MONROYO )

The Red Sox swept their last two games in the regular season to win the pennant in the Senior League division of the 2014 Saipan Little League Baseball.

The Red Sox first topped the Braves, 6-1, last Saturday and then downed the Fielders, 9-4, last Sunday at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Ballfield to finish the double-round robin competition with a 9-3 record. Actually the Red Sox tied the Braves for the No. 1 spot, but the former prevailed in the standoff with their better runs ratio. The Red Sox and the Braves remained tied when organizers went to the teams’ head-to-head record thus the run ratio tiebreaker was implemented. The Braves won against the Red Sox by only one point in their first meeting, 9-8.

The second encounter proved to be crucial for the Red Sox, as it shut out the Braves in the first six innings before the latter stole home in the seventh inning to make it to the scoreboard.

Jerald Cabrera pitched a complete game for the Red Sox and allowed only four hits and walked four. He also had six strikeouts.

Red Sox pitcher and first baseman Bradley Lieto scored the team’s first two runs, as they reached off Craig Aguon’s double at the top of the second inning. The Red Sox then got one more run in the second off an error from Braves catcher Barry Sunumai. The three other runs were made off another Braves miscue in the third and Jhace Palacios’ RBI single and Vincent Leong’s bunt in the fifth for a 6-0 lead.

The Red Sox failed to score in the last two innings, but that did not hurt the team’s cause, as the Braves answered with only one run at the bottom of the seventh with Roke Tenorio stealing home.
After nearly shutting out the Braves, the Red Sox returned to the “Tan Ko” ballfield and defeated the Fielders half an inning early.

After having two stranded runners at the bottom of the first inning and falling behind at 0-1, the Red Sox got their acts together in the next two innings to take control of the match. The Red Sox scored two unearned runs in the second inning and nailed five more in the third for a 7-2 lead. The eventual pennant champions got three unearned runs in the third and drew an RBI single from Aguon and an RBI triple from E.J. Castro.

The Red Sox never looked back from thereon, as they collected two more runs (one each in the fourth and fifth), while the Fielders were without a run in the last three innings to end the season in fifth place with their 3-9 record.

The Fielders are eliminated along with the winless Lions (0-12). The Fielders denied the Lions entry to the win column after notching a 12-7 victory last Saturday.

In other results over the weekend, the Braves bounced back from the costly loss to the Red Sox with a 6-2 triumph over the Lions. After the win, the Braves were hoping for the Fielders to upset the Red Sox in the final game of the regular season to clinch the pennant, but the latter spoiled the former’s wish.

The Enforcers also played two games last weekend and won both, thwarting the Jets first, 8-3, before routing the Lions, 11-0. The Enforcers finished the regular season at third place with its 8-4 record, while the Jets dropped to a 7-5 card for fourth place and took the last playoff ticket.

The playoffs will start this weekend with the Red Sox and the Braves colliding for the first finals berth this Saturday. Then on Sunday, the Enforcers and Jets will square off for the right to face the loser of the Braves-Red Sox tiff for the second finals seat.