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Little League to face Guam in finals
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Posted on Jul 27 2004
The CNMI Little League All-Stars of the Asia/Pacific Baseball Tournament put on one heck of a show for all of the parents, fans, and media this past week, but the action is about to get even better as Japan will face Chinese Taipei in the Asia finals and the CNMI will face Guam in the Pacific finals today at Guam’s Paseo Stadium.
It was the boys from Jakarta pulling off the major upset in yesterday’s match-up between Guam and Indonesia, as Saipan’s neighbor to the south dropped a 12-6 decision.
At one point Indonesia was leading 9-3 before Guam took advantage of throwing errors to rally for three runs. It was for not though as the three-run deficit quickly climbed to six before the final out.
With Indonesia’s victory, there was a three-way tie for first place as the CNMI, Guam, and Indonesia all finished with records of 2-1. The basis for the tiebreaker was the fewest points allowed. The CNMI came out in front, allowing 10 runs, while Guam allowed 16 and Indonesia allowed 18.
Had Indonesia won by a nine-run margin, they would have found themselves facing the CNMI in the finals. Instead, they fell short of their goal by two tallies, allowing Guam to advance.
“It’s too bad for Indonesia because they played a good game. They came out on fire with good hitting and pitching. It was just the errors that did them in,” said CNMI All-Stars manager Tony Benevente.
The CNMI and Guam will take the field for the championship game at 1pm this afternoon following the finals of the Asia division at 10am.
After having lost to Guam in a heart-breaking 2-0 to open the tournament, the boys were able to bounce back and pick up consecutive wins against the Philippines and Indonesia to put them into a position to make the finals. The boys of the CNMI finished atop the tournament by virtue of the tiebreaker, at 2-1, and now have a chance to avenge their opening game loss.
If they can beat topple Guam, Philip Manalo, Alex Benevente, Keith Kintol, Eli Augenbaugh, Ofero Taitano, Cameron Ser Nicolas, Eric Tenorio, David Camacho, Donovan George, Justin Alexander, Anthony Rogolifoi, Ike Aldan, R-Jay Joe, and Anthony Tenorio will earn a trip to Williamport, Pennsylvania to play in the Little League World Series.
