SSA Slow Pitch: From great to gross

The Sporting Complex in Oleai was the setting for some of the most outrageous displays of offense that the island has ever seen, as six teams combined to score 144 runs in the resumption of 2004 Men’s Island Wide Slow Pitch Softball League last Friday.

The Eliminators got the runs started when they scored three runs in the top of the first inning of their game with Buddz. They continued to add runs every inning en route to a 25-14 win.

The destructive duo combined to go 8-for-10 at the plate with two homeruns, six singles, and seven runs batted in for the Eliminators. Joe Guerrero added a pair of homers for the Eliminators, as he went 2-for-4 with three RBIs to help his team climb into a tie for third place with Natibu at 4-1, while Buddz slipped to 2-2.

In the second game, the margin of victory was upped from nine to 15, as X-clusive exterminated Fadang, 25-10. The X-men took control of the game right from the start, scoring 14 runs in the first inning led by JJ Cabrera, who went 2-for-2 with a triple, a homer, and three RBIs—in the first inning.

X-clusive received support from Jon Joyner, who went 3-for-4 at the plate, with three singles and three scores. Dane Lizama also pitched in, cracking a pair of homers and tallying four runs batted in. The team offense combined for 19 hits, and was the beneficiary of 15 Fadang errors.

In the first two contests, the combined four-team run total was 74, which means that there were exactly 70 remaining to be scored for the night. They way they were distributed was enough to make a grown man cry.

Bud Light opened up a can on Team Juan Santiago, unleashing a carbonated tidal wave of 63 runs upon their unsuspecting opponents, off of 56 hits in just five innings of work. The game started out sane enough, as Bud Light scored seven runs in the top of the first inning, followed by TJS answering back with three.

From there on out, it was literally history in the making, as Bud Light erupted for 19 runs in the top of the second, exploded for 20 more in the third, piled on another 10 in the fourth, and added seven more insurance runs in the fifth to make it official.

Craig Sanchez went an unprecedented 8-for-8 at the plate with eight RBI’s, three singles, four doubles, and raced around the bases for an inside the park homerun. Pete Sablan was a perfect 7-for-7 with the stick, and hammered home 15 runs. Slugger Mel Sakisat threw in six homers and seven ribbies to add insult to injury. Bud Light also was the beneficiary of quality pitching courtesy of Bob Coldeen. Coldeen allowed just seven runs against, and struck out the side in the second inning.

According to field expert Ray Palacios, Sablan’s 7-for-7 broke the previous record of 6-for-6 in the CNMI, followed by Sanchez’s record breaking 8-for-8.