Kings crown Rangers, 11-9

The young Bud Kings came through Saturday in the Saipan Major League and put up another impressive performance with an 11-9 victory over the Ford Rangers at the Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field.

Sluggers Tony Celis, Dane Lizama, and Jon Villagomez served as a nightmare for the Rangers as the three combined for 10 hits, seven runs, and seven runs batted in.

The Kings wasted no time and got on the scoreboard quickly with two runs in the first inning. Lizama reached on an error and scored on a single by Jonathan Delos Santos, who later crossed home plate on a single by A.J. Allen.

The Kings continued to have their way and padded their lead in the second with another two runs as Oliver Secharmidal reached on an error, Villagomez singled, and both scored on a single by Celis, 4-0.

The Rangers finally came to life in the bottom half of the inning as they racked up three runs to cut the deficit to one. Spearheading the attack was John Reyes, who smacked a two-run double before scoring, 3-4.

With momentum on their corner, the Rangers continued to pound away and scored another three runs in the third inning to swing favor to their corner, 6-4. Ed Kapileo reached on an error and scored on a double by J.P. Sablan, J.J. Laniyo drove Sablan home on a triple, and an error by the Kings enabled Laniyo to trot home.

The Kings weren’t rattled, though, and regained the lead in the top of the fourth as Villagomez singled, Lizama doubled, and both scored on a double by Celis, who also scored on an error to give the Kings a 7-6 lead.

Lizama then drove Villagomez home on a triple in the next inning to increase the lead, 8-6, and the Kings added three more runs in the top of the seventh for an 11-6 advantage.

The Rangers responded in the bottom half with three runs of their own highlighted by a two-run triple by Laniyo, but they weren’t able to pull even resulting in the Kings leaving victorious.

Villagomez went 4-for-5 with three runs, Celis had three hits, a run, and four RBIs, and Lizama went 3-for-5 with three runs and three RBIs to lead the Kings. Delos Santos also had two hits, two RBIs, and a run.

Laniyo was perfect at the plate and went 4-for-4 with three runs, two triples, and three RBIs to lead the Rangers. Sablan also had two hits, two runs, and an RBI, Kapileo had two hits and two runs, and Reyes had a hit, a run, and two RBIs.