Aimeliik Bat Boys come back to win BASA open champs

The Aimeliik Bat Boys came back after losing Game 1 of the best-of-3 finals to win the championship of the 2023 Budweiser Belau Amateur Softball Association Slow Pitch Open League championship at Dan Dan Softball Field last Sunday.

For all the marbles, the Bat Boys and Just 4 Fun sluggers turned the third and last game into a home run derby with homers flying left and right. In the end, the Bat Boys outscored Just 4 Fun, 32-27.

The Bat Boys’ Sus Iguel, Lamarc Iguel, Narry Nakamura, and Luis Iguel gave the team a much needed four insurance runs from back-to-back homers in the sixth inning for a good 31-19 lead.

But Just 4 Fun then made it 25-31 at the bottom of the inning from six runs off home runs by Shane Yamada, Nate Camacho, Jordan Suel, Keith Igitol, and Aling Ogumoro-Uludong.

The Bat Boys had one more chance to extend their lead in the last inning, but only one run came in from Marwin Leemarvin’s solo homer to make it 32-25.

When it seemed that Just 4 Fun was going to make a comeback and win it all, Bat Boys pitcher Sus Iguel gave up only two more runs from a two-RBI homer by Jay Kintol, and proceeded to lock in three outs before they could do anymore damage.

Just 4 Fun drew first blood in the first game, after an overpowering 33-13 final, but the Bat Boys called to the softball gods and forced a deciding third game after a second game 15-13 win.

Bat Boys coach Henry Sablan was asked how he felt after their team won and said, “I owe it to the boys. These boys are good. I didn’t get to play unfortunately because of my knee injury, but at least my boys got my back.”

Sablan went on to say that their season and their team was like a “Cinderella story. If you saw us in the first game, we didn’t know anybody—we didn’t know each other’s names. We got our first win not knowing each other. We lost our second and still our chemistry wasn’t there. In the third game and on, we just flew from there. But honestly, this is a new team.”

He added that the strength of the team is that they tease each other in the dugout to motivate each other to do better. “It was a good season,” he said. On what he thought of Just 4 Fun, he said, “they were the team to beat and I’m glad we did.”

Sablan said he’s the president of the club/team, while teammate McQueen Masaharu is the vice president. “Aimeliik is my home town… we formed this team and shout out to Palau and the Aimeliik government for sponsoring the team and shout out to the people back in Palau.”

Results of the MVP race will be posted in the next issues of Saipan Tribune.