Cards advance to finals after semis cliff-hanger vs. Falcons, 7-4

The prolonged 2024 Tan Holdings-Saipan Baseball League baseball season is finally closing out as the long-awaited semis between defending champions Cardinals and the top seed Falcons wrapped up last Friday in a cliff-hanger at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field.

The game initially started last Wednesday, but was rained out and ended at the bottom of the sixth inning with a tied 4-4 ballgame. Then, it continued last Friday with the Cardinals coming out on top on a last-minute rally in the eighth inning to win, 7-4.

It was a heated game throughout—one that even the rain couldn’t extinguish, as both teams gave it their all for a spot in the finals. Words were exchanged, and it became a cat-and-mouse game as both teams tried to get into the other’s mind and gain the upper hand.

When the game got started again, the tide changed as the Falcons failed to produce in the seventh and eighth inning. The Cardinals’ bottom of the order then led things off as Brian Camacho got on base in the eighth. He scored a run to make it 5-4.

Then, the Cardinals took their momentum into overdrive as the top of the order got on base which they translated into more runs. Nokki Saralu and Eli Aughenbaugh scored to give them a three-run cushion, 7-4.

In the last hurrah, the Cardinals went down in order, but the Falcons went down in order as well as Cardinals’ ace K.J. Villagomez took them all the way home and secured the win to give them a chance to defend their title.

The Cardinals’ Nate Camacho collected the most RBIs with five and had three hits out of four at-bats, while Saralu went two-for-five and scored two runs, and Aughenbaugh scored two runs and hit the game’s only double.

In the single-elimination playoffs last Thursday, the Bandits shot down Sandlot, 7-1, to advance to the semis against the Padres.

Tomorrow, if the weather allows it, the Padres and Bandits will duke it out for the last finals spot.