CNMI prevents sweep by Philippines, wins Big League

The CNMI Big League All-Stars will be going to Easley, South Carolina, after holding off a gallant comeback by the Philippines in the third and final game of the 2008 Asia-Pacific Regional Little League Tournament last night at the Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field.

The hosts took control of the contest shortly after Giovanni Sablan was replaced by Shane Yamada on the mound.

Sablan was a bit shaky in the start, allowing a couple of runs by the Philippines, which led 2-1 heading into the bottom of the third.

That was when the CNMI’s bats came alive as Jesus Iguel, Yamada, and Vincent Sablan delivered consecutive singles before Nunu Kapileo drove in two runs to give the CNMI the lead at 3-2. Sablan later darted to home plate to give the hosts a two-run cushion.

The Philippines cut the CNMI’s lead to 4-3 when Paolo Mallari stole from third base in the top of the fifth, but the hosts retaliated with two more home plate crossings in the bottom of the inning to make it a three-run ballgame.

The visitors continued to gnaw on the lead the next inning as Bastie Uichico scored on an error by Yamada to make it 6-4.

But like the previous inning the CNMI answered that run with two scores of their own when Iguel and Yamada returned home on a costly throwing error by catcher Luke Paolo Bernardo.

Down 8-4, all seemed lost for the Philippines as everything from the players’ body language to the silence of its normally boisterous crowd suggested that defeat was just an inning away.

But just as everyone in the Oleai Sports Complex ball field was about to count them out, the Philippines came roaring back courtesy of a lead-off single by Fernando Laurel, who later scored on an error.

A double by Angelo Esguerra led to a J.B. Lomoton run and Esguerra himself crossed the plate on a single by Bernardo to make it just a one run deficit for the Philippines, 7-8—all these with two outs starring them on the face.

But with the local crowd egging him on, Yamada again brought sanity back to what was shaping up to be a monumental collapse by the hosts when he induced Christopher John Concepcion to ground out to third baseman Kapileo, who then fired a rocket to Vincent Sablan for the game’s and tournament’s final out.

CNMI Big League All-Stars manager Robert Magofna said his team won the championships game because they wanted it more.

“I think the guys just went out and played their guts out. They just really wanted to win the game. I think the Philippines put out a very good game. But we just wanted to win it for our fans. We’re the Big Leaguers and we have to show and motivate our Junior and Senior Leaguers who both lost in the finals. That’s what motivated us to win and we want those kids to know that we are always here for them.”

He also admitted that the three-run rally the Philippines did in the final inning made him a bit nervous.

The win in the championship by the local Big Leaguers came even with the absence of CNMI ace pitcher Nicolas San Nicolas, who was suspended for his unsportsmanlike conduct in the two teams’ non-bearing game Tuesday after arguing with the umpire, that led to his ejection.

“We actually beat the Philippines in the eliminations without our ace and I told the guys if we can win the first one even without our ace then we have other pitchers to pitch for us in the finals.”