Sakisat, Camacho lead pitching, batting races

As expected, players from league leaders are lording it over in the batting and pitching races in the ongoing Budweiser 2008 Inter Government/Business Softball League.

In the men’s division, Mel Sakisat of the undefeated Department of Community and Cultural Affairs (6-0) led the batting competition with his average of .778 after going 14-for-18.

All the Top 10 placers in the batting race recorded above .500. Batting leaders were based on five times or more at-bat.

The Joeten Motors Jets’ (5-1) J.J. Laniyo was in second place with .765 batting average tying Docomo’s Payton Sakuma. Laniyo and Sakuma both went 13-for-17 at-bat.

In solo third with an average of .733 was the Beach Boys’ B.J. Sablan, who was 11-for-15, while Legislature’s Dennis Ngeskebei was fourth with his 12-for-17 clip and a batting average of .706.

Three sluggers were tied for fifth with No Zone’s Ned Norita, and Freedom Air’s (5-0) Reno and Roy Celis all going 11-for-16 for an identical average of .688.

Completing the Top 10 were the Legislature’s Tony Celis (.684), the Jets’ Ben Taisacan (.647), Law & Order’s Derek Sasamoto (.647), DCCA’s Jun Saralu (.647), No Zone’s Jerry Ayuyu (.643), DEQ/CRM’s Jess Borja (.643), and CPA’s Mel Manahane (.625).

Other top performers in various categories were Pete Teigita (13 runs cored), Laniyo (seven doubles), Ben Taisacan (three triples), and Byron Kaipat (five homers and 16 RBIs).

In the pitching race, Freedom Air’s Roque Camacho was on top of the board with his 1.62 ERA. Camacho pitched 26 innings in four games, gave up 20 runs, allowed 35 hits, and had only six errors. He had a perfect 4-0 record.

Pitching leaders were based on 10 or more innings pitched.

Custom’s J.J. Salas was in second place with his 3.15 ERA, followed by Sakisat (3.38), P&S’s Mike Sablan (3.50), and the Jets’ Laniyo (4.20).

Rounding off the Top 10 were Public School Systems’ John Terlaje (4.42), the Beach Boys’ Steve Igisair (4.65), Legislature’s Perry Besong (4.67), the Jets’ Donald Flores (4.90), and CUC’s Frank Shiro (5.25).

DLNR’s Esang Olkeriil led the league in strikeouts with 11, while Fernando Camacho had 10, Rueben Olkeriil made nine and John Terlaje, Sakisat, Mario Palacios, and Leo Bobai recorded eight apiece.