Just4Fun celebrates BASA champs

Just4Fun soared to the championship title like confetti bursting from a piñata, sweeping The Kliq in the best-of-three series of the 2024 Budweiser Belau Amateur Softball Association Men’s Slow Pitch Open League last Saturday at the Dandan Softball Field.

They partied like a rockstar after they won Game 2 in a blowout 31-12 game which clinched their championship. In Game 1, they won in another blowout, 22-6.

Game 2 started off with a bang as Just4Fun’s offense rode on their momentum from the first game. Quickly, Just4Fun had a 7-0 lead at the end of the first inning. A three-run homer off the bat of Tony Salas kickstarted their hitting spree, followed by another three-run jack by Jonah Flores. Jordan Suel added another round-tripper before three outs were registered.

When it came to The Kliq’s at-bat in the bottom of the first, they had some traffic on the bases but couldn’t bring them home. The Kliq then saw some light in the second inning after they finally got on board with five runs, but they were still behind, 5-8.

From there, Just4Fun continued their mastery with the bat as they clobbered The Kliq’s pitching staff with multiple homers.

Brian Camacho, Kodik Lifoifoi, Jay Kintol, Nate Camacho, Ben Jones, and Ze Lifoifoi turned the game into a home run derby with their impressive out-of-the-park swings. By the time the dust settled, they had surged ahead by 19 runs, securing a 31-12 victory.

Kintol, Just4Fun’s manager, said after their championship win that it felt great to win after falling short to the Aimeliik Bat Boys last season. “We wanted to reflect on last year when we came up short, so this year, we kept it together. The boys were able to put some good hits together and were able to manufacture some runs and we held it for the first two games—which was what we needed,” he said.

As for their opponent this time around, he said, “We already knew coming in that The Kliq was a good team—they can hit the ball. We just had to be ahead of them because when we do fall back, we’ve got to work twice as hard to come back and overcome that deficit.”

With that, he said the strength of their team was their offense. “The boys were able to get some base hits together and when we had the opportunity, they were able to bring those runs in by hitting home runs and consistently doing that through the two games.”

Their season overall was great, he said. “Every Sunday, we come out here and we want to thank our other halves, our family, and our fans most especially… it takes a lot of time and we’re able to collectively do it throughout the season and as a reward, we’re this year’s champions.”

As for the league, he said, “these guys are excellent. They’re on top of things. They’re always informative in regards to the games, they keep the playing field conditions good, to keep us safe and to let us enjoy the whole opportunity.”

He ended by saying that they’ll come back next season and hopefully defend their title.

Results of the individual awards will be posted in the next issues of Saipan Tribune.