{"id":278876,"date":"2018-06-26T06:06:09","date_gmt":"2018-06-25T20:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=278876"},"modified":"2018-06-26T06:06:09","modified_gmt":"2018-06-25T20:06:09","slug":"3-peat-for-falcons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/3-peat-for-falcons\/","title":{"rendered":"3-peat for Falcons"},"content":{"rendered":"
Falcons leadoff batter Aven Evangelista is all set to swing during the top of the first inning of their title game against the Braves in the Senior League division of the 2018 Saipan Little League Baseball last Sunday at the Francisco \u201cTan Ko\u201d Palacios Ballfield. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Talaabwogh Falcons soared past the NSA Braves, 7-4, in the finals of the Senior League division of the 2018 Saipan Little League Baseball last Sunday at the Francisco \u201cTan Ko\u201d Palacios Ballfield.<\/p>\n

Relief pitcher Pedro Maratita shut down the Braves in the last 4.5 innings and gave up only three hits to help the Falcons notch the division crown\u2014the team\u2019s third straight.<\/p>\n

Maratita took over the pitching duties from Jericho Jones with the Falcons ahead by only two, 6-4, at the bottom of the third inning with no outs. Maratita then struggled early in the mound, hitting two batters by pitch, while the Braves loaded the bases to threaten the Falcons.<\/p>\n

However, a big defensive stop\u2014a double play at home and first base\u2014saved the day for the Falcons. Maratita\u2019s pitch was fielded by catcher Arby Yaguel, who first tagged out runner Josenio Alvarez before throwing to first baseman Melan Sablan for the second out (on J.P. Celis). Maratita then struck out Froilan Camacho in the ensuing play to end the pivotal inning and leave Tom Agulto stranded at third.<\/p>\n

The Falcons continued on to play solid defense in the last four innings to frustrate the Braves. Maratita got his second strikeout at the bottom of the fourth and left two Braves runners stuck at first and second, while the Falcons outfielders Joel Norita and Crusito Pangelinan caught fly balls for the two other outs.<\/p>\n

In the fifth inning, the Braves went down quick with the first and third batters forced to a 5-3 and 6-3 putout plays, while Maratita fanned the second batter. The Falcons closer followed it up with back-to-back strikeouts on the Braves batters to start the bottom of the sixth and then caught a fly ball from Vicente Camacho to keep Leveque Iguel and Tyrese Camacho at third and first base. Tyrese singled, while Iguel was hit by a pitch and stole second and third before failing to reach home due to Maratita\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n

Another 1-2-3 inning at the bottom of the seventh\u2014Alvares and Agulto flying out at right and center field, respectively, and Sean Rabauliman going out on a 4-3 play\u2014 ended the Braves\u2019 bid for a pair of championships this season. The Braves won the pennant after finishing the regular season with a 9-3 record, just one win ahead of the Falcons.<\/p>\n

The Falcons, however, had the final say after winning last weekend\u2019s title match. The victory over the Braves also averted a Falcons shutout this season, as the group\u2019s teams in the Majors and Junior League earlier lost in their championship games.<\/p>\n

The Falcons got off to a slow start in the finals, making only one run in the first two innings off Maratita\u2019s RBI single at the top of the first inning. The Braves, on the other hand made two runs at the bottom of the first\u2014off Alvarez\u2019s RBI single and Vicente Camacho\u2019s RBI double.<\/p>\n

Neither team hit the board in the second inning before the Falcons registered four runs at the top of the third to steal the lead, 5-2. Again, Maratita scored an RBI with his single bringing leadoff batter Aven Evangelista home, while the Falcons\u2019 three other runs were off an RBI walk and the Braves\u2019 pair of errors.<\/p>\n

The Braves then countered with only two runs at the bottom of third to still trail. Both runs were unearned with Tyrese Camacho reaching off a Falcons defensive booboo and Vicente Camacho scoring off a passed ball. Vicente\u2019s run turned out to be the last for the Braves, while the Falcons added two more\u2014off an RBI walk from Pangelinan in the fourth and Evangelista\u2019s run from a Braves\u2019 miscue\u2014to keep their safe distance en route to the finals win.<\/p>\n

Evangelista collected three runs off a 2-for-4 performance at the plate, while Maratita was 2-for-3 and chipped in one run besides his two RBIs. Norita was also 2-for-3 and contributed two runs. Kavika Fernandez delivered the other run\u2014at the top of the third off the Braves\u2019 error\u2014for the Falcons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Talaabwogh Falcons soared past the NSA Braves, 7-4, in the finals of the Senior…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":278880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[21710,278,133,3546],"class_list":["post-278876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-aven-evangelista","tag-rbi","tag-run","tag-vicente-camacho"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}