By Kyle Terwilliger
Variety News Staff

THE Budweiser Baseball League would see the (1-10) Palau Stingers square off against the (0-11) Kosrae Speedos. This would be a game of pride as the Stingers looked to end the season on a win and the Speedos looked to win their first game of their inaugural season.
The game would see something that has plagued each team all season. There would be a total of 21 runs scored in the game, which would match the 21 errors that made their way into the game as well. The game would begin with the Speedos scoring the first run of the game in the top of the first inning when James George would hit a two out double to right field. Alik George would follow up with an RBI double to right that would score James George.
Alik George would be thrown out after he overran second base to end the inning. The Stingers would respond to the Speedos run in the top of the inning by scoring four runs in the bottom half. The Stingers would begin when Albert Doyle singled to left.
Ron Castro would then follow up with a single. Luke Tedtaotao would then reach on an error committed by the starting pitcher James George. With the bases loaded and no outs Ozzy Sylvia would ground out to shortstop.
It would score a run however as Albert Doyle broke home on the hit. With runners on second and third and one Charlie Cabarles would single to bring in Ron Castro. With runners on the corners Hamilton Jackson would then hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Tedtaotao from third. After a stolen base by Cabarles, Joel Flores would hit a towering fly ball to left field. With there being two outs Cabarles would take off on the hit and would score when the ball was dropped in the outfield, giving the Stingers the four to one lead after one complete inning of play.
The Speedos would then score in the top of the second inning when Aliksa Robert stole second, and after an error by the second baseman that sent the ball into the outfield; Robert would be able to score from second base. The Stingers would once again answer in the bottom half of the inning.
Alan Benavente would begin things off for the Stingers in the bottom half when he reached on an error. After a single by Ron Castro that put Benavente on third, Castro and Benavente would pull off the double steal which would score Benavente.
With Castro on second Luke Tedtaotao would hit an RBI double to score Ron Castro making the score 6-2 after two complete innings of play. The Speedos would score once again in the top of the third when Steve Waguk came in on a groundout by Milson Seymour. The Stingers would score another run in the bottom half of the inning bringing the score to 7-3 after three innings of play.
Aruo Alokoa would score another run for the Speedos in the fourth inning bringing the Speedos within three after four innings of play. The Speedos would then come within one when they scored two runs in the top of the fifth when both Bradley Jonah and Alik George scored on errors. After holding the Stingers scoreless in the bottom of the inning the Speedos would trail by only one at 7-6 after five innings of play.
The Speedos would fail to score in the top of the six giving the Stingers a chance to build their lead in the bottom half of the inning. The Stingers would in fact, take advantage of the opportunity scoring three runs on only two hits with the Speedos committing five errors in the inning. The inning would begin with a groundout by Alan Benavente. Albert Doyle would then reach not only first but second also on an error by the third baseman. Doyle would then take third on a pass ball and Ron Castro would drive him in with an RBI single. Luke Tedtaotao would then reach base on an error.
Castro would then score on an RBI Single by Jacob San Nicolas who came in for Ozzy Sylvia in the third inning. Tedtaotao would score the last run of the inning on an error pushing the Stingers lead to 10-6 after six innings. The seventh inning would see the Speedos fight back and score two more runs when Alik George scored on a fielder’s choice RBI by Francisco Tosie.
Aruo Alokoa would also score in the inning on an error. After holding the Stingers scoreless in the bottom half of the inning the Speedos would be within two runs after seven innings trailing 10-8. The Speedos would not be able to score in the top of the eighth inning giving the Stingers the chance to push their lead going into the ninth.
The Stingers would once again take advantage scoring three more runs in the bottom of the eighth on RBI’s by Charlie Cabarles, Hamilton Jackson, and Matias Adriano.
The Speedos would then go into the top of the ninth inning trailing 13-8. The Speedos would send pinch hitter JR Tolenoa to the plate for Aruo Alokoa. Tolenoa would reach first on a single but would then be caught with the hidden ball trick as first baseman Joel Flores waited for Tolenoa to get his lead and then simply tagged him for the first out of the inning. Stingers pitcher Ittu Tulenkuk would then strike out the Speedos Kilafwa Palik for the second out. Tulenkuk would then get Francisco Tosie to ground out to end the game.
The next game for the Budweiser Baseball League will be Thursday between the Guam Shipyard Cougars and the Bank of Guam Athletics for a make up game.