By James Sablan
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Variety News Staff
THE Braves continue to rack up wins in the senior division of the 2026 Saipan Little League Inc. after delivering a dominant 16-0 performance over Ol’Aces at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field on Saturday.
The Braves relied heavily on their defensive spine to keep Ol’Aces at bay.
They quickly disposed of the top of the opening inning behind a strong pitching performance from Peter Camacho, who struck out two batters and allowed only one walk, while the first out came on a flyout.
Their offensive output was just as effective as they went to work in the batter’s box. Although the leadoff batter struck out, a string of hits followed, highlighted by Herman Iguel’s RBI single and RBI doubles from Maximus Taitano and Zekiel Falig, respectively, as the Braves plated four runs to take a 4-0 lead.
During the second inning, Ol’Aces attempted a rally by capitalizing on Braves errors. Kodi Maratita stole his way to third base, while Choi Santos and Dylan Niric advanced on pitching miscues to load the bases and create a scoring opportunity. However, the Braves displayed impressive command, denying them a run with three consecutive outs to turn the game over to the bottom half.
Despite the struggles, the Ol’Aces defense remained resilient, allowing only two runs to slip by to stay within reach, 6-0.
The Braves continued to control the pace in the third inning, recording three straight outs in the top half. In the bottom half, they capitalized on a series of walks and fielder’s choices. With Taitano, Aiden Magofna, and Benigno Sablan each earning an RBI, the Braves added 10 more runs to put the game out of reach and invoke the 10-run mercy rule, 16-0.
Ol’Aces had one last chance to flip the script but once again fell short, going three up and three down with two runners left on base to seal the shutout victory for the Braves.
Game suspended
The game between the Lions and the Comets was called after reaching the league’s three-hour time limit without a winner. The game will resume at a later date.
James Sablan has been a sports reporter for Variety since 2013. He was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College and covers all local sports.
