By James Sablan
james@mvariety.com
Variety News Staff
THE Cardinals have successfully defended their Saipan Baseball League title for the third consecutive season after a commanding 17-3 victory over the Falcons in Game 2 of the best-of-three championship series on Wednesday night at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field. The win closed out a thrilling season and cemented the Cardinals’ status as the league’s top team.
Having taken Game 1 with a 12-6 victory on Monday, the Cardinals entered Wednesday’s potential finale looking to solidify their position as champions.
The Falcons, determined to force a decisive Game 3, kept the match close in the early innings, but the Cardinals’ offense and pitching eventually proved too much to overcome.
The Cardinals scored single runs in the first and second innings to take a modest 2-0 lead. In the top of the third inning, they broke the game open with a massive nine-run rally, highlighted by a flurry of RBI singles from Keoni Kaipat, Pat Tenorio, Mike Brownstein, Jerald Cabrera, and Tindin Leon Guerrero, giving them an 11-0 lead and effectively ending the Falcons’ hopes.
The Cardinals added six more runs by the top of the sixth inning, extending the deficit to 17-0.
The Falcons finally got on the board in the bottom half of the sixth when Benen Iguel drove in Ian Norita with a sacrifice single. Their defense improved, preventing any further scoring for the remainder of the game. Offensively, the Falcons managed only two more runs before succumbing to the Cardinals, 17-3.
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.