Monday, April 21, 2014

The Comets punched the last ticket to the finals of the Junior League division of the 2014 Saipan Little League Baseball, following a 9-5 win in a playoff game against the Falcons last Saturday at the Francisco Tan Ko Palacios Ballfield.

The Comets finished strong, scoring all their runs in the last three innings to pull off the come-from-behind victory over the Falcons and set up a finals showdown with pennant champions JPO Enforcers this Saturday. The Enforcers marched into the finals first after also beating the Falcons, 2-1, in a battle of the Top 2 finishers in the regular season.

The Falcons seemed to have a chance for a second crack at the Enforcers when they shut down the Comets in the first six innings and worked out a 4-0 lead, but the latter went for the push in the final three innings with starting pitcher Lorenzo Sebaklim and leftfielder Jeremy Demapan makinh crucial base hits in the seventh and ninth inning.

Sebaklim started the Comets recovery when he blasted a two-run single at the top of the seventh inning. Before Sebaklims base hit, the Comets were just one out away from another run-less inning, as their first batter was struck out in the fourth flied out to right field with runners on second and third. Sebaklim also reached home off an Aurel Mendiola triple, while the Comets got two more unearned runs to grab the driver seat, 5-4.

The Falcons then forced a standoff at the bottom of the seventh off an Austin Deleon Guerrero RBI single and the match remained tie as neither team managed to score in the eighth inning.

At the top of the ninth, Demapan connected on a big three-run single to put the Comets on top anew and Elijah Villar made it a 9-5 advantage when he reached off a base on ball.

The Comets went on to keep the upper hand and complete the come-from-behind win after forcing the Falcons to a 1-2-3 play in the last inning. The first two Falcons batters at the top of the ninth returned to the dugout off 5-3 and 6-3 putout plays, while the third one flied out at left field.

The Falcons scored in the second and third inning for early control of the rubber match before collapsing in the closing phase of the game. Jay Kalen had an RBI single at the bottom of the second, while Kekuni Kainoa nailed a two-run single in the fourth and the Falcons got another run in that inning off a Comets error at first base.

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Comets take last finals seat