Fancied ILLAM squeezes out comeback thrillers

TANAUAN CITY, Batangas, Philippines – ILLAM made it a day of dramatic comebacks as its Little League Baseball and Big League Baseball teams turned what looked like lost games into rousing victories in yesterday’s Little League Philippines Series 2013 here.

Reigning titlists in the 11-12 age division, ILLAM’s Little Leaguers showed their champions’ heart in getting out of the ambush prepared by Marikina, 6-3, to book their third consecutive win in the LLB NCR preliminaries in Barangay Bagumbayan.

At about the same time in the neighboring town in Sala, their big teammates in the 17-18 bracket fought back and wiped out a four-run deficit in the last two innings to snatch a 12-11 squeaker over Lipa Barakitos.

After cruising past their first two assignments, defending LLB champion ILLAM found itself in a hole as upset-conscious Marikina jumped the gun and seized a 2-0 lead.

ILLAM could only break through in the fourth inning, where they blasted in four runs to get back in the game and restore order to the match. The ILLAM batters then sent one man home in each of the fifth and sixth frames for the insurance runs. 

“It was really a battle of attrition out there and we really had to grind it out,” said ILLAM LLB team manager Tony Montemayor.

“Marikina’s starting pitcher played well and prevented us from scoring but fortunately our batting got going and we had a big fourth winning,” he added.

ILLAM stayed within striking distance of Muntinlupa (4-0), its chief rival for the top spot in NCR and a spot to the semifinals. Muntinlupa dominated a Manila South team that conceded the match after only two innings.

Some two kilometers away, ILLAM’s Big League Baseball crew was authoring its own epic fightback.

Trailing 7-11 after the top of the sixth, ILLAM fought back and scored two runs in the bottom sixth, held off the Barikinas in their last at bat and procured the three pivotal runs in the last inning spiked by Rapho Balagtas’ two RBI walkoff double.

ILLAM checked a two-game slide and improved to an even 2-2 in BLB behind defending BLB champion Muntinlupa, which hiked its record to 4-0 following a 7-0 win over Quezon City, and idle Tanauan (3-0).

“Four runs down going to the last two innings, we willed ourselves to rally and win,” said coach Randy Dizer.