ILLAM bags senior crown, caps Phl haul of five L League titles

CLARK FREEPORT ZONE , Philippines   â€“ Saving the best for last, host Philippines gutted out a pulsating seven-inning 7-6 victory over CNMI yesterday to rule the Senior League Baseball of the 2013 Asia-Pacific and Middle East Tournament and join the Filipinos’ march to the World Series.

Phl, represented by the International Little League Association of Manila (ILLAM), completed a stirring fightback from a 4-6 deficit capped by Ponz Balagtas’ winning RBI to secure the boys’ 14-16 baseball crown before a delighted, good-sized crowd who trooped to the Clark Parade Grounds for the last day of the regionals.

The dramatic triumph sent the Pinoy batters into the Senior League World Series slated  Aug. 11-17 in Bangor, Maine, also ending four years of fruitless bids in the lower divisions.

“The core of this team has been vying for the World Series for the last four years in Little League and Juniors and finally their time has come,” said Phl team manager Arsenic Laurel as his jubilant wards showered him with water. 

The triumphant Senior Leaguers of ILLAM became the fifth Phl team to qualify for the 2013 World Series following the Pinay softbelles. Previously nailing their World Series berths were Phl squads in Little League (Iloilo Province), Seniors (Laguna), Big League (defending world champion Manila), and Juniors (Iloilo Province). 

The ride to the World Series wasn’t a smooth sailing one for Phl Senior Leaguers, though. The Pinoys seized a 4-0 lead in the first inning only to surrender six runs in the next three frames to fall behind by two. But they patiently worked their way back into the game, equalizing in the sixth through run-scoring base-hits by Miguel Habana and Ponz Balagtas. 

After shutting out CNMI in their last two trips at bats, Phl-ILLAM pounced on the fading pitching staff of the visitors to strike.

Boo Barandiaran belted a single to right to start things off. Tony Ozaeta followed with his own base-hit, putting Barandiaran into scoring position. CNMI’s third pitcher Darjon Jones then issued a walk to Miguel Habana, loading the bases. Balagtas hit a ground ball, clearing the way for pinch runner Rafael Esguerra to slide home for the win.

“It’s like a tele-serye, you’re ahead one time only to find yourself behind the next and we really had to gut it out. Credit to these guys, they never gave up,” said Laurel, admitting he was worried at one point, when they trailed 4-6.

“The boys were trying to hit long balls. I told them just do basic-basic, one-base, one-base, it’s just a two-run deficit. And it worked,” he added.

Fancied foreign teams, led by Chinese Taipei, dominated action in other fronts in baseball in the weeklong event sponsored by Clark Development Corp, Philippine Sports Commission and KFC.

The Taiwanese won centerpiece Little League Baseball over Korea, 11-2, to finish with three APME titles. They earlier won the Big League via a sweep of the elims capped by a 10-1 rout of Phl representative Muntinlupa and the Juniors with a 7-3 drubbing of Hong Kong. 

Japan ruled the 50/70 intermediate crown over Guam, 7-3, a new division where Phl entry Muntinlupa finished third after beating Indonesia for the bronze, 16-12.

Pinoy Big Leaguers also wound up third, the same placing for Phl bet Tanauan in the juniors. The host’s entries in the majors, Tanauan, was eighth.

Little League Philippines district administrator Jolly Gomez expressed satisfaction over the performance of the Phl teams, which reigned in five out of the nine divisions.

“The thing I’m most proud about is that all the teams were very competitive. It’s testament to how Little League Philippines has grown since 2000. We have 60 active charters now and our national tournament had over 100 teams. That’s really the core of grassroots sports, expanding the base and getting the best from there,” said Gomez, also a PSC commissioner.