ILLAM, Muntinlupa barges in round-of-16 in Little League

MANILA, Philippines -- ILLAM and Muntinlupa routed their respective opponents to secure berths in the round-of-16 in little league baseball of the Little League Philippine Series Tuesday at the Sumulong grounds in Marikina City.

ILLAM dag deep from its wide array of pitchers as it shutout a hapless Valenzuela squad, 22-0, to seize the solo lead in Group A of the National Capital Region bracket with three wins in as many matches.

Ken Agcoaili, Marcel de Guzman, Kaleb Abergas and Matt San Juan pitched just an inning each and combined to hold Valenzuela to just a hit as ILLAM ensured itself a place in the knockout matches in the next phase.

"All but one of my 14 players can pitch so it's really an advantage and a luxury for us," said ILLAM coach Anthony Dizer, whose assistants are former national team pitchers Joseph Orillana and Ruel Batuto, in Filipino.

ILLAM's final elimination round game tomorrow against Muntinlupa will be a battle of which of the two squads gets the top seeding although Dizer wants to use it as a test for his team since Muntinlupa is being picked as one of the teams to beat.

"Our match against them will only be for positioning but we want to use it as a test game for us because Muntinlupa is one of the stronger teams here," said Dizer, younger brother of former national team coach Randy.

In Group A action over at Boystown in Brgy. Parang, Northern Samar was leading 22-0 against Naga when the latter conceeded due to injuries to a couple of its players.

North Cebu, for its part, seizes the lead after it won via default over Team 5, two days after it routed Naga, 22-0.

Over at Marist field in Marikina Heights, Bulacan overpowed Mountain Province, 17-2, to roll to its third straight victory in Group A of the North/Central Luzon division and seal a berth in the playoff round.
It was the Bulacan-based hitters' third win in row after slamming Pampanga Tuesday, 14-3, and Palayan City, Nueva Ecija, 9-7, the day before.

It was Mt. Province's first defeat after turning back Palayan in a slugfest, 21-11, Tuesday before drawing a bye two days back.
Palayan nailed its first win after dropping its first two outings by edging Aurora in a pulsating 9-7 result.

In Senior League Softball at Boystown, Gawad Kalinga Smokey Mountain dumped Sta. Cruz, Laguna, 14-4, to streak to its third straight win.

The Smokey Mountain batters other victories came at the expense of Naga, 21-0, Monday and Bulacan, 8-6, the next day.

Dasmarinas bounced back from its opening day defeat to Sta. Cruz with wins over Naga, 27-2, Tuesday and Camarines Norte, 10-0, yesterday.
ILLAM also struck in other fronts as it beat Naga, 26-2, in junior league softball and Pampanga West, 11-1, in senior league baseball.

It couldn't, however, squeeze the same result in big league baseball where it fell to a sweet-pitching Tanauan in a heartbreaking 12-8 setback at the Sto. Nino field, which faces the historic Marikina River.