Carabaos are first-ever Jr. champs
by Jonas Terrado
Caraboas 4, Tigers 3
| Sat, July 4 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Cagayan | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | x | x | 4 | 2 | 4 |
| Alabang | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | x | x | 3 | 5 | 7 |
| WP:Horibata LP: Bernardo |
||||||||||||
The Cagayan Carabaos survived perhaps the toughest game they ever played to complete a perfect season.
Led by pitchers Tsuyoshi Horibata and Amber Plaza, the Carabaos shrugged a late comeback attempt by the Alabang Tigers to score a 4-3 win and captured the Junior Baseball Philippines championship at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.
Horibata, named as the tournament's Best Pitcher and Plaza, adjudged as the Finals Most Valuable Player, forced the Tigers to waste several scoring attempts to earn the distinction as the first team to win the league crown.
Cagayan won all eight games played during the pilot series of the league launched for young players ages 14-17, half of which came at the expense of the Alabang batters.
Amazingly, the Tigers forced the Carabaos to just one hit but their erratic defense, no thanks to six errors made, allowed the orange-clad squad to ran away with the championship trophy.
It was a double celebration for team manager Ramil Mercado, who was one of the coaches of the Batangas Bulls that won Baseball Philippines Series 5 earlier in the day.
"Our advantage all throughout the tournament is that they have been playing together since they were around elementary. It really helped us win the championship," said Mercado, whose core came from the Big League and Senior League players from the province of Batangas.
Catcher Nelson Salazar, who made six RBIs (runs-batted-in) was named as the pilot series' MVP as he was instrumental in the Carabaos' six-game sweep of the elimination round.
The only hit came from Aries Oruga, who hit a single to left-center field that scored Salazar from third base before he himself touched home on a passed ball during the second frame.
Alabang, which was hoping to extend the series to a rubber match at their home field, scored in the bottom half of the said frame when Adrianne Bernardo touched the plate on a throwing error by Salazar.
They had a chance to score in the sixth frame when Justine Mathay stole to second base with two outs. But Home Run King Dio Remollo, who earlier in the tournament hit a home run at the aging ballpark, retired on a groundout to end the side.
That allowed Cagayan to put two insurance runs in the seventh-and-last inning as Horibata, at one sequence, brought home Best Hitter Bryan Lumbres on a throwing error then scored all the way from first on another miscue, this time by second baseman Ben Cope that made a 4-1 contest.
Alabang, though, threatened in their final chance as Pelos Remollo hit a one-run triple with one out before scoring on Cope's sacrifice fly to trim down the lead to a single run. However, that was the team's last gasp of breath as Mark Ong flied out to rightfielder Christian Magnaye to end the season.
Horibata struck out three batters in three innings played while Plaza was adjudged as the winning pitcher by holding the Tigers to just one hit despite whisking two runs in the last frame.
Cagayan took the series opener, 9-2, held last June 13 before the tournament took a three-week off as some of their respective players represented the country in the Asia Pacific Regional tournament held in Jakarta, Indonesia.