CRUSADERS II ARE PREP CHAMPS

PRESS RELEASE – The Prep Holiday Classic Baseball Tournament finished up Saturday night the Barrigada Crusaders II matching up with the Astros in the Championship Game.

Prep Holiday Classic Champion Barrigada Crusaders II. (courtesy photo)

With a Championship atmosphere in the air, beautiful weather and fans lining the outfield berm and sidelines at Okkodo High School Baseball Field the stage was set for a great matchup between two solid teams.  The teams wouldn’t disappoint playing great defense and good starting pitching the game would be tied heading into the 5th inning when the Crusaders II would push five runs across and hold off the Astros 6-2 to take the 2013 Prep Holiday Classic Championship.

The Astros would start the game off scoring first with a run in the bottom of the 1st inning.  Daniel Cruz would single and come in to score on a Lorenzo Flores rbi groundout.  With starting pitchers Kaleb Cruz for the Crusaders and Jesse Miner Jr for the Astros both locked in and throwing strikes the Astros would hold onto the 1-0 lead until the top of the 4th inning when the Crusaders would finally push across.  Kin Fernandez would single and score on a Howard Wolford rbi double to tie up the game 1-1 heading into the 5th inning.

In the bottom of the 5th inning the Astros would take back the lead with an rbi single from Johnny Aguon scoring Kalen Dennis who lead off the inning with a single.  The Crusaders starter Kaleb Cruz would get out of the inning leaving the bases loaded with Astros but with the Crusaders trailing the Astros 2-1.  In the bottom of the 5th with two outs Crusaders Sage Afaisen would single in Eric Lizama to tie up the score 2-2.  The Crusaders weren’t finished with consecutive hits from Sage Nate Cruz, Kin Fernandez would score two more runs and chase Astros starter Jesse Miner Jr.  Lorenzo Flores would come in to retire the inning but not before the Crusaders had pushed across five runs to take a 6-2 lead.

Prep Holiday Classic Runner Up Astros. (courtesy photo)

Crusaders starter Kaleb Cruz would retire the Astros in the 6th inning and reliever Sage Afaisen would shut down the Astros in order in the 7th to seal the win and give the Barrigada Crusaders II the 2013 Prep Holiday Classic Championship.  Kaleb Cruz goes 6 innings allowing only two runs picking up the win.  Jesse Miner Jr is tagged with the loss and Johnny Aguon reached base 3 times for the Astros in the loss.  Kin Fernandez and Howard Wolford were red hot at the plate each collecting 3 hits to fuel the Crusaders offense to the win and championship.

In the Consolation Game the Moylan Good Guys took down the Yona Redhawks 9-1 behind the solid pitching of Kel Francisco who went the distance allowing only one run over 7 innings.  Francisco was also 2 for 3 at the plate and teammate Raymond Quintanilla was 3 for 4 to lead the Good Guys to the win.  Darren Pablo was 1 for 3 and scored the only run for the Redhawks.   With the win the Good Guys clinch 3rd Place in the 5 tournament draw and the Redhawks fall to 4th place.

Congratulations to all the teams!  Great opportunity to see Guams future stars on the field.  Thank you to the teams.  Final Standings  1st Place- Barrigada Crusaders II,  2nd Place- Astros, 3rd Place- Moylan Good Guys, 4th Place- Yona Redhawks, 5th Place- Barrigada Crusaders I