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By Nate San Nicolas

Blue Jays Keith Hattig flies out to centerfield in the Guam Masters Baseball Championship. (photo by Jesse Castro)

On Monday night at the Paseo Stadium, the 2013 Guam Masters Baseball Championship featured the Triple J Blue Jays and the 76 Circle K Braves as they battled it out to determine who the best of 2013 was. After seven innings under the lights, the Triple J Blue Jays were the victors of the match slipping by the Braves with a score of 8-5.

Earning the MVP honors of the match was Russell Maritita of the Triple J Blue Jays, who played a significant role towards the end of the match to help close out the win for his team.

Down 2-3 in the fifth inning, the Blue Jays decided to kick it into high gear as first baseman Jose Carbales recorded an RBI bringing in teammate Maratita for the tying run. Immediately after, teammate Paul Untalan brought in another run that gave the Blue Jays the lead. Then, Carbales eventually made it to home plate off an error committed by the Braves.

Losing the lead midway through the game, the Braves were not out of the game just yet. Behind by two runs, Leon Mallada stepped up to the plate and knocked one high and to center field that brought in his teammate Stan Blau, all the way from second base. Shortly after, the Blue Jays suffered a mental lapse and committed back to back errors that brought in the Brave’s Roland Cruz to tie up the game once again.

“These guys came to play in the championship,” said MVP Maritita, “They’ve come back in games before, and in the middle of the game, it showed that they deserved to be here.”

Braves’ catcher Leon Mallada stretches out to catch the ball as runner Jose Carbales heads to home plate. (photo by Jesse Castro)

With that determined attitude, Maritita took matters into his own hands. The Blue Jays had men on first and second base at the top of the sixth inning, and with Maritita at the plate, he saw the ball leave the mound and connected for a double RBI and managed to get in to scoring position at third base. Up by two runs, Robago added on to the lead with an RBI of his own bringing in Maritita.

From that point on, Maritita and the rest of the Blue Jay’s defense were relentless. The Braves struggled to find a connection with Maritita on the mound, and to end the game in style, the Jay’s completed a double play and hats and cheers were coming in all directions as the Triple J Blue Jays were crowned the 2013 Guam Masters Baseball League Champions.

“It wasn’t going to be easy taking this win,” commented Maritita “what I told my teammates, it was all about us, our fans, and playing for each other and playing to love the game. We should just dig deep, play hard, and it’ll be good in the end. And that’s what happened.”

The game was filled with competitiveness coming from both dugouts and even the stands. However, at the end of the day, there was much respect and great sportsmanship that was demonstrated by the masters of the game.

“The support is just great for the baseball community,” said Blue Jays starting pitcher Roque Munoz, “We come to play hard and play together, and we have such good family support and friends. We just come out here to have fun. What makes us come together after the game is all the boding we have after the last pitch, and hopefully we get to see more teams come out next year.”

No matter what, age is just a number and these baseball players can definitely show for it. As the sport of baseball continues to flourish, don’t miss out on next year’s Guam Masters Baseball League, because these men certainly won’t disappoint you.

PHOTO GALLERY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

Jays’ pitcher Russel Maritita. (photo by Jesse Castro)

Braves’ Leon Mallada starts his swing at the incoming pitch. (photo by Jesse Castro)

Braves’ right fielder Troy Anderson runs towards the ball to scoop it up. (photo by Jesse Castro)

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