PRESS RELEASE – Guam Academy Royal 8 Guam Academy Red 5
WP: Nohe’a Blas
Strike Zone POG: Nohe’a Blas CG, 4ER, 6K & Carl Jamanila 5-5, 2B, 2R, RBI, 2SB
The top young players 18 years under took to the field this weekend at Leo Palace Resort for the Western Pacific Series with Hong Kong 18U team. Three teams represented Guam from the Guam Baseball Academy, team Red, Blue and Royal with Hong Kong in the four team tournament.
The teams would start with three games each in round robin play and Hong Kong would look tough to beat taking their first two games downing Guam Academy Red 10-9 in the first game and Guam Academy Navy 13-6 to remain the only unbeaten team in the tournament.
In the Saturday night cap Guam Academy Royal and Javin Delgado would tame the Hong Kong team. Delgado would take a shutout into the 9th inning before settling with the 5-1 win. He finished with ten strikeouts while scattering six hits over nine innings in the dominant pitching performance of the tournament.
Round Robin play finished up with Guam Academy Royal, Hong Kong and Guam Academy Red all tied up at 2-1 with Guam Academy Navy at 0-3. The three way tie breaker would give Guam Academy Royal would take the #1 seed, Hong Kong the #2 seed, Guam Academy Red the #3 seed with Guam Academy Navy holding the #4 seed for the single elimination playoffs.
#2 seed Hong Kong would take on #3 seed Guam Academy Red in the first semifinal game on Sunday morning.
The Reds Auron Eclavea would shut down Hong Kong for six innings allowing only one run over six innings to help lead Guam Academy Red to a 7-5 win over Hong Kong.
Hong Kong would stage a furious comeback in the bottom of the 8th and final frame scoring four runs as the Reds bullpen gave up 5 walks and hit two batters. With the bases loaded and winning run at 1st base, Reds reliever Cooper Paulino would induce a game ending pop up to preserve the win to eliminate Hong Kong and advance Guam Academy Red into the Championship Game.
Chi Ching Lam and Hoi Ting Cheng lead the Hong Kong team each with two hits as Hong Kong finishes the tournament in 3rd place with a 2-2 record. Ricky Wong picked up best relief pitcher of the tournament and first baseman Ng Wei Yip, third baseman Ho Hin Wen and outfielder Shun On Ng earned spots on the WPS All-Tournament Team.
In the 2nd semifinal game #1 seed Guam Academy Royal would pound out 19 hits and take control in the 1st inning with a 9 run rally to open up the game and cruise to a 16-6 7 inning mercy rule win over #4 Guam Academy Navy. The win sent Guam Academy Royal on to the Championship game to take on Guam Academy Red.
Guam Academy Navy shortstop TJ Perez and outfielder Vicente Santos each had two hits in the loss. Jacob Concepcion picks up the win for the Royals going all seven innings and snagging starting pitcher honors on the WPS All-Tournament Team. Perez and Santos earned spots on the All-Tournament.
In the Championship Game Sunday night fans were graced with the best baseball of the tournament with great starting pitching and every inning a defensive gem on the field as Guam Academy Royal and Guam Academy Red battled it out for the championship. The Royals who had relied on stellar starting pitching all tournaments got another ace performance from starter Nohe’a Blas. Blas would scatter eleven hits over nine innings as Guam Academy Royal would hold off a late Reds rally for the 8-5 win and the championship. Carl Jamanila would collect five hits in the championship game and hit .625 for the tournament to pick up WPS Most Valuable Players honors.
Guam Academy Red would score six runs over the first three innings against starter Mike Concepcion. RBI hits by Jamanila, Xavier Reyes and Kaimana Bamba would lead the rally. Red reliever Axel Keeton would keep his team in the ball game allowing only two runs to Guam Academy Royal over the last five innings.
Cepeda would deliver an RBI hit in the 7th inning to cut the lead to 6-5. Concepcion and Francisco would also deliver big hits during the three run rally. But Royals catcher Kyle Martinez would deliver a big two RBI triple in the bottom of the 7th inning extending the Red lead to 8-5. Guam Academy Royal would close out the game 8-5 to take the WPS 18U Championships.
Bryton Cepeda lead the Reds offense with three hits with three runs scored and Kel Francisco and Cooper Paulino had two hits each in the loss. Francisco, Paulino, Concepcion. Misaki Cramer and Eclavea all earned All-Tournament honors.
AJ Benavente picks up “Top Hitter” award and Jacob Concepcion and Vicente Quenga earn “Top Pitcher Awards” for Guam Academy Royal. Javin Delgado, Blas, Martinez and Concepcion picked up All-Tournament Team honors.
Guam Amateur Baseball and Guam Baseball Academy would like to thank Hong Kong Baseball Association and all the sponsors, supporters and individuals that worked to put on an exciting tournament. For more information on Guam Amateur Baseball Association and Guam Baseball Academy tournaments and academy training follow us on Facebook/Amateur Baseball Guam or visit www.guamstrikezone.com.
TOURNAMENT AWARDS
Top Pitcher (ERA before Final): Vicente Quenga (Royal) 0.00 era
Top Pitcher(W-L before Final): Auron Eclavea (Royal) 2-0 record
Top Hitter (AVG before Final): AJ Benavente (Royal) .600 avg
Most Stolen Bases: Wen Ho Hin (HK) 8SB
Most Runs Scored: Cooper Paulino(Red) & Kyle Martinez (Royal) 8R
Most RBI: multiple w/ 4RBI
Most Homeruns: AJ Benavente(Royal) 1HR
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Tournament MVP: Carl Jamanila (Royal) .625AVG, 10H, 6R, 3RBI, 2 doubles
Outstanding Defensive Player: Cooper Paulino (Red)
Starting Pitcher: Jacob Concepcion (Royal) and Nohe’a Blas (Royal)
Relief Pitcher: Ricky Wong (HK)
Catcher: Kyle Martinez (Royal)
1st Baseman: Yip Ng Wei (HK)
2nd Baseman: Mike Concepcion (Red)
Shortstop: TJ Perez (Navy)
3rd Baseman: Wen Ho Hin (HK)
Outfield: Javin Delgado (Royal)
Outfield: Vicente Santos (Navy)
Outfield: Ng Shun On (HK)
Designated Hitter: Kel Francisco (Red)
Utility: HYPERLINK “https://www.facebook.com/misaki.cramer” Misaki Cramer (Red)
(AP/Carlos Osorio)
