FRIARS DEFEND BASEBALL CROWN IN BIG WAY

By Jojo Santo Tomas

The Father Duenas Memorial School Friars defended their ISA High School Baseball title in a rout, overwhelming the Notre Dame Royals 12-1 in a game cut short to six innings by mercy rule.

Crafty senior Saez Alvarez worked a masterful game on the mound, scattering 3 hits, walking four and striking out four. He worked well with catcher Max Dirige, who knew that Alvarez wouldn’t try to overpower the Royal hitters.

Instead, he gave them plenty of strikes to hit, and the Friar infield was there to vacuum grounders and the outfield caught well-struck balls on the run. The Friar defense committed no errors.
The Royals who have played like a well-oiled machine during the season, committed an uncharacteristic six errors in the contest, which led to several unearned runs.

FD got the only runs it would need by the second inning. Alvarez, the leadoff batter, reached first on a shot to left field. He stole second, took third on a fielder’s choice and scored on Derrin Gumataotao’s wild pitch. Gumataotao settled in and took down the next three batters in order.

AYUYU HITS HOMER

In the second inning, however, cleanup hitter Cameron Ayuyu – the big stick and winning pitcher in Thursday’s semifinal win against the Tiyan Titans – came up even bigger.

The sophomore Ayuyu took Gumataotao’s high fastball with a clean swing and a loud PINK! startled the crowd and cleared the FD bench as the ball sailed over the left field fence. He said pressure situations make him play better.

“I just knew that I had to do something for the team, so I just swung my hardest and it just went over,” he said.

Ayuyu wasn’t done. In the third inning, with the bases jacked with the top of the lineup, the cleanup batter cleared the bases with a shot to center. He had another hit in the fifth inning to finish with half the Friar hits, going 3-for-3 at the plate with 4 RBI.

The Royals closed the gap in the bottom of the second inning when Co’en Villanueva got a solid hit past the shortstop, advanced on Dylen Cruz’s single to left and scored on Daniel Gumataotao’s shot to left field. Alvarez got the next batter on fly to right field to end the threat and leave the runners stranded.

The Royals threatened again with two outs in the fourth inning. Nate Cruz – who eventually relieved Derrin Gumataotao on the mound, striped a ball to left field for a stand-up double. Elias Camacho took first on a base on balls, but was forced out at second to end the inning.

“We are blessed with a lot of talent. These guys are non-stop work. They may have lost one game, but they made it not matter. Today was a matter of executing,” said FD coach John Tuquero. “It’s a simple equation. You work hard, the product will come out. You put yourself in the best position to be successful, and these kids understand that. They are guided by a team of coaches as well as team leaders in Saez Alvarez and Evan Acosta who keep them intense when they’re supposed to, and balancing that with some fun here and there.”

The Friars added four more runs in the top of the sixth inning reach the mercy rule limit. Alvarez and the FD defense got the last three batters out in order to end the game.

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