Sagada routs Pampanga, advances in Little League series

MANILA, Philippines -- The dancing Ganduyan Bucks of Sagada, Mountain Province routed Pampanga, 13-1, Friday to book a spot in the round-of-16 in major league baseball of the Little League Philippine Series at the Marist grounds in Marikina City.

It was the third win in four outings for Sagada, composed of players from the Igorot tribe who are known here to doing a native dance whenever they make a defensive out, that sent it alongside Bulacan as representatives of Group A of the North/Central Luzon bracket.

“We’re happy to reach our goal of qualifying in the next round,” said Mountain Province coach Allen Angway, a Physical Education teacher at Bangsan Elementary School for two decades now, in Filipino.

Bulacan topped the group with a four-game sweep including a 13-2 bashing of Baler, Aurora in this tournament bankrolled by the Philippine Sports Commission through commissioner and Little League Phl administrator Jolly Gomez.

Canlubang turned back Los Banos, 6-3, to clinch the top seed in Group A of the Calabarzon bracket with a pristine record of four triumphs.

Canlubang’s other wins came at the expense of Sta. Cruz, 7-0, Monday, Calamba, 10-2, Tuesday and Dasmarinas, 33-1, Thursday.

Calamba eked out a 7-4 win over Sta. Cruz, the only team that fielded girls and boys on one squad having tapped a total of eight girls and four boys.

ILLAM, for its part, stunned National Capital Region champion Muntinlupa, 11-8, to top Group A of the NCR bracket with a four-match sweep.

Fastball-throwing Fil-Am Reed Santos held Muntinlupa to just a run since he took over pitching duties atop the fifth inning while scoring five runs in the decisive fifth inning stretch when ILLAM turned a run deficit to a victory.

Muntinlupa, which will represent the big city in the Palarong Pambansa set May 4 to 10 in Sta. Cruz, Laguna, appeared to have wrapped up the match after rallying from three runs down at the start of the match to make it an 8-7 lead on a Peter Homellada single that sent substitute runner Rafa Bailon.

But ILLAM fought back as Joaquin Mendoza belted a hit to right field that sent three teammates home including Marcel Guzman and Zachary Urbina after Muntinlupa went into a maze of throwing errors.

It was all ILLAM needed to zap the fight out of an equally well-funded Muntinlupa side.

With the win, ILLAM sealed the top seed in its bracket with four wins while sending Muntinlupa the No. 2 seed after falling to 3-1 (win-loss).

In Group B of the Bicol/Visayas/Mindanao bracket at Boystown, Zamboanga trounced Iloilo, 8-4, to snare the No. 1 speed also via sweep.

Despite the loss, Iloilo took the other slot after finishing with a 3-1 card.
In Senior League baseball, Sta. Rosa dumped Zambales, 17-3, and Muntinlupa smashed Ragay, 15-1.

Antipolo, meanwhile, slammed Baguio, 20-8 in junior league baseball.