BANGOR, Maine — The boys from Makati City, Philippines weren’t worried despite being down 3-2 with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the seventh inning of Tuesday afternoon’s Senior League World Series game.
Sure, they’d only managed one hit over the previous six innings against Brett Tompkins of Greenville, S.C., but they weren’t about to give up.
Nine pitches later, they were celebrating their latest come-from-behind victory — this time 4-3 over the U.S. Southeast region champs — on the Mansfield Stadium infield.
Pinch-hitter Lorenzo Ramos started the improbable rally by getting hit by a 1-0 fastball from Tompkins before giving way to pinch-runner Gabrielle Malaki. Then No. 9 hitter Sebastian Martinez-Miranda laced a 1-1 pitch deep to left center for a double to put runners at second and third.
That brought up leadoff batter Adriane Bernardo, who was 0-for-3 with one strikeout. After missing a first-pitch fastball, he took a ball and then guessed the next one would be fastball. It wasn’t.
“I was looking for a fastball, but he threw me a curve and I was just able to put it in play,” Bernardo said.
He did just that, smacking the curve hard and literally through the shortstop for a game-winning, two-run single.
“I’ve been in a slump, so I never expected that,” Bernardo said. “Just lucky, I guess.”
If that’s so, the team may want to send the coaches over to Hollywood Slots this week.
“Ever since regionals, these kids haven’t given up, no matter what the other team’s lead,” said manager Luis Habana of his Asia-Pacific championship squad. “We were down by three in the seventh inning in the championship game, and we were able to score four in the bottom of the seventh.
“I think it also helps that we pray a lot in the dugout.”
The clutch hit improved Makati City to 2-1 in pool play and dropped Greenville to 0-2. It also made a winner of Niklas Sarda, who entered the game in the fourth at second base and then relieved starting pitcher Charles Catangui in the fifth.
“He did something unexpected for us, having to come in as a reliever today, and really came through,” Malaki said.
Sarda threw three innings of two-hit, one-run relief with three strikeouts and no walks. He also reached on an error to lead off the sixth, took second on a passed ball, stole third, and then scored the tying run (2-2) on a groundout.
Catangui had control troubles, but his defense — especially the infielders — bailed him out in a big way as third baseman Tsuyoshi Horibata turned a 5-4-3 double play in the second and cut down the lead runner in the fourth on a fielder’s choice.
“I think our starter wasn’t really in his stride,” Habana said. “I felt he was a little bit tentative and he was also bothered by sliding on the mound a couple times.”
He distinguished himself in the field later at second base by arguably executing the defensive play of the game. With no outs and a runner at second in the seventh, Catangui handled a tough grounder to his left, turned and fired a strike to third to cut down pinch runner Andrew Carper. Greenville would score the go-ahead run on Thomas Spencer’s two-out double, but the play prevented another run from going up on the board.
U.S. Southeast (0-2) 100 100 1 — 3 5 4
Asia-Pacific (2-1) 000 101 2 — 4 3 1
Tompkins and Lutrell; Catangui, Sarda (5) and Bernardo
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