Kalinga scores grand slam in baseball

Sunday, February 12, 2012

TABUK CITY, Kalinga -- From day one up to the championship game, Kalinga was eyeing that three peat in the baseball competition as the province hosted the Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (Caraa).

And what a way to do it as it defeated Mt. Province, the region’s cradle of batted balls, in an epic 12-8 win at the Kalinga Sports Complex in front of cheering iKalingas.

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Roldan Padios opened the scoring for the Kalinga squad on a homer to set the tone for the team’s second title defense since winning the crown way back in 2009 where Ifugao was then host.

That homer put the defending champs up by one at the close of the first inning with Mountain Province scoring a base hit with Kalinga then scoring two more in the next two innings for a 4-1 count after three innings.

“Malaki ang naging sakripisyo din namin. Hindi na kami nagkaroon ng Christmas break para lang mapaghandaan ang Caraa,” said Kalinga coach Rafael Alcondia of the Bannawag National High School where bulk of the team was culled for the regional meet.

A single run was scored by Kalinga courtesy of Jandel San Jose to put them ahead by three after the end of sixth inning, 6-3, before Mt. Province came up with two runs of their own to make it a 5-7 count going into the final inning.

Kalinga then had two runners after Aiking Emmanuel Resco and Balingway Richard had RBIs when Padios hit a homer deep down left field for his second homer of the day as the home province took a 10-5 lead.

Kalinga then scored two more runs later while MP had three runs for the final score.

The championship match was the third time Kalinga and Mt. Province went head to head with Kalinga winning three straight over the Montanosa batters who reigned in the baseball competition for many years.

Baguio lady dribblers score back-to-back

Cheryl Magno fired a game high of 25 points, while Cristy Ramilo had 14 as Baguio City retained the secondary girls basketball during the regional meet.

The Summer Capital dribblers edged Apayao, 65–63, after their boys counterpart lost to Abra, 88-74, while the elementary ballers fall to a dismal fifth place.

The Minero backed girls squad led at the end of the first period, 22-14, but Apayao came back strong in the second period to cut down the lead by three, 29-26, with 5:10 remaining in the second period.

But Baguio answered back with a scorching 19–0 run to hold off Apayao and enjoy a 47-26 advantage at halftime.

Apayao was led by Ruthlane Tacula’s 19 point, 8 of which came from that 12-7 second period run.

Abra, meanwhile, dislodged Baguio in the boys secondary three of its players combining for 71 points led by Kris gatog with 32 points, the 20 of Tito Grande and Arnel Guspera’s 19.

From a 39 deadlock at halftime, Abra enjoyed a 6-57 advantage at the close of the third period then lit off a 10-0 run later in the payoff period to seal the victory.

It will be the second time in many years Baguio lost the boys basketball crown, the first one in 2004 after yielding to Kalinga.