East offense erupts for 17 hits in victory

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BANGOR – Perhaps the scoreboard operator leaned on the wrong button. Perhaps somebody was having some fun. But after the Vineland, N.J., Senior League All-Stars finished circling the bases on Monday night, the number in the “hit” column glowed brightly: 87.

It only seemed like 87. In truth, the East champs only piled up 17 hits in their 22-1 thrashing of the Asia Pacific champions from Manila, Philippines.

After dropping their first game of the Senior League World Series on Sunday, South Vineland entered the game eager to get into the win column. Boy, did they get into the win column.

South Vineland spotted Manila a 1-0 lead in the first, then blew the game open by scoring eight unearned runs in the bottom of the inning.

South Vineland added seven in the second, two in the third, and five in the fourth before calling it a night.

The final three South Vineland batters struck out – looking – and showed little interest in continuing the lopsided affair. The game ended after 41/2 innings via the 10-run rule.

One of the South Vineland stars, Alex Castillo, put an exclamation point on the win with a two-run triple in the fourth, but admitted his teammates felt a little awkward at the end of the rout.

“There’s really not much you can say. It’s just kind of a sad loss [for Manila]. I didn’t expect us to beat this team that bad,” Castillo said.

“We’ll go back [to the dorm at Husson College] and make friends,” he said.

Castillo was one of the offensive stars, finishing with three hits, three runs and four RBIs. But he wasn’t the only one to contribute.

In all, 11 South Vineland players had hits and 10 ended up scoring.

Winning pitcher Albert Rivera doubled, singled twice and drove in two more while leadoff hitter Darren Ford smacked a triple and a single and also had two RBIs.

Rivera fought through some early trouble of his own making – he walked three batters in the first, when he gave up the lone Manila run – and cruised the rest of the way. He finished with a two-hitter, striking out seven.

The scary part: Rivera isn’t South Vineland’s ace. … or its No. 2 … or No. 3.

“That’s our eighth pitcher,” coach Abe Heredia said, pointing out that Rivera didn’t pitch at all in the regional tourney. “So he pitched pretty good.”

“I’ve been wanting to pitch for a while,” Rivera said.

SOUTH VINELAND, N.J. 22, MANILA, PHILIPPINES 1

South Vineland (1-1) Manila (0-2)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Pareja, ss 2 0 0 0 Ford, cf 4 4 2

Arellano, cf 3 0 0 0 S. Rivera, 2b 1 2 1

Pamplono, c-3b 2 0 0 0 Ruggiero, 2b 2 1

Corcherra, p 2 0 1 0 Martinez, 1b 5 1 2

Dizer, 2b-c 1 0 1 0 O’Donnell, rf 3 0 0

Vijander, c 0 0 0 1 Lugo, rf 1 1 0

Baquiran, 2b 0 0 0 0 Nieves, c 3 1 0

a-Kobayashi, 2b 1 0 0 0 Acevedo, 3b 3 0

Tolome, lf-3b 2 0 0 0 Heredia, ss 1 2

Roxas, 1b 0 0 0 0 b-Myrie, ss 2 3 2

Fawcett, rf-lf 1 0 0 0 Castillo, lf 4 4

c-Olivares, lf 1 1 0 0 Rivera, p 3 2

Galedo, 3b 1 0 0 0 d-Cichy 0 0 0 0

Denton, rf 1 0 0 0

Totals 17 1 2 1 Totals 32 22 17 16

a-ran for Palmplono in first, b-ran for Nieves in first, second, c-ran for Pamplono in third, d-hit by pitch for Rivera in second

Manila, Philippines 100 00 ? 1

South Vineland, N.J. 872 5x ? 22

E?Galedo, Baquiran, Dizer; Martinez; LOB?Manila 6, South Vineland 4; 2B?Martinez, A. Rivera, Myrie; 3B?Ford, Castillo; SB?Ford, S. Rivera 2, Martinez, Myrie, Acevedo, Castillo

Manila IP H R ER BB SO

Corcherra (L, 0-1) 4 17 22 12 6 5

Home IP H R ER BB SO

A. Rivera (W, 1-0) 5 2 1 1 4 7

HBP?Cichy by Corcherra; PB?Vijandre; T?1:43; ATT?200 (est.)