Deja vu: TMS wins fastpitch title over HMS, 19-8

It was déjà vu all over again as the Tanapag Middle School Tatagas and Hopwood Middle School Hilitais faced off in the boys softball finals for the third year in a row. This season, the Tatagas splashed a convincing 19-8 final to capture the 2025-2026 PSS-NMISA Boys Fastpitch Softball League championship for a 3-peat on a blazing hot Saturday at Dandan Softball Field.

Perfect in the postseason, the boys from the northside went into the championship round refreshed with the top seed, while No. 2 HMS was exhausted from a whole morning’s battle from the loser’s bracket.

Both teams were at a deadlock in the first two innings, but things began to unravel and fatigue showed in HMS’ squad in the third. Inside-the-park home runs and capitalizing on walks were the name of the game for the Tatagas as HMS pitcher Joshua Lizama struggled with control.

Back-to-back hits put Tatagas in scoring position, driven in by inside-the-park homers by Aiden Lizama and Omar Ibarola. At the end of their at-bat, TMS was up, 9-0. It was HMS’ turn at the plate and finally got on board with runs scored by Jeno Pino and Traevon Manglona. The Hilitais were making a comeback as they scored three runs in the fourth from a bases clearing triple by Kaizaeah Remoket for a 5-9 game.

However, HMS was tired on the mound and allowed more runs to cross in the fifth. TMS broke the game wide open with back-to-back inside-the-park homers from Aiden Lizama and Kayden Lizama and free bases from walks continued to plague HMS. Ibarola also swung for his second inside-the-parker with Andrew Magofna joining the fun with another inside-the-park homer.

TMS scored 10 runs in the inning and with a 10-run inning rule, it was time to switch. HMS needed to score five runs to continue the game, but even with a late rally, they only managed to put up three runs from Ezekiel Camacho, KC William, and Xavier Nepaial, for an 8-19 final.

The team included Aiden Lizama, Andrew Magofna, Damian Pua, D’artagnan Togowa, Dayton Marchadesch, Fransid Santos, Jesus San Nicolas, Kayden Lizama, Omar Ibarola, Raphael Magofna, Reddick Leon Guerrero, Urijah Santos, and Rocky Reyes. They were coached by Neil Camacho, Adam Salalila, and James Salalila.

Coach Adam Salalila said in an interview after the finals that the boys have a love for the game, making them easy to coach. “I know these boys all love the game so we can’t really complain. When the students have a love for the game, it makes it easy to coach them as well.”

The strategy for their 3-peat, Salalila said, was taking one strike to help them settle in at the plate, find their timing, identify hittable pitches, and make contact to drive in runs.

Heading into the championship, they had one loss in the regular season for a 6-1 record which came at the hands of third place Dandan Middle School. Salalila said, “We were expecting to play them in the championship, but knowing HMS, they make smart plays, smart runs, and amazing coaches, so I gotta give credit to them where it’s due.”

As for whether they can make it a 4-peat next season, he said the game is unpredictable and random and it could be anyone’s game.