Just 4 Fun defends BASA open title

Just 4 Fun are having fun winning championships, taking the Budweiser Belau Amateur Softball Association men’s open league title for the second year in a row. This season, they faced The Kliq again—just as they did last year—and, just like before, beat them with two straight wins in the best-of-three championship series on Sunday, Jan. 11, at the Dandan Softball Field.

With the sweep, Just 4 Fun made it clear they’re still the team to beat in the league. Both teams were made up mostly of national baseball team players, showing that their talent translates just as well into the slow-pitch game.

In both finals games, Just 4 Fun leaned heavily on pitcher Nathan Camacho, who made his presence felt at the plate and on the mound. He was perfect in Game 2, going 5-for-5 with two three-run home runs and a solo shot. After both teams scored in the opening inning, Camacho took control, blasting back-to-back three-run homers in the third and fourth to push the lead to 14-1. Camacho added another solo home run in the seventh, while Darion Jones and Ben Jones followed with solo shots of their own to seal the 25-8 win and the championship.

Game 1 earlier in the day set the tone for the series. After a scoreless top of the first, Camacho and Darion Jones drove in two quick runs to get things started. The bats stayed hot in the second with two-run home runs from Jordan Suel and Aling Ogumoro, then Jay Kintol added a three-run blast in the third to make it 9-0.

The Kliq finally got on the board with home runs from Jerald Cabrera and Eli Aughenbaugh and added two more runs in the fifth, but Just 4 Fun had an answer each time. Camacho capped the scoring with a two-run homer in the sixth, finishing 3-for-4 as Just 4 Fun closed out a 13-5 win and took the early series lead.

When the awards were handed out, it was no surprise to see Camacho named Finals MVP. He also earned Regular Season MVP, finishing the year as the league’s home run leader with 18 and RBI leader with 40. While Camacho brought the power, Ben Jones Jr. delivered consistency, winning the Batting Championship with a .795 average, going 31-for-39 at the plate.

In other awards, Akkari claimed the pennant, with Mamaaw finishing as runners-up, while Chochu Maigu received the Sportsmanship Award. Branon Hocog led the league in runs scored with 31, Nokki Saralu of the Belias Bat Boys topped the doubles list with nine, and James Phillips of Taza Nei led the league in triples with seven.

Pitching leaders were Kebruka’s Jerry Guerrero with the lowest ERA of 5.58, while the strikeout leader was Saipal’s Jeff Isaac with 36.

Keith Kintol, player/manager of Just 4 Fun said he’s grateful for the team for coming out strong despite not taking the top seed in the regular season. “We knew that we got a lot of competition coming into the playoffs, and the championship, we needed two games, and we were able to get it in two, so grateful for our teammates that we were able to come out strong again,” he said.

Going up against The Kliq, he said, “They’re our family and we played them last year, we respect them, they have a really good team, but we were just the better team today, and again it takes a lot of effort to mesh it all together on game day.” When asked whether they will come back as the same team again to go for a three-peat, he said, “We have no plans to break apart. This is a good team, we have a tight-knit team, so we’re going to come back.”