Cardinals cruise past Tigers in opening game of Fall River Little League City Championship

FALL RIVER - On Saturday morning, he National Cardinals took a big first step toward repeating as Fall River Little League city champions.

The visiting Cardinals toppled the Federal Tigers 14-2 in the first game of pool play at Kennedy Park.

The Cardinals are back in action Monday when they host the American Orioles at Dumont Field at 5:30 p.m.

On Saturday, the Cardinals used a four-run first inning to back a strong pitching performance by Joson Sanon, who finished with 10 strikeouts in his 4 1/3 innings of work.

Sanon, who got the ball rolling with an RBI single to center in the opening inning for the game's first run, struck out three batters in the first inning, two each in the second, third and fourth innings and then struck out the first batter of the fifth inning before being relieved by Jared Brown, who began the game at shortstop.

The Cardinals added a run in the third inning on a run-scoring single by Jahir Arieta to make it 5-0.

Sanon's counterpart, Johnathan Gardner, also was strong in the strikeout department, finishing with eight.

The visitors tacked on three more runs in the fourth inning, triggered by a two-run double by Brown.

In the fifth, Xavier Crowe brought home Alex Botelho with a groundout to make it 9-0 before the Cardinals exploded in the top of the sixth inning with a five-run outburst.

The Tigers got on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning, capitalizing on an error.

The Tigers' first hit came with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning when Jerron Butler tripled, but was left stranded at third.

The Tigers are off until Wednesday when they play the American Orioles at North Park at 5:30 p.m.