CNMI sluggers win gold medal

The CNMI Baseball Team almost did not make it to the 2011 Pacific Games in New Caledonia, but now it will return home with the much-coveted gold medal.

The Commonwealth sluggers, who only confirmed their participation in the Games less than a month before the event kicked off due to funding problems, were crowned champions at the Robinson Baseball Field in Mont-Dore after beating Guam in the finals yesterday, 8-4.

It was a sweet victory for the CNMI, as it won the gold medal on its first time to compete in baseball since the sport was included in the Pacific Games calendar beginning in 1999. The triumph also avenged the Commonwealth’s 5-6 loss to Guam in the elimination round and gave the CNMI its first medal in New Caledonia with only two days left in the competition.

Besides the final score, detailed information about the CNMI-Guam game was unavailable at press time. However, it was Josh Jones who led the Commonwealth’s victory with another impressive pitching performance.

After sitting out their early loss to Guam, Jones entered the game in the third inning and crushed their archrival’s dream of ruling the baseball competition for the third time. Guam won the gold medal in 1999 when it hosted the Games and in 2003 in Fiji. Palau took the gold medal in the 2007 Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa, and with the CNMI’s win in New Caledonia, Micronesia kept its domination of the sport in the quadrennial event.

With Jones pitching from the third to the ninth inning, Guam scored only two runs, one each in the third and sixth inning. Guam’s two other runs came early at the bottom of the first, while the CNMI failed to score in the first two innings and fell behind, 0-2.

In the third inning, the CNMI began making a move, scoring four runs and taking the driver’s seat, 4-3. Guam scored only one run at the bottom of the third to slowly lose control of the match.

The Commonwealth sluggers hung on to the lead, as their defense shut out Guam anew in the fourth and fifth innings and then limited the eventual silver medalists to one run in the last four innings.

On offense, after failing to reach home plate anew in the fourth inning, Tony Rogolifoi’s wards added four more runs in the last five innings to seal the deal.

Joining Jones and Rogolifoi on the gold medal winning squad are Juan Maratita, Eric Tenorio, Ian Rogolifoi, Keoni Lizama, Mike Iguel, Vince Cepeda, Elton Santos, Jesus Iguel, Tyrone Omar, Franco Flores, Thomas Joab, Jerome Delos Santos, Byron Kaipat, Manny Sablan, Craig Sanchez, and Saipan Major League Baseball president Rose Igitol.

The CNMI Baseball Team finished the elimination round with a 3-2 record and was the last team to advance into the playoffs. Then it had to win back-to-back games last Wednesday to make it to the finals. The Commonwealth players first defeated New Caledonia in the morning match, 11-5, and then blanked Palau in the semifinals, 8-0, to march into the finals against Guam.

The finals victory over its neighbor was the second in five years for the CNMI, as the Commonwealth also downed Guam in the finals of the 2006 Micronesian Games, 3-2.
[B] Mister, Nelson lose anew[/B]

In beach volleyball, Chris Nelson and Tyce Mister formally bowed out of medal contention after dropping two games yesterday at the Terrain de beach-volley Koutio in Dumbea.

The CNMI spikers first bowed to Papua New Guinea’s Moha Mea and Manly Kapa, 18-21, 21-17, 15-11, and then lost to Vanuatu’s Rio and Pierrick Lesines, 11-21, 12-21. It was the Commonwealth bets’ fourth straight defeat and they finished Pool B at fifth place with a 1-4 record. Mister and Nelson’s lone win came from Palau last Monday. They also lost to Tahiti and American Samoa and will play the Cook Islands today for ranking purposes only.

Defending champion Tahiti will meet New Caledonia in the semis with the winner advancing to the gold medal game against the victor of Fiji-Vanuatu tussle.

Regardless of the results of the beach volleyball competition, New Caledonia is already assured of the overall championship in the 2011 Pacific Games as the host is way ahead in the medal standings with its 90 gold medals, 78 silver, and 38 bronze.

Tahiti has also secured the No. 2 spot with its 45-31-31 tally. PNG dislodged Fiji at third place, as the former now has a 34-19-41 tally against the latter’s 28-32-36. Samoa padded its gold medal haul to 17 and also has 12 silver and 27 bronze to complete the Top 5.

In other results, Rachel Abrams competed in the finals of the 200m run yesterday and timed in at 27.48 seconds, two seconds lower than her qualifying time. The CNMI sprinter finished eighth in the finals won by PNG’s Toea Wisil (24.61 seconds).