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Saipan tops district meet
Players of the Saipan Major All-Star Team pose for a photo at the dugout while waiting for their game against host Rota at the Joaquin Mesngon Ogo Baseball Field last Friday. (Contributed Photo)
As expected, the Saipan Major All-Stars ruled the 2018 CNMI District Meet and earned the rights to represent the Commonwealth to the 2018 Asia Pacific-Middle East Regional Tournament.
The Manny Evangelista-managed selection defeated host Rota and Tinian in convincing fashions over the weekend and was handed the outright victory in the three-team competition yesterday, as the Saipan-Tinian finale did not push through due to rain.
The Saipan Major All-Stars shut down Rota last Friday, 10-0, and then crushed Tinian last Saturday, 21-3. In other results, Tinian slipped past Rota, 4-3, to take the second and last finals berth and set up a title showdown against the heavily favored Saipan Major All-Stars,
The finale was then yet for 10am yesterday, but was moved to 1pm, as the Joaquin Mesngon Ogo Baseball Field was still unplayable after it rained in the morning. The field was still unsafe for players yesterday afternoon, thus organizers called off the Saipan-Tinians finals and awarded the tournament win to Evangelista’s wards.
The Saipan Major All-Star Team, which will now be known as the CNMI All-Star, is made up of Cardi Borja, Joel Borja, Deandre Cruz, Achilles Evangelista, Charles McDonald, Benjamin Palacios Jr., Destiny Pangelinan, Gregorio Pangelinan, Jon T. Reyes, Gunner Sablan, Jylon Sbalan, Dylan Santos, Jeremiah Suel Jr., and Michael Tomokane. Calvani Deleon Guerrero and Frank S. Ad are the head coach and assistant manager, respectively.
The group will be back on Saipan today and will resume its training session this week as it will leave the island for Korea later this month for the regionals. The 2018 Asia Pacific Asia Pacific-Middle East Regional Tournament will be held in Seoul anew and will run from June 29 to July 6. The CNMI will be battling nine other teams for a slot to the World Series, which will take place in South Williamsport in Pennsylvania from Aug. 16 to 26.
Meanwhile, the CNMI Junior and Senior League All-Star teams are headed for the Philippines.
In the Senior League, the Commonwealth bets will be up against the hosts, Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, New Zealand. In the Junior League, the CNMI will challenge China, Hong Kong, and Chinese-Taipei besides the PH team. Both competitions will be held in Clark, Pampanga from June 29 to July 6.
