Baseball: CNMI whips Kosrae

The CNMI Baseball Team got off to a strong start after crushing Kosrae, 13-3, yesterday at the Matson Yap Sports Complex Field.

The CNMI and Kosrae played in the curtain-raiser of Day 2 of the baseball competition, with the Patrick Tenorio Sr.-managed squad prevailing convincingly against the team that won its debut in the tournament last Monday. Kosrae outclassed Yap, 15-10, in the main game in the opening day to the disappointment of the hometown crowd.

In other results on Day 1, 2010 champion Palau defeated Pohnpei, 9-5, while in yesterday’s second match, Yap was hoping to bounce back from its opening loss as it was scheduled to square off against Pohnpei.

Defending champion Guam missed this year’s competition, leaving Palau and the 2006 CNMI the favorites in the five-team tournament. The two former winners will meet today in the 6pm game.

Though the baseball tournament is down to five teams, the page system format in the playoffs will still be in effect. The Top 2 finishers after the elimination will fight for the first finals berth. The No. 3 and 4 finishers, on the other hand, will collide in the other semis game with the winner facing the loser in the No. 1 vs No. 2 tiff for the last finals ticket. The gold medal game will be played on July 24.

Women’s basketball team recovers
The CNMI Women’s National Basketball Team made it to the win column yesterday after routing Yap, 68-28.

No other details of the 3pm match were available as of press time, but the win allowed the CNMI to fight back from a 55-65 loss to the Marshall Islands last Monday.

In its debut game, the Commonwealth cagebelles were behind early, 21-40, and fell short in their comeback bid in the second half.

In the men’s division, the CNMI also dropped its opener with Pohnpei winning the afternoon tiff last Monday, 75-66. The Elias Rangamar-coached CNMI was very much in the game after the first half with Pohnpei ahead by only a hair, 35-34.

Rangamar’s wards were back at the court yesterday and was scheduled to face Palau, which suffered a 77-61 beating from Guam in the opening day.

Swimming, volleyball teams arrive
The islands’ swimmers and volleyball players (men’s) are now in Yap and ready to compete in their respective events.

The swim team is made up of Anthony Camacho-Deleon Guerrero, Kento and Taiyo Akimaur, Jinnosuke and Lennosuke Suzuki, Sophia Gauran, Nelson Batallones, David Boyer, Juhn Tenorio, Kiana Villagomez, and coach Jacoby Winkfield. They will compete in the 2.5K and 5K individual events and relay open water swims at the Yap Marina, beginning this Friday.

The Shawn Davis-coached CNMI volleyball crew is composed of Ryan R. Camacho, Mychal Omar, Alfredo Guevarra, Jr., Jerrett Rosario, Danilo Borlain, Nakashima “Billy” Nakashima, Don Marshall Cabrera, John Neikaifes, John Michael Costales, Logan Mister, Nick Gross, Tahj Salas, and Eric Kiser. Final schedule of the volleyball games has yet to be posted, but the initial report had the CNMI facing Guam Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Palau.

In other news, the CNMI’s Kevin Muna finished seventh in the individual spearfishing competition with his total catch of 70.5 lbs. John Brel got 41 lbs to rank at No. 10. Guam’s Michale Generaux (177.5 lbs) won the gold, while Palau’s Luis Ongalibang (143.5 lbs) and Pohnpei’s Taylor Paul (126.5 lbs) took the silver and bronze, respectively.