Law fought the Law and the Law won

Law Enforcement swooped down upon Saipan last week for a raid of unprecedented proportions in order to determine the source of the highest quality softball on the market as part of operation 15th Annual Law Enforcement Softball Tournament.

The boys in blue came from as far away as Guam and Palau to take part in the event that has grown bigger every year. It was well worth the trip for Guam’s Department of Customs as they were able to defeat Guam Department of Corrections in the championship game by a score of 16-8 at the Oleai Sports Complex softball field.

It was a “rain or shine” tournament, and with the approaching Typhoon Tingting building strength, it was more of the prior. The tournament lineup was rounded out with the teams representing CNMI Customs, Department of Public Safety, Division of Youth Services, CPA Ports Police, Department of Labor and Immigration, Republic of Palau Customs, Guam Police Department and Guam Youth Agency.

“About two or three years ago it was in Guam and the weather was pretty bad, but this was the worst,” said tournament coordinator Patrick Tenorio.

Through the rain and sloppy weather, teams advanced to the second round as DYS eliminated a powerful Palau team, Guam Customs knocked off DOLI, DYA/Guam Corrections took out the CPA, and DPS showed CNMI Customs to the door.

The semi-finals featured a Guamanian sweep to the championship as Guam Customs spanked DYS and Guam Corrections collared DPS.

Due to the less than ideal playing conditions, only one of the fields was available for the use of the teams. Making matters even worse was the 90-minute delay due to the worst of the weather on Sunday morning. Upon receiving the news, the organizers decided to modify the tournament format to limit the games to five innings and allow a maximum of five homeruns per team per game. Any ball hit over the fence after that would be ruled a single.

According to Tenorio, the event evolved from the original game between CNMI Customs and Guam Customs 15 years ago. A few years later, the police departments of Guam and the CNMI got involved. In the following years, additional agencies got involved and three years ago the tournament welcomed the team from Palau. The Palauan team has been able to make the trip with the help of their local government.

“We just had a meeting to discuss the future tournaments and we would like to invite teams from our neighboring islands like Yap, Phonpei, and the Marshals. If they have the time to participate it would be great,” said Tenorio.

Though no date has so far been set, the tournament organizers are trying to pick out a date that will remain a constant in the future, with the target being sometime between the months of January and April.

Equally important as the date of the tournament is the location of the event. The aim for next year is Guam, but the overall goal for the softball-a-thon is to have its venue rotate throughout the islands.

In the spirit of brotherhood that an event of this nature tends to exude, the Palauans made the tournament trophy for the first time, committing to doing it every year.