Toyota renews lease on Little League

The Saipan Little League Baseball Association received good news yesterday afternoon as longtime community supporter Microl-Toyota agreed to continue sponsoring the league.

“You guys are covered for the all-stars and Microl Toyota will sponsor a Little League team again. If there’s anything else I can do, just get a hold of me and let me know,” said Microl Toyota general manager Doug Brennan.

Brennan met with the SLLBA board of directors yesterday in his office in San Jose and expressed his willingness to help the kids learn some of life’s lessons through baseball.

“That’s always been my goal—to teach the kids how to play the game, play it fairly, and to represent the island. That’s the way Microl works. We’ve done it as a part of the community for years and years,” he said.

SLLBA’s newly elected president Mike Borja said that the Microl’s support takes a load off of his mind as he and the other board members prepare to get the CNMI’s future stars ready for the World Series next year.

“It removes about 100 lbs. from my back. Microl Toyota and Doug [Brennan] have been supporting the Little League for years, and it’s a good help and a wonderful gift from Doug,” said Borja.

The contribution from Microl comes as the second confirmation for the 2006 season as Joe Ayuyu of McDonalds agreed to donate $3,000 again in the upcoming season so that all of the players at every level receive a medal for their efforts on the field.

“We’re just starting out to go out to the business community to get support, and also we’d like to emphasize that we will follow what the previous president Joe Salas did to improve the program. One thing that Salas did was to expand the program by creating tee ball, and we will continue that,” said Borja.

Brennan said that Microl as a company has been involved with the Little League for close to 30 years and since personally taking part in the local scene roughly 20 years ago, he has made the transition from a player in the Saipan Major League, to an umpire, to a coach and manager, and finally to sponsor. Looking back he acknowledged the strides that the local program has made over the years.

“In the early stage the Little League program was a little rough around the edges, but it has developed into a world class program in the past 20 years,” he said.

The new president also said that he realizes the important role that the community plays in allowing the league to expand and improve to offer the kids an opportunity to participate in the sport that they love.

“I’ve been in the program for 15 years and this is my first time to be the president. Of course it’s an honor, but it’s also a big task—especially with the economic situation and the Little League program is all about the support from the community and business center. We would like to develop the program more so kids can have a place to play baseball and build character in the community,” he said.

Borja also said that he is not giving up on the prospect of a Girls Softball League, and that it is just another one of the many things to come in the New Year.

“We’ll be sitting down with Rita Sablan of the Public School System and try to start it out at the school level. Last year we tried but due to the low turnout, the league didn’t materialize, but we will never give up and we will try again this year,” he said.