Pirates celebrate SML Fall title

A week after upsetting the pennant winning Hustlers during the Fall edition of the Saipan Major League’s finale, the Pirates took to the American Memorial Park to enjoy a weekend with friends and family as the champs.

The players relaxed with their coach, Craig Sanchez, their manager, J.P. Flores, and some of their fans under the shade of the Ironwoods while eating local fare and trading stories of the season.

One of the players was pitcher James Kintol. The flame-throwing righty was awarded with the duel honor of most valuable players for both the regular season and the playoffs. The soft spoken Kintol said that he was not expecting to hear his name mentioned, but that his teammates tipped him off to the playoff nod.

“The regular season honor was unexpected. I thought it was going to J.P. [Sablan], so it was surprising. For the finals, the boys were telling me that it was mine already,” he said.

After his MVP performance in the finals, Kintol said that his whole right side was hurting for a couple of days, but that he was able to count on good communication with his catcher to get the job done.

“We had good communication. In the first three innings I was a little wild, but they told me to calm down and I was able to get back into the game,” he said.

Kintol said that he will forego the Saipan Major League in favor of the Big League of the Saipan Little League Baseball Association—a move that comes as welcome news to his former coach Craig Sanchez.

Most of the young champions will be making the move to the primetime league as members of the Bud Kings, but Sanchez will be returning to the defending champion Ford Rangers.

“That-a-boy Jay, go play in the Big League. I can’t go and get struck out by my own pitcher,” he joked.

All kidding aside, Sanchez said that Kintol deserved his honors, and that the mighty righty did everything he was asked to do all season long.

“He did it all through the season. He was the man on the mound. He came through every game I asked him to pitch,” he said.

Sanchez said that the team’s secret to success was the way the players came together during the season and in the finals. The coach also said that his squad had a chance at bagging the pennant as well, but the hitters were out of sync in their head-to-head matches with the Hustlers. In the end, things worked out well for the Pirates, and they earned a much deserved party at the park.

“We just worked as a team. If you have faith in your team, you just go all out. We could have had the pennant, but the bats just weren’t there. In the finals, the bats were there,” he said.