Districts and Regional tournaments shoot for tomorrow

The brightest young stars from Saipan, Tinian and Rota will battle it out on the ball field possibly as soon as tomorrow, as the island of Tinian hurries to get their facilities ready for the 8th Annual District Little League Championship and the District Junior League Championship.

Much like the rest of the CNMI, Tinian is busy cleaning up after the mess that was Typhoon Tingting, and league officials are hopeful that the games that were to be played on Monday, June 28, and continue through Wednesday, June 30, will be played soon.

How soon depends on the weather and the field conditions. With the Francisco M. Palacios baseball field in Oleai looking more like Lake Susupe after the storm, it would seem that the team in Tinian has their work cut out for them. Apparently, the goal for the tournament is tomorrow, according to Little League district administrator James Ada.

“It’s safe to say that they will start up on Thursday. They [the field crew] said that the field in Tinian is very wet. We will monitor the situation with the people there and make our decision. We have to make sure that the conditions are safe and that the field is playable.”

Ada stated that the games are tentatively going to be played at the original times of 9am, 11am, and 1pm, unless conditions dictate otherwise.

“If they need more time to get the field ready then we’ll just have to push the times back a little.”

According to Little League president Joe Borja, the team from Saipan was supposed to leave for its closest neighbor last Sunday but is still here due to the weather. “I don’t want the team to go over there and to have to wait around,” Borja said.

They’re going to have to wait around for at least another day, but that might give the players and managers the little bit of extra preparation that they need before the important tournament.

The winners from the two district finals will qualify for the Asia-Pacific Regional Baseball Junior, Senior and Big League division tournaments in Guam. They will be competing against the best of the Philippines and Guam on Friday, July 9, and continue through the following Thursday, July 15.

If you are interested in further information about the Little League World Series, go online and visit www.littleleague.org.