World Series stints are tops in 2004

By MARK RABAGO, BRAD E. RUSZALA, AND SHAN SEMAN
REPORTERS

Saipan Tribune’s sports desk voted the CNMI’s trip to the Junior, Senior, and Little League World Series as the top sports story of the year.

The best hardballers that the Commonwealth had to offer began their journey to the pinnacle of their sport from the searing heat and dusty confines of the baseball fields at the Oleai Sports Center.
All of the many hours spent fielding grounders and shagging flies finally paid off in the end, as three of the four teams in the Little League program emerged victorious from their regional qualifiers at Paseo Stadium in Hagatna, Guam to compete upon the pristine diamonds of the mainland.

The Big League team barely missed out on completing the four-team sweep in Guam when they lost a heartbreaker in the finals.

While all of the teams hopped an east-bound plane to challenge international squads of sluggers, they landed in separate venues, as the Little League team went to South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the Junior League team went to Taylor, Michigan, and the Senior Leaguers went to Bangor, Maine.

On a daily basis, the family members and baseball enthusiasts who remained on the islands were anxiously awaiting word from representatives as to how the boys were doing, but they got a special treat when one of the games of the Little League was televised on ESPN 2.

The youth of the CNMI put their talents and character on display for the world to see, and Gov. Juan N. Babauta congratulated them for their efforts and conduct upon their return home.

The Senior team fared the best in their quest for the World Series, as they rallied back from a 0-2 deficit to even their record to 2-2, but fell a game shy of the semifinals. Had the host team pulled out a victory in their final match up of the tournament, there was a possibility that the CNMI team would have advanced to the next round. When the young men of the CNMI return to the World Series hunt they will be armed with desire to control their own destiny.

Despite finishing their run at the title with a 1-3 record, the Juniors looked strong in every game. They opened with a one-run loss to the eventual runner-ups, and fell two-runs short of their competition on their final day. While the top teams of the world may have outscored them, the boys were never outclassed in their games in Michigan. The well-coached team never quit on each other, and provided many of the players with valuable experiences for next season’s run at the World Series.

The Little League team failed to notch a tally into the win-loss column while in Williamsport, but each of their three losses was by a mere three runs.

They may have had the most difficult run at the World Series to begin with, as they first had to compete with Rota and Tinian to qualify for the regional tournament in Guam, but the Little Leaguers relied upon their training to get them through.

Along the way, the boys were able to experience the spirit of unity and friendship in the mainland, as baseballs weren’t the only white spheres that were knocked around in Pennsylvania.

The CNMI team forged new relationships with their brothers from the international community when they moved their competition from the wide-open fields of Williamsport to the International Grove by playing games of ping-pong with their new friends from around the globe.

In the months since returning to the comforts of home, the young crop of talented players—still energized from the experience—has wasted no time in preparing for their next trip to baseball’s Promised Land. Under the watchful eyes of their managers and coaches, the CNMI’s best and brightest have already begun to ready themselves for the future by lacing up the cleats, fielding grounders, and shagging flies.

A close second in the poll after the World Series stints was the relocation to Hawaii of long-time sports organizers and Saipan Swim Club founders Bill and Jean Sakovich. After making Saipan their home the past 30 years, “Mr.” and “Mrs.” bade their adopted home island goodbye. Since then the duo has quietly settled into their retirement home in Hilo, and although they miss their picturesque Saipan Lagoon vista, waking up under the shadow of the 14,000-foot Mauna Kea is still nothing to sneeze at.

Ol’Aces’ victory, and subsequent show of goodwill to Guam’s Southern Youth Basketball Association team, in the 18-and-under basketball division of the 3rd Annual Pacific Rim Youth Goodwill Tournament comes next.

After edging their rivals in a hotly contested final, the boys of coach Elias Rangamar showed a lot of class when they ceded the championship trophy to Guam, which protested the results. Aside from the victory in the age group, Saipan scored a coup when the Saipan Sixers routed the 14-and-under squad of the SYBL in the junior competition.

The Tagaman and Saipan XTERRA Championship victories of Swiss triathlete Olivier Marceau and American endurance racer Jamie Whitmore in May followed the drama of the PACRIM. It was the first time both triathlons were staged back-to-back and it was a resounding success with the gargantuan efforts of both world-class athletes, coupled by the record number of participants, turning the CNMI into a hotbed of one of the fastest growing sports in the globe.

The CNMI women’s basketball team’s bronze-winning effort in the 2004 Micronesian Basketball Tournament is fourth in the draft order, while the effect of supertyphoon Chaba and typhoon Tingting to sports facilities on Saipan and the subsequent postponement of events is the fifth biggest story of the year.

Led by charismatic coach Don Blondin and a still mourning Beverly Igitol, the CNMI women’s squad installed itself as one of the basketball powers in the region after losing only to Guam and Palau last July. Igitol, who weeks before lost her sister in a tragedy, played inspired ball throughout the tournament and led the team to a third place finish following a rout of Pohnpei.

Chaba and Tingting pushed back baseball, softball, basketball and just about all sports activities during the month of July and August. The Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field and the adjacent softball field at the Oleai Sports Complex, for instance, were transformed into small lakes while the chain-link fences surrounding the facilities and the bleechers were flattened and tossed around like tooth picks.

The Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium was not spared from the wrath of nature, as water poured in from just about every opening and crevice at the indoor facility, plus it was temporarily used as a shelter for hundreds of people displaced by the typhoons.

Sixth in the pecking order was Dean Palacios and Nina Mosley’s participation in the year’s FINA World Swimming Short Course Championships in Indianapolis, IN. Aside from coming up with 12 Life Time Best swims during the meet, Palacios and Mosley also improved on their reactions times to the complete amazement of their coach Michael Stewart, who replaced the Sakoviches at the helm of SSC.

Two tennis stories are back-to-back, as Kanani Ashraf’s performance in the 2004 International Tennis Federation Pacific Oceania Junior Tennis Championships in Lautoka, Fiji, and Saipan’s hosting of the 2004 North Pacific Qualifying Junior Tennis Tournament are seeded No. 8 and No. 9 in the rankings.

Ashraf finished fourth in the 14-and-under division despite being the youngest of the 48 competitors in the regional event. Other CNMI players that saw action in the tournament were Ji Hoon Heo, Tim Quan, and Mayuko Arriola. The tennis community of Saipan, meanwhile, played a perfect host to the NPQ last June with netters from Guam, Palau, and FSM visiting to compete in the tournament.

The Basketball Association of the Northern Mariana Islands decision not to send a men’s or women’s basketball team to the 2005 South Pacific Mini Games in Palau closes out the Top 10 sports stories of the last 365 days.

After lackluster showings in the 2002 Micronesian Games in Pohnpei and the 2004 MBT, BANMI decided to shelve plans of sending a men’s team to the Mini Games. While the men’s fate was a no-brainer, the decision not to send a women’s team came as a big surprise.

Blondin, however, reasoned that money earmarked to send about 14 players and coaching staff to Koror would be better spent funding a national women’s basketball program.