A night to remember

Sports have provided me with a lifetime of wonderful memories as a fan, spectator, parent, player, coach, and administrator. One of them was on May 20, 1996 at a packed Paseo Stadium on Guam.

The Mobil Games Baseball Championship pitted the CNMI against Guam. Tempers flared and tensions were high, especially after the two teams played in an earlier tournament game that was fueled by fireballer Chris Nelson who nailed, I think, three Guam batters with his 90mph heater. I’m sure Guam thought he did that on purpose, but he hit a lot of batters in his career.

A Guam runner slammed viciously into catcher Larry Guerrero who nonetheless held onto the ball, got up without saying anything and simply handed the ball to the umpire, thus diffusing what could have been an explosive situation with quiet sportsmanship.

Larry’s father Lorenzo was in the grandstand above the dugout, leading a vocal Saipan contingent who flew down for the game. The late Lorenzo I. DL Guerrero was CNMI governor at that time. In 1958 he had been on the first team from Saipan to play baseball in Guam, a game won by Saipan, 5-3.

As president of the Saipan Major League, I had a vested interest in the outcome of what essentially was Micronesia’s baseball championship. I was confident of our hand-picked team but somehow we lost to Guam, 14-13, in a wild extra-inning game during round robin play. When the rematch came in the finale, I knew our team was ready but never thought it would turn out the way it did.

It was a rare game where every player was “in the zone.” All CNMI batters in the starting lineup had at least one run and one run batted in. I dare you to find another example of that happening. And we scored in every inning too.

The CNMI was leading 27-3 after seven innings. Our batters were so hot, we could have scored more except the umpires unexpectedly called off the game which was curious because there was no mercy rule in effect. The Guam manager wanted to play but the men in blue simply walked off the field. They wanted to go home. I had never seen that.

Here’s something Saipan people can relate to: the power went off in the stadium several times during the game, adding to the, huh, electric atmosphere.

After Nellie shut down Guam in the top of the first inning, Pete Roberto led off the bottom of the first with a single and that opened the floodgates. Mike “Rock” Guerrero came thru with a clutch two-out two run single to cap a four run rally. The blowout was on.

Roberto scored five times. Nick “Nasty” Guerrero, Greg C. Camacho, Larry Guerrero, Tony Camacho, and Ron Benavente each scored three runs. Roberto and the Guerrero brothers, Nick and Mike, each had four hits. Inoske Yamada and Steve Coleman each had three hits. Rock had four runs batted in. Tony Camacho clubbed a home run over the right field wall.

Guam tried six different pitchers and none of them could handle the Saipan boys. Meanwhile, Nelson allowed just four hits and one earned run.

Beating Guam by such a lopsided score on their own field was an unforgettable personal highlight. And then to cap it off, I won the grand prize in the raffle, a ticket anywhere Air Micronesia flew. Yeah, I was flying high that night.

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[I] Coldeen is a longtime journalist in the CNMI and is currently the news director of KSPN2[/I]