Angels present SML trophies to St. Michael’s

Saipan Major League’s St. Michael’s Angels held a celebratory barbeque to present their 2011 SML pennant and league championship trophies to their sponsor, St. Michael’s Medical Response, last Saturday at Micro Beach.

The team handed off the trophies to St. Michael’s distributions manager Derek Hocog on Saturday afternoon.

The Angels have been a unit for over a decade now and were especially proud of winning their second championship.

“We have won a bunch of pennants, but only have two titles and it feels great to win one as both a young and veteran crew,” said head coach Craig Sanchez last Saturday.

The Angels have won eight pennant titles since they started competing in the league back in 1999 when they were known as the Saipan Stevedore Pirates.

The group claimed four consecutive pennants and their first championship as the youthful Pirates and then changed their name to the Ford Rangers after picking up their second sponsor, Joeten Motors. The Rangers won three pennants and their eighth came during their maiden season this year as the Angels.

“We felt like this year was our year after the name change,” chuckled manager John Flores.

Fittingly, St. Michael’s is known as the archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions and is often pictured posed as a warrior with a sword or lance in hand.

Players also expressed that being eliminated by the Brewers in last year’s playoffs after a perfect regular season left a bitter taste in their mouths, but admitted that the rookie-IT&E Fielders that took home the 2010 trophy reminded them of how they used to be the league’s young up-and-coming team.

“We picked up a few young guns every other year or so, but have remained roughly the same group of guys as a whole. Its funny how we have become one of the—not old—but seasoned squads in the field over the years,” laughed Sanchez.

The Angels are a mix group of players coming from different villages around the island and are mostly recruited through Saipan Little League’s Ol’Aces program.

The Angels picked up Marvin Kaipat, Nokki Saralu, and Mike Iguel this year and lost pitchers Elton Santos of the Shell Fielders and IT&E Aces’ Jacob Babauta.

Notably, both Angels’ ex-pitchers issued their former team losses this season, however the Angels got both wins back in the second round of pairings.

“Heading into the finals we knew we were going to play either the Fielders or the [Tan Holdings] Brewers. The Brewers swept the Fielders and came [into the finals] red-hot, so we knew we had to tighten up our defense because they were hitting the ball very well. We lost the first game, but remained calm and kept believing in our defense. Both the defense and the bats showed up in the second match and our pitching brought it home in the last two games,” said Sanchez.

Angels pitchers Franco Flores and Thomas Joab were big factors in the final two games as well as veteran Pete Tomokane and rising star Dave Camacho.

Tomokane and Camacho showed up big at the dish in the finals with a number of clutch hits that sparked the Angels’ offense. Angels also had the 2010 batting champ and 2011 runner-up Jesus Iguel in its lead off spot.

“Once on first base, Jesus Iguel is simply a pitcher’s worst nightmare,” said Flores.

Sanchez and Flores assured that the team would return as the Angels next year and hopes to maintain a long lasting relationship with their current sponsor.