CNMI faces tough challenge in ASPAC

CNMI Little League All-Star manager Joe Flores knows that they will be facing a daunting task as they bid to return to the Little League Baseball World Series this year in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Team CNMI, composed of the Saipan All-Star squad, pose for a group photo moments after arriving at the Francisco C. Ada Saipan International Airport yesterday afternoon. (Jon Perez)

Flores’ players will take the final step in their attempt to make it to the World Series when they represent the Commonwealth in the Asia-Pacific Regional Tournament from July 13 to 21 in Guilin, China. The CNMI Little League All-Stars are composed of Saipan players, who beat Rota in the district tournament last weekend.

“The ultimate goal is the World Series but we know that it will not be easy. We will face a lot of tough competition in China,” Flores said in an interview yesterday at the Oleai Sports Complex.

“We need to continue practicing various defensive drills and increase our playing techniques since we are going up against the top teams in the region. We have to win in China in order for us to return to the World Series,” he added.

It has been eight years since the CNMI last reached the World Series, making an appearance in the annual tournament in 2006 when Asia and the Pacific were still separate regions. The CNMI were the Pacific representatives, while Japan carried Asia. The CNMI were also the Pacific representatives in 2004, as they ended Guam’s three-year reign from 2001 to 2003.

Chinese-Taipei topped the tournament the following year where Asia and Pacific were combined into one region. Guam went to South Williamsport in 2008, while Chinese-Taipei reigned from 2009 to 2013 with South Korea breaking the streak last year.

The CNMI aims to return to the World Series with a female player, Kiana Aldan, on its roster—a first in the history of the Commonwealth’s Little League baseball.

“This is the first time that the CNMI has a female player on its roster. Other teams have already done it, having a female player, but this will be the first time for CNMI,” said Flores. “Kiana is an excellent player and she’s willing to learn. She usually plays at shortstop or second base.”

Team Saipan completed a three-game sweep of Rota in the 2015 CNMI District Tournament over the weekend to earn the right of representing the Commonwealth to the regionals. It became a best-of-five series between Saipan and Rota, as Tinian begged off after failing to come up with a team.

Saipan needed an impressive pitching job from closer Zach Camacho in squeezing out a 5-4 win in Game 1 that went into extra innings. Team Saipan was leading 4-1 when Rota tied it at 4-4 at the top of the fourth. Saipan scored at the top of the seventh and Camacho blanked Rota at the bottom to seal the win.

Camacho shared pitching duties with Kyle Kapileo, but the former was again the closer in Saipan’s 7-0 shutout win in the second game. J.P. Celis and Orren Cruz were the pitchers in Game 3 where Saipan cruised to a 19-8 triumph for a sweep.

“Rota has improved a lot. Give them two or three years and they will be more competitive. There were even three players who were really aggressive and they really wanted to win,” said Flores.

“Rota came prepared and they had a game plan that’s why it was really close in the first game. They are peaking and given the proper training they will be more competitive,” Flores added.

The CNMI Little League All-Stars will resume practice at 4:30pm on Thursday and Flores and coaches Tomas A. Camacho and Michael A. Cruz will be using the Dandan field.

“It’s almost the regional tournament for the Junior, Senior, and Big League. We don’t want the team to be distracted and watch the games instead of practicing so we might use the field up in Dandan,” said Flores.