District tournament still $10K short of budget

  Host Saipan Little League Baseball, Inc. will still need $10,000 to hold the 2012 CNMI Little League District Tournament next week at the Oleai Sports Complex.

During an emergency meeting last Friday at the conference room of the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium, committee members agreed that despite the $14,500 the Department of Finance allotted for the June 11 to 13 event, they are still $10,000 under budget after tallying the costs for transportation, umpires and statisticians, and various equipment (balls, uniforms and scorebooks), in addition to providing food for over 120 people.

“There has been a reduction across the board and we did not receive the initial set amount of $16,000,” said Saipan Little League Baseball, Inc. vice president and Rep. Ray Yumul of the allotted funds.

The group would have still ended up significantly short aside from the 9.1 percent reduction. The committee has sent out over 70 donation letters to various recipients and is welcoming any additional support.

To throw in another curveball, CNMI District Administrator James Ada said at the meeting that the tournament can not be postponed any longer as the registration deadline for the Asia Pacific Regional Championship for the Junior League is set for June 14.

This year’s District tournament will have four teams from Saipan and Rota. Tinian has entered only three squads and the visiting groups paid for their own airfare and hotel accommodations.

Some visiting members are expected to arrive as early as Saturday and the series can only be extended to Thursday at the latest in the occurrence of bad weather. Organizers are hoping to play the matches as scheduled and have the finals on June 13. If no championship games are played, the teams with the best records on the final day will be awarded the titles.

Since there are only two Big League teams, Saipan and Rota will play a best-of-three series, starting on June 11 at 5pm, following the opening ceremony at Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Ballfield.

Then its round robin double-headers on tap for everyone the next day until closing night on Wednesday as the Major, Junior and Senior leaguers all vie for top position.

Meanwhile, any interested sponsors or supporters can contact CNMI District committee president Mike Borja at 285-1980 if they wish to donate.