NMI Senior All-Stars to leave Friday

The World Series-bound CNMI Senior Leaguers is set to leave on Friday for Bangor, Maine in time for their opening match against mystery team Europe-Africa at 2pm on Aug. 2 at the Shawn T. Mansfield Stadium.

CNMI Senior League All-Stars team member Lorenzo Sebaklim in action in their game against Guam in last month’s ASPAC regional tournament held on Saipan. (Jon Perez)

They will take a 6:05am flight from Saipan and are expected to arrive in Japan at 8:40am. They will have an eight-hour layover at Narita Airport before heading to the mainland.

After the Asia-Pacific Regional Tournament, the team has been regularly practicing every Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 6pm to 9pm at the Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field.

The coaching staff—led by manager Greg Camacho and head coach Lawrence Camacho—said they like how the players perform during practice but are hoping the team would improve more during the actual games.

This would be the fifth time and second straight year that the CNMI would be representing the Asia-Pacific region in the World Series. The CNMI previously went to the Senior League World Series in 2004, 2007, and 2010.

The Commonwealth clinched the World Series berth after completing a six-game sweep in last month’s ASPAC regional tournament, which was cut short by Tropical Storm Chan-Hom.

Team CNMI is expected to arrive on Friday, July 31, local time in Bangor where they are scheduled to receive their uniforms and have their photo taken in the morning of Aug. 1. The opening ceremony is set at 8pm on Saturday.

Team CNMI and the nine other competing teams—Canada, Europe-Africa, Latin America, host Maine, U.S. West, U.S. Southwest, U.S. Central, U.S. East, and U.S. Southeast—will be housed at the Holiday Inn Bangor Hotel.

Tournament format will be modified double elimination where teams need to win two games in order to guarantee of advancing to the next round.

If the CNMI wins against Europe-Africa representatives Lazio League of Italy they will face host Maine District 3 on Aug. 3, Monday. A loss would have them playing against the loser of the U.S. Central-Canada match.

Games will continue on Aug. 4 and 5, while the four surviving teams will clash in the semifinals on Aug. 6. A Major League Baseball Scouting Showcase is also scheduled at 8:30am on Aug. 7, Friday, where the bracket All-Star game will also be played at 1:30pm while the awards banquet is set at 7:30pm.

The winners of the semifinals match will collide for the title in a you-or-me showdown at 12noon on Saturday, Aug. 8. The game will be televised live by ESPN2.

All teams leave on Aug. 9, Sunday, with the CNMI Senior Leaguers expected to arrive back on Saipan on Aug. 11.

The CNMI, overall, has represented the region 20 times in the four Little League divisions with the Majors going three times in 1993, 2004, and 2006, while the Junior League had a five-year streak from 2001 to 2005, and again in 2009.

The CNMI’s Big League World Series stints were from 1997 to 1999, then in 2001, 2007, and 2008.