Team Sufa holds softball fundraiser

Team Sufa will be holding a fundraising softball tournament from Jan. 27 to Jan. 29 at the Capital Hill Ballfield.

Interested teams are requested to attend a technical meeting on Jan. 25 at 6pm at the pavilion behind the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. Entrance fee is $100 per team. There is no deadline to register, however, the first 15 teams to pay in full will land a spot on the double-elimination bracket.

By rule, two female players must be on every team and at least one must play out in the field at all times. Both must remain in the batting line up. There is a maximum of 15 players per team.

The bracket will be randomly formulated and the event is scheduled to kick off at 6pm on Friday. From there games will run all day through Saturday and Sunday, starting at 10am.

The winning team gets to choose between a full grown male or female deer, while various consolation prizes will also be awarded to participating teams.

Sufa in Chamorro is a verb that translates into pushing or hitting something. The group is a non-profit organization that essentially raises its own funds through out the year to represent the CNMI in the popular CNMI Labor Day Softball Tournament held in the mainland.

This year marks the eighth Labor Day event and Sufa’s fifth appearance. Unfortunately, Sufa was the first team eliminated last year, but was awarded the Sportsmanship trophy. To step up its game, Sufa has acquired some new younger players.

The Labor Day tournament started with 16 teams and at one point grew to 31 total squads in 2008. It all began as a friendly tournament organized by a small group of CNMI players living in the mainland and simply wanted to meet up together for some camaraderie and healthy competition. From there, the event has grown remarkably in popularity, so much in fact that organizers recently voted to apply stricter eligibility rules.

Over the years, many stateside teams have been recruiting players of non-CNMI decent, which has negatively changed the fabric of the event.

The eligibility rules were amended in recent years to support the sole purpose of the CNMI-affiliated competition. The rule change requires all players to either be born from at least some CNMI lineage or be of relation through marriage.

As a result of the change, the pool shrunk down to 21 teams in 2011 and a similar number is expected to turn out in this year’s competition, which will be held for the second time in Boise, Idaho.

The event hops around to a different city every year and eligibility rules may change from year to year depending on what the host teams elect to do. In the past, the tournament was held in Las Vegas, Seattle, San Diego, and Portland. Teams from Idaho, California, Washington, Hawaii, Arizona, Nevada, and the CNMI have all participated in past events.

For more information about the fundraiser, contact SUFA’s Joe Flores at 483-7848 or SUFA secretary Alfred Camacho at 287-3818 or email teamsufa@gmail.com.