Softball and athletics take center stage

Champions in softball and athletics were crowned the past week as the 2008 Public School System’s fast-pitch softball and basketball leagues as well as the 4th Annual McDonald’s All-Schools Track and Field Championship ended their respective seasons.

The elementary schools of Dandan and Koblerville won the boys’ and girls’ softball titles after beating separate opponents in Friday’s PSS softball league finals at the Miguel Basa “Tan Ge” Pangelinan Field.

The Dandan Tottot squeezed out a thrilling 2-1 win over the San Vicente Canaries in the boys’ division, while the Koblerville Umangs coasted to a 15-5 triumph over the Gregorio T. Camacho Binadu in the girls’ class.

Tottot second baseman L.J. Hemley, who singled and advanced to second on a fielder’s choice, and moved to third on an error, made the game-winning play in the bottom of the seventh stealing home to end the game.

In the Koblerville-GTC match, Angela Achime and Zoralyn Magofna hit back-to-back homers for the Lady Umangs to lead Koblerville to a 15-5 win over the Lady Binadu.

The William S. Reyes Kingfishers, meanwhile, celebrated their athletes’ recent victories in boys’ basketball and the All-Schools Championship.

WSR’s boys’ basketball team won the elementary school title after beating Koblerville in the finals while their 8-and-under team won the division crown in the track and field championship with their girls’ 10-and-under squad settling for second place behind champion Kagman.

Seven mixed martial arts athletes emerged victorious in the Art of War II All Islands Grappling/Submission Tournament with five of the winners coming from the Trench Tech Purebred Saipan Gym.

Trench Tech won the gold medals in the bantamweight, featherweight, super lightweight, lightweight, and welterweight divisions courtesy of Shane “Pika Boo” Alvarez, Chris Layug, James Fleming, Giovanni “Palaxi” Sablan, and Ken “Kamakazi” Tanzawa.

Choke Chain’s Syl “The Deal” Teregeyo ended Trench Tech’s string of wins when he won the middleweight division while Marianas Elite’s Kelvin “The Big Hit” Fitial remained one of the island’s top heavyweight fighters.

Lydia Tan continued her reign in the women’s Class A of the Loyola Tennis Tournament sweeping her games to against Melanie Daly and Yuri Hatamata.

In the class B, Sakiko Eda defeated Vicki Izuka, Mayling Colombo, and Karen Sato to claim her first title. She placed third in both tournaments last year.

Perennial contenders Eli Torgeson and Maimi Shimizu added the “Run For Ron” 5-kilometer fundraising race to their long list of racing victories.