Memorable Memorial Day Weekend for sports

The 2008 Memorial Day Weekend was a memorable one for island sports as championships in Little League, tennis, bowling, and an island-to-island crossing were held last May 24, 25, and 26.

For starters, champions in all four divisions of the Saipan Little League Association were all concluded last Sunday and Monday at the Oleai Sports Complex.

The SaipanCell Patriots started things off by winning the Major League division following its ruthless 15-0 whipping of Dragons last Sunday at the Miguel “Tan Ge” Basa Field in Oleai.

The same day, the Lion’s Heart were true to their name as they showed a lot of courage in exacting a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Jets in the Junior League.

The Jets, meanwhile, pounced on two crucial errors from the Fielders in the top of the seventh inning to score a come-from-behind 9-8 victory in the Senior League finals last Monday at the Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field.

In the Big League, the Falcons celebrated victory after beating Fielders in Monday’s late afternoon championship game at the Tan Ko field.

Richard Leong and Ron Cal, for their part, won this year’s 26th CNMI May Masters Bowling Tournament after topping their respective men’s and women’s 12-game series last weekend.

Leong finished the May Masters with a pinfall total of 2,543, good for an average of 211.92, while defending champion Cal wound up with 2,226 pinfalls for a solid 185 average.

In swimming, Lester Lapuz and Sarah Johnson bested 47 other swimmers to win the 6th Annual Escape from Managaha Island held last May 24.

Lapuz completed the 2.7-kilometer open water swim from Managaha Island to Micro Beach in 43 minutes flat, while Johnson won her third straight women’s race after emerging from the surf in 43:21.

The 2008 edition of the DFS Micronesian Tennis Championships also concluded last week with Ji Hoon Heo winning the men’s open title after his finals opponent, Jeff Race, begged off from playing because of illness.

Mayuko Arriola, meanwhile, hoisted the women’s open tiara after beating fellow teenage tennis sensation, Vivien Lee, in a finals match that needed more than one day to complete.

In other news, 55-year-old Russian Vladimir Kovalevskiy visited Saipan recently but not without playing a number of ping-pong games at the Hyatt Regency Saipan, where he stayed, and at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium multi-purpose room.

Jess “Mr. Unorthodox” Wabol, meanwhile, won the 2008 Family Fun Day Golf Tournament last May 24 after firing a net score of 71.4

The past week also saw action continue in the PTI Inter-Government Business Basketball League, 3rd Annual Budweiser-Saipan Major League, Inaugural FMI Inter-Color Basketball League, and the 2008 Women’s Recreational Spring Football League.