Power-less evening at Oleai continues

For the second straight time, organizers of the Inaugural PTI Inter-Government/Business Basketball League and the 2008 Budweiser Saipan Major League baseball had to call off their games due to the unscheduled power outage at the Oleai Sports Complex.

The PTI caging had set two games for Thursday night at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium, while the continuation of Game 2 of the SML final series between the Rangers and Rock Steady was scheduled on the same night at the Francisco “Tan Ko” M. Palacios Baseball Field.

The second game in the PTI basketball tournament Wednesday night was also halted by the rolling power outage with Tinian and the Department of Corrections finishing only the first quarter of the match, as the power at the Ada Gym went off midway in the second quarter.

Over at the “Tan Ko” ballfield Wednesday night, Rock Steady was leading the Rangers, 10-3, at the top of the seventh inning of Game 2 when the lights went off, foiling the pennant champion’s bid to even the best-of-five title series.

The Rangers stunned Rock Steady, which was undefeated in the regular season, in the series opener Monday night, pulling off a 15-10 victory.

The Rangers and Rock Steady went to the “Tan Ko” Baseball Field Thursday night to resume Game 2, but were not able to do so due to the power outage.

For now, the hands of organizers of the SML and PTI caging are tied as far as ensuring that games will go ahead as scheduled is concerned.

Joey Dela Cruz of the Division of Sports and Recreation and organizer of the PTI caging said they will wait for next week’s schedule of power outage before making a decision on changing the games schedule or moving to a new venue.

“We will meet with the coaches and managers next week to discuss this problem. For now, we just have to wait and see if the games will be affected by the power outage or not,” Dela Cruz said.

Dela Cruz added that the power outage scheduled from Aug. 10 to 15 at the Oleai Complex is from 12noon to 2pm and they have yet to receive a new one from the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.

“We can’t do anything about it (power outage) but wait and see. Friday’s game (last night) will go ahead as set if there’s no power outage,” Dela Cruz said in a telephone interview with Saipan Tribune.

Last night’s game was to feature the Commonwealth Ports Authority meeting defending champion Autonomous in the first match and NMC battling the undefeated PTI in the second game.

SML coordinator Tony Rogolifoi was set to meet with coaches and managers of the Rangers and Rock Steady last night to discuss changes in the schedule in the title series.

Rogolifoi said they are considering playing in the morning or afternoon during weekends just to finish the finals. [B][I](Roselyn B. Monroyo)[/I][/B]