Supertyphoon Chaba KO’s local sports

Passing through the Marianas chain with destructive winds reaching 180mph, Supertyphoon Chaba bid farewell early yesterday morning, but not before terrorizing and knocking out local sports and its playing grounds.

Chaba forced game officials to call off several crucial matches in their respective leagues. It also wreaked havoc on the Francisco Palacios baseball field at the Oleai Sports Complex.

The only major league diamond on Saipan, the Palacios ball field looked like it had just come out of a boxing ring after sustaining extensive damage courtesy of Chaba’s terrorizing winds and heavy rain showers.

As in previous rainy weather, the field was drenched from corner to corner, but what struck as the biggest blow, though, was the damage sustained by the facility’s fence, which was found lying on the ground instead of standing.

In fact, well over 50 feet of fencing on the left side of the diamond was thrown down after winds seemingly lifted one of the bleachers and landed it right on top the fence, forcing it to tumble.

Another bleacher was also lifted from its feet and thrown upside down and out of place.

Also, the fencing between the parking lot and the field was damaged after the winds knocked down a tree on it.

The field’s warm up pitching area to the left of the field was also torn apart, with areas that were covered with tins opened up. Tins were found on and off the field.

Meanwhile, the lighting system will have to be checked out again as several lights were facing the wrong direction while several were also found lying far from its original place…on the ground.

Total cost of damage and repairs was not available as assessment of the complex has yet to be completed.

As reported earlier, several playoff matches in the ongoing 2004 UFO-San Miguel Cup and Inter Restaurant Basketball League were postponed due to the storm.

Also taking the back seat were the SSA Slow-pitch Softball League, the SSA Fast-pitch Softball League, both men and women Belau Softball Leagues, and the Saipan Rotary Summer Youth Basketball League, among others.

Several golf tournaments, originally scheduled to unfold on Sunday, were also postponed. Taking cover instead of the green were the Saipan Golfers Association and Fil-Taga Golf Association. Both were to hold their August ace tournament.