Little League calls on Verizon

While the sun was shining upon the CNMI yesterday morning, the face of fortune was doing the same upon the Commonwealth’s youngest baseball players, as Verizon Micronesia made a $3,000 donation to the Saipan Little League Baseball Association to help bolster the start of a new developmental league.

Verizon’s senior administrator and manager for government affairs and community services Tonie Apatang made the presentation to the SLLBA president Joe Salas, District Administrator James Ada, and members of the board of directors, and pledged to continue to do so in the future.

“We support the sports activities for the local youth, and we have been doing so for many years. It’s a way of giving back to the community for giving us business and a way of saying thank you as well.”

Salas already has plans for the donation, and said that much like the way their players get wins on the field, many organizers worked together to make the contribution possible.

“Through the work of Paul Barron and Lawrence Knecht working with the board of directors and especially with Tonie [Apatang], it was a combined effort in which we managed to get a donation of $3,000 for the expansion of the T-Ball program,” said Salas.

The inaugural season of T-Ball will offer players between the ages or 5-8 years old the opportunity to take part in an introductory version of the national past time. Local baseball player and softball all-star John Reyes will take the reigns as the new director and commissioner of the new league.

The donation by Verizon comes a little more than a week after McDonald’s made a sizable contribution to the Saipan Little League Baseball Association for the purchase of medals that will be given to all of the players following the season.

According to Ada, in order to use the name “Little League” the organization must be chartered, and with the contribution, he will forward the information to the charter committee in Williamsport, PA.

“Verizon has been a contributor for many years in the program—not only during the regular season, but also in the regional tournament. This donation is a boost up for the first time ever expansion league. I will now proceed to the national headquarters to have the league chartered,” he said.

The 2005 Asia-Pacific Regional Tournament for the Junior, Senior, and Big leagues will be held in Tinian, as a total of 11 teams from the CNMI, Guam, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Jakarta, and Thailand will square off from Saturday, July 9, through Saturday, July 14, for the right to advance to the Little League World Series in the mainland.

The CNMI’s youngest all-stars will travel a bit farther for the regional round, as they will be flying to Fukouka, Japan to play from Saturday, July 23, through Saturday, July 30. Though the T-Ballers will not advance to a foreign round of tournament play, they will get a head start on the learning process, and possibly have a leg up on the competition in years to come.