CNMI All-Stars off to rough start

KITAKYUSHU, Japan—Weeks of training at hometown baseball fields in hopes of making a strong start in the 2005 Asia-Pacific Little League Regional Tournament finally wound down to six innings of competition in Japan as all 10 teams got a chance to see their opponents face to face on the field for the first time.

After Friday night’s opening ceremonies in Munakata City, the teams from each division traveled to Otani Stadium and Matobaike Stadium in Kitakyushu to officially take the wraps off of the summer baseball spectacular.

Guam 6, CNMI 1

For the CNMI, the journey toward a repeat journey to South Williamsport, Pennsylvania didn’t get off to the start they expected. After sweeping through the district tournament in Rota a month ago, the Saipan sluggers suffered their first defeat to their familiar rivals from Guam.

The two-time champs from Central East took advantage of their smaller neighbors to the North by opening up the big enough gap to hold off any comeback attempts as representatives from all of the Pacific teams showed up to the stadium to get a sneak peak at the Marianas powerhouses.

The CNMI will seek redemption this morning when they face the Philippines at 10am, while Guam faces a strong Indonesian team that spoiled their chances at traveling to the mainland in 2004.

Chinese Taipei 20, Hong Kong 4

The defending champions of the Asia Region continued their championship form yesterday as Chinese Taipei crushed Hong Kong by 16 runs to force the umpires to cut the game short by invoking the 10-run mercy rule at Matobaike Stadium in the opener across town.

The Taiwanese bats were a blaze as Chang Cheng-Hsiang’s team railed off a relentless attack on their closest neighbors led by strong team play from Kan Meng-Chieh and Yeh Chiung-Heng.

They return to the field this morning for their second match of the tournament when they face Thailand. The Bangkok bombers have yet to play a game in the tournament, but their players were on hand to scout their competition.

Japan 10, Korea 0

The Japanese national squad made a strong statement when they made quick work of their Korean counterparts with a 10-0 win that gave them the lead in the Asia Division with Chinese Taipei at Matobaike Stadium.

Were it not for the umpires, the game might still be currently underway, as the Nipon nightmares scored at will before the 10-run mercy rule was invoked well before dinnertime.

While manager Lee Sang-Chan’s team never quit trying to pull off an upset of the Japanese squad, they were out-gunned by the host country’s finest under the watchful eye of manager Hirofumi Oda, and Hiroaki Sakamoto and Katsunori Taira of his coaching staff.

The past champions seem hungry to return to the World Series on their home turf after watching Chinese Taipei earn the nod in last year’s tournament.

Indonesia 17, New Zealand 1

Time zones, climate changes, and open field collisions eventually took its toll on New Zealand as the Kiwis dropped their first game to Indonesia despite performing the traditional Haka prior to the first pitch.

The thermometer on the field nearly melted as the New Zealanders trotted onto the diamond clad in black uniforms, and catcher Scott Drinkwater was nearly a casualty of Otani Stadium before the game even started.

Drinkwater returned to his teammates after receiving treatment from tournament officials and his mother, and shunned the sun to stand tall.

After singling to get on base, the “Tower of Power” Satya Nandiwardhana Putra took advantage of a string of throwing errors to put Indonesia ahead 8-1 in the top of the fourth, but the archipelago erupted for eight runs in the top of the fifth to put the game out of reach of the determined New Zealanders for good.