CNMI Softball looks for talent across channel

Athletes from all over the CNMI are striving to reach their peak potential for the 6th Micronesian Games, and while a number of teams have already been selected and begun to prepare for the regional event together, the underhanded artists are a week away from naming their all-stars for the summer.

The fast pitch players will be selected soon as the Men’s Island-Wide Fast-Pitch Softball League names its champion, and the Women’s Island-Wide Slow-Pitch Softball League will name the female all-stars as well, but the men’s slow-pitch squad will have to make the team through a series of tryouts on Saipan.

Usually the tryout format is unnecessary, but the top slow-pitch players have not been playing recently as the Saipan Softball Association has dedicated its time toward the two leagues currently in progress.

This leaves the door open for the sluggers across the channel to show their stuff, as SSA president Ray Palacios said that he has already fielded interest from the Tinian delegation in sending a coaching staff over to evaluate their talent.

While no dates have been set, Palacios said that the SSA will sending the coaches across the channel, but that any players that make the cut will have to work out a way to make it to Saipan to participate in practice.

Palacios said that while each of the teams will be limited to 15 players, he will permit the squads to bring in 20, so that the coaching staff can weed out the least motivated apples in the barrel.

“No shows will be kicked out. This is not a game, this is serious,” he said.

While the team will be named next week, the coaching staff of the women’s slow-pitch team is already intact as manager Julian Kodep will be joined by coaches Louis Ngiraikelau and Joe Guerrero.

The men’s slow-pitch staff is also lined up, but Bill Limes, Doru Camacho, and Dave Cepeda have yet to decide who among them will manage and who will coach.

Not so for the fast-pitch, as Ben Sablan will skipper the club with coach Larry Tenorio by his side. The duo will be joined by another coach, but SSA president Ray Palacios said that he will have to wait and see who is available for the position.

In addition to the three teams, Palacios said he is mulling the possibility of including women’s fast-pitch to the mix, but said that he will have to wait to the Micronesian Games Organizing Committee’s March 15 deadline to see how many teams are interested in coming to the CNMI, as well as finding out if the fields can hold four simultaneous tournaments.