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Take me out to the ball game
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Posted on Mar 12 2005
Baseball took the spotlight during the past week as the fields at the Oleai Sports Complex were filled with action due to the start of the 2005 Saipan Little League and Saipan Major League baseball seasons.
Twenty-nine teams stood side-by-side to represent the Major Little, Junior, Senior, and Big leagues during Saturday’s opening ceremony at the Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field.
The hardball sluggers and future strike out kings were joined by several government officials including Lt. Gov. Diego T. Benavente, House Speaker Benigno Fitial, Rep. Ray Tebuteb, Mayor Juan Tudela, as well as district administrator James Ada and Bishop Thomas Camacho and league officials, who all wished the boys the best of luck for the new season.
Just several days after the Little League kicked off, the veterans of the game did the same as the Saipan Major League opened with a battle between defending champion Miller Lite Brewers and rival Northern Yankees.
The week also saw the crowning of 2005 champions in the 23rd Marianas Open, with Tadashi Sugihara, Hideki Otake, and Harumitso Ohno taking the top three in the men’s field. Sachiko Shibazaki was crowned champion in the women’s field, followed by Hiromi Konita and Yuria Kaneko, while Noboru Iizaki took home first place in the master’s division. Placing second and third were Ryo Okawa and Dan Harding.
The week also saw the Pacific Oceania Davis Cup team, captained by Saipan’s Jeff Race beat Lebanon, 3-1, at the Dr. robin Mitchell Regional Tennis Centre in Fiji.
Swimming sensation Nina Mosley and Kensuke Kimura also had impressive performances during the All-Island Invitational held on Guam, with Mosley breaking the 15-16-year-old CNMI National Record in the 50M freestyle with a time of 28.57. Kimura broke the 50M breaststroke record with a time of 48.50.
Action continued in the Mobil Oil Co-ed Invitational Basketball League, BANMI 25-and-under Basketball League, Island Wide Volleyball League, World Organized Rocball, and MISA High School Basketball League.
