Local hardballers going soft?

With the local baseball teams struggling in their recent international competition, the question has been raised as to whether or not the local hardballers are simply losing their touch or if the rest of the Pacific Region is catching up.

In last week’s 2005 Little League Asia-Pacific Regional Tournament in Kitakyushu, Japan, the team from Saipan that was ripe with talented hitters and big pitchers garnered only one win and suffered first time losses to Indonesia and the Philippines.

Despite their best efforts on Tinian Municipal Baseball Field, the CNMI Senior and Big League teams failed to advance to their respective divisional World Series tournaments in the mainland, while the Junior team recorded its fifth consecutive nod to Taylor, Michigan.

Though it is never a certainty that the CNMI or any other team has a clear shot for the championships, but the turn around from last year’s three of four teams advancing to three of four going home has raised some eyebrows.

Twelve-year-old Little Leaguer Eli Pangelinan said that he will be eligible for the Major Division again next season, and that he will do his best to return to the All-Star team. The energetic youngster made some observations as to what it would take to return the CNMI to the Promised Land.

“We need to have a lot of smart pitchers like Mike [Tenorio] and John Maratita—they almost made us win. And we have to make up for the errors,” he said.

On playing in Japan, Pangelinan said that while he enjoyed the experience, that overall it was okay, but that there were issues with the food, and that they were faced with formidable opponents—especially Guam.

Pangelinan will be returning to the Braves of Tanapag when the season renews, but Melvin Yamit will be making the leap to the Junior League to play with some of his family members on the Ol’Aces. As he reflected on the week on Japan, Yamit said that he has some ideas and advice for the next generation of Little Leaguers that play for the Regional Tournament in Hong Kong next year.

“We need good players and smart pitchers, and don’t underestimate the other players,” he said.

Yamit said that they had good players and pitchers this year, and that he was disappointed because it was the first and last year that he could play for a shot at South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

All-around team player John Maratita will also be graduating to the Junior League in 2006, and said that the CNMI will need to field a complete team if it hopes to return to become champions next year.

“Everything. I’ll just try my best, but we just gotta win games,” he said.

Maratita already began to prepare the future stars of the Marianas for tomorrow’s challenge, as he purchased his three-year-old brother, Pedro, a batting tee.

The issue almost can’t be the training, as anybody traveling down Beach Road in the past couple of months could have seen any of the four teams working out at the Oleai Sports Complex or running on the beach path.

As far as coaching goes, all of the teams were treated with a staff of experienced schemers and planners that were as much a part of the team as the players themselves. It was a group effort with the parents and community lending their support to the teams prompting the notion that the other teams in the Pacific are simply catching up.

The Philippines enjoyed their best start in the 2005 Asia-Pacific Regional Tournament in 13 years, while the kids from Jakarta showed that the Indonesian players have made great strides with strong showings in the past two.

Guam continued to field strong teams in all four divisions, but succeeded where they failed last year by knocking off Indonesia to go 4-0 in the Little League—a team that will be joined in the mainland by their fellow Guamanians of the Senior and Big leagues.