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SSA a week and a half away
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Posted on Oct 27 2005
Saipan Softball Association president Ray Palacios met with players, coaches, and managers of the upcoming Island-Wide Slow-Pitch Softball League last night to discuss a number of issues that ranged from rosters to rules in the conference room of the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.
The good news is that there are already four confirmed teams who have submitted their rosters and team registration fees and they are all ready to roll. While Palacios will be busy putting together a tentative schedule for them that will feature a start date of Monday, Nov. 7, he is also waiting for the possibility of three additional teams getting their acts together before they play ball.
In all, the upcoming season is shaping up to be a seven-team league—including a ladies team from Tinian, and all of them will be receiving a little extra boost for the 2005-2006 go round from Emi Palican and the Department of Women’s Affairs.
According to Palican, the DWA will furnish the funding for all of the softball and trophies much like they did with Rep. Janet Maratita in the Inter-Government Slow-Pitch Softball League.
There was more good news from Palican as the support from the DWA is also allowing Palacios to lower the team registration fees to $300.
As Palacios has been explaining for weeks, the purpose of the upcoming seasons will be to hone the CNMI’s skills in advance of the upcoming 2006 Micronesian Games next summer, and the rules set for the selection of the all-stars were crafted accordingly.
For instance, all prospective players must be members of the SSA, and one of the major criteria for selection will be based on the statistics of the regular season.
Players who show up only half of the time will also be left out of the mix as the eligible all-stars must have logged playing time in at least 60 percent of the games. The final selections, however; will be made by the coaches, managers, umpires, and the chief statistician.
