Local hardballers return home

After boarding a plane on Christmas Day bound for New Zealand, five of Saipan’s future baseball stars, who left the Commonwealth in search of training from the best, returned home in time for the inauguration yesterday morning.

A.J. Allen, James Kintol, David Camacho, Ofero Taitano, Jonathan Salas, and coach Ike Taitano were greeted with warm welcomes and warmer weather after passing through the automatic doors at the airport, and all were happy to be back.

“After one week we wanted to come back already because it was so cold and there was no betel nut,” said Allen.

While Allen was joking, he was serious when it came time to talk about the quality training he and the others received while under the watchful eye of the New Zealand Baseball Federation.

“It was fun. It was a good trip. All of us learned a lot about playing baseball that will help us playing here,” he said.

The talented Hustlers player said that he plans on passing on the knowledge he learned on to his teammates this weekend in the playoffs. While he plans to play in the Big League next month, he is also considering joining the Saipan Major League in hopes of getting a spot on the CNMI team in the Micronesian Games.

“I had a good hitting coach that taught us a lot. All of us are hitting better now. There are a lot of drills that they gave us and they gave us DVDs of our drills and the things we did so we can use it here,” he said.

Allen wasn’t the only one who picked up a trick or two in the land of the Kiwis. As Ofero Taitano said that he also plans on teaching his fellow players his new batting skills.

“The big thing was hitting. They taught us to use our hips. Up here I never used my hip, but now they told me to and I am using it,” he said

Camacho said that his game benefited the most from the improvement of his hitting skills, and that he also valued the opportunity to make friends and play with kids from the region.

“I learned a lot of stuff. Pitching, batting, running, and fielding—I learned a lot,” he said.

Kintol focused mainly on his pitching, and his 83mph fastball was the meanest ball in town. He said that he has some work to do, but that he is ready to go and hit the field this weekend for the playoffs.

“Basically I need more running and the long toss—that’s what they said I need to do. There’s a lot of stuff—running and throwing drills, the daily things that we did over there eight hours a day, training in the morning and the games in the afternoon. Eat, drink, and sleep baseball. In the morning when we got up it was back to baseball,” he said.

Coach Taitano said he had plenty of conversations with coaches and major league scouts during his stay, and was told that if Kintol hits 85mph, he will be all set for a college scholarship future.

Taitano was one of the coaches from last year’s Junior League team that defeated Guam to return to Taylor, Michigan for the World Series, and he learned a few things while at the academy.

Since he was unable to coach the kids from the CNMI, Taitano was able to assess some of the international talent. He said that while the CNMI is about even with the New Zealand players, that the CNM has an edge over New Caledonia.

“I learned good coaching there…hopefully to the rest of the players did too so that they might help out their own teammates,” he said.

James Kintol Sr. was at the airport to welcome his son and said that he was happy to send his boy to New Zealand for the training.

“We just have to support them to do this. It’s only a once in a lifetime opportunity. To get this type of chance to learn from major league professionals is a once in a lifetime. Hopefully they get something out of this, and hopefully down the line they get recognized. This is one of their goals and hopefully they reach that,” he said.

Salas had to wait a little bit longer to return home as was scheduled to come in on the next flight in.