Major League All-Stars receive private funding

The CNMI Major League All-Stars resorted to private sponsorships from local businesses after government monies did not arrive on Wednesday as a House session to discuss funding appropriations was canceled.

The team has conducted three coin drives and appeared in the Liberation Day Parade in an effort to acquire additional independent funds.

Parents and other associates of the team wrote numerous donation letters to various private companies to collect funds to help pay for the team’s trip to Guam and compete in the 2011 Asia-Pacific Major League Regional Tournament from July 9 to 16 at the Northern Regional Sports Complex.

Of these, P&A Corporation president Hong Kyun Kim and Pacific Amusement’s James Gephardt stepped up and offered some timely support.

“I heard about what happened to the team last year and really don’t want that to happen again,” said Kim yesterday at his office in Afetnas Square.

The Major League All-Stars never appeared in last year’s ASPAC held in Surabaya, Indonesia as the whole team was left stranded as stand-by passengers in the Ninoy Aquino/Manila International Airport in the Philippines.

Notably, Kim is also a special economic advisor to Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and is an avid baseball fan. Originally from Korea, the 10-year Saipan resident witnessed his homeland challenge the CNMI in the 1999 ASPAC Major league tournament held on Rota. Korea won that battle, but Kim declared that he would be cheering for the CNMI in this year’s event.

In addition, assistant coach and Rep. George Camacho (Ind-Saipan) personally donated $1,200 to the team for the trip. Other potential donors include Torres Bros. LLC, Juan S. Tenorio-Santiago, and Sen. Ralph Torres (Rep-Saipan).

“We are going one way or another, but are hoping to receive help from some local businesses on island. We would like to thank Mr. Kim and Mr. Gephardt for their kind donations yesterday and hope their generosity rubs off on other companies,” said team dad Dave Cepeda yesterday in Kim’s office.

Cepeda also hinted that the Saipan Little League needs a leadership overhaul in next year’s board elections. Cepeda also placed some of the blame on the lack of parent involvement in the league and admitted that independent fundraising efforts need to start earlier in all divisions.

Moreover, current CNMI District Administrator James Ada’s contract expires after this August and the Little League presidency has been in question since former president Robert Guerrero stepped down at the beginning of the season.

Aside from last season’s flight plan blunder, this marks the first time that the CNMI failed to send other teams to the ASPAC event. The CNMI Junior and Senior League all-stars all stayed home this year. Although the Major and Big leaguers got the green light, the Senior League All-Stars did not get a chance to defend its title, after sweeping the field last year.

Notably, the Philippines defeated the CNMI Big League All-Stars, 7-1, in last week’s ASPAC championship in the Philippines.

Preparing for Guam

The Major All-Stars took a day off from practice yesterday and held a final team meeting last night before departing for Guam at noon today.

“Practices ran smoothly and I know our guys are very excited to get out there and compete,” said manager Chel Castro yesterday in Kim’s office.

CNMI drew a slot in Pool B and will be paired up against host team Guam, Hong Kong, Korea, and the Philippines, while Pool A has defending champions Chinese-Tapei (Taiwan), Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, Thailand, and New Zealand.

“We see the field as wide open, but feel fortunate that the ASPAC is being held so close to home. We are going there to win and will spend our rest day observing the pool A competitors,” said Castro.

As for the pitching strategy heading into the event, ”We don’t really have one ace, I like to look at it as a three-headed monster. We’ll keep a close eye on the pitch count and try not to play overly conservative,” said Castro.

The three-headed monster to which Castro is referring is Saipan Little League Strikeout King Erik Cruz of the Dandan Comets and pitching-duo Franco Nakamura and Nathan Camacho of the undefeated champion Jets.

The CNMI plays the Philippines at noon on opening day and then faces off with Korea at 9am on Sunday. They challenge Hong Kong at 9am on Monday before receiving a rest day and finishing its round robin against Guam at 11:30am on Wednesday. The Top 2 teams of each pool advance to Thursday’s semifinals where the top team of one pool plays the second place team of the other. The championship and consolation matches will be held on July 15; closing ceremony takes place on July 16.