CNMI to bid for U21 baseball tournament

The CNMI is planning to submit a bid for hosting the 2015 Baseball Confederation of Oceania Under-21 tournament, which is set in December.

Northern Marianas Sports Association executive director and Saipan Baseball League coordinator Tony Rogolifoi said he will know in less than two weeks the process of submitting the bid.

“We want to host the tournament. We want to bring this tournament in the CNMI, here at the Francisco M. “Tan Ko” Palacios baseball field,” said Rogolifoi in yesterday’s interview.

BCO is expected to meet in New Zealand later this month to discuss the bidding process for the U21 tournament. The meeting will happen simultaneously with the U18 tournament, which was originally slated in Guam.

Rogolifoi is hoping that the CNMI could clinch the rights of hosting the tournament since it would also help the businesses here on Saipan.

He is also optimistic that the CNMI can form a strong and competitive team that would go up against the 13 other member nations of BCO.

“We have a lot of good young players in the Big League. Plus, we also have those in U21 in the SBL. So, I’m confident we can form a very competitive team,” said the two time gold medal-winning manager.

Rogolifoi guided Team CNMI to the 2006 Micronesian Games gold medal and duplicated the feat in the 2011 Pacific Games in New Caledonia.

The CNMI defeated Guam in the battle for the gold in 2006, 3-2, and five years later scored an 8-4 win over host New Caledonia in the finals of the 2011 Pacific Games.

American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, FSM, Fiji, Guam, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Solomon Islands are the other BCO members.

The CNMI was supposed to join the U18 tournament as it was originally set at the Paseo Stadium in Guam, but organizers decided to move it to New Zealand.

Rogolifoi chose not to send a team due to lack of funds and the high cost of traveling to New Zealand.

The champion of the BCO U18 tournament will represent the Oceania region in the 2015 International Baseball Federation 18U World Championships in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture in Japan.

The Oceania regional champion will compete against 11 other teams from Africa (one), Americas (five), Asia (three), and Europe (two).