{"id":355623,"date":"2021-11-11T06:04:46","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T20:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=355623"},"modified":"2021-11-11T06:04:46","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T20:04:46","slug":"30-show-up-for-first-day-of-tryouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/30-show-up-for-first-day-of-tryouts\/","title":{"rendered":"30 show up for first day of tryouts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"CNMI
A total of 30 players showed up for the first day of tryouts at the Oleai Sports Complex for the CNMI National Baseball Team for next year\u2019s Pacific Mini Games. (MARK RABAGO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The CNMI\u2019s quest to defend its gold medal in next year\u2019s Pacific Mini Games on home turf formally started last Saturday when a total of 30 players showed up for the first day of tryouts at the Oleai Sports Complex.<\/p>\n

While CNMI Baseball National Team manager Manny Sablan was encouraged with the turnout on Day 1 of the tryouts, he expects the number to grow as they continue their tryouts during the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s still more of them who didn\u2019t make it today. But will see on Monday because we set a schedule\u2014Monday, Wednesday, Friday. It starts at 6pm until 7:30pm\u2026 I\u2019m impressed [with those who showed up]. A lot of them I played with during the all-stars throughout the years. We\u2019re looking at selecting the best of the best,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Reiterating what SBL president Jay Santos said earlier, Sablan said the first order of business during the start of the tryouts is to get the players back in baseball shape and that\u2019s where strength and conditioning coach Joey Tudela comes in.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach Joey will start with conditioning first and then probably on the third week, will try to squeeze it on a Saturday, we will start to see their skills on the field\u2014fielding, batting, and throwing\u201d he said, adding that they eventually will pare down the selection to 20 players with 10 alternates or practice players.<\/p>\n

Coaches Deron Flores and Gary Cruz, meanwhile, thanked the 30 players who woke up bright and early to participate in the first day of the tryouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just want to thank all the ballplayers that came out. We\u2019d like to thank Saipan Baseball League as this has been a long time coming. Our national pastime is baseball and as you can see with the participation today. These guys have the passion, the blood, the heart to play ball,\u201d said Flores.<\/p>\n

While baseball in the CNMI has encountered many challenges the past couple of years, Flores assured that he, Sablan, and Cruz will do their best to defend the Mini Games gold medal next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always said this in the past, the CNMI may not have all the height, but we have the heart to play ball and we\u2019re gonna make sure\u2014with our manager and our coaches\u2014that we\u2019re gonna get the boys game-ready for the 2022 Mini Games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tudela said his initial goal was just get the guys moving in Day 1 of the tryouts.<\/p>\n

\"SBL
Saipan Baseball League president Jay Santos gives players trying out for the national team a pep talk after Day 1 of tryouts last Saturday. (MARK RABAGO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cNothing too serious we just opened up their lungs and get a couple of stretches and see how they move. It wasn\u2019t to break them or anything. We\u2019re just trying to get them in baseball shape so when they start playing baseball they can at least be at their physical best to play the game. I\u2019m not gonna be teaching them how to play baseball that\u2019s for the national team coaches to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Among the players who tried out, there was a mix of excitement and relief that baseball is finally back after 2-3 years of absence due to Super Typhoon Yutu and the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst day back after a couple of years it was hard but it was good. We\u2019re slowly getting started. It\u2019s great to see the boys out. Yeah, it\u2019s a good feeling knowing that baseball is coming back. I\u2019m excited that it\u2019s starting again,\u201d said Tyrone Omar, who admitted he\u2019d done absolutely nothing associated with baseball because of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

Ben Jones said he feels like young again playing his favorite sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to come back. It feels like the first day of Little League All-Star practice. I\u2019m not even in the team yet so I got to earn my spot here. I got to come in and grind. I\u2019m very happy to see all the boys that came out. We\u2019re missing a lot more boys so if you guys hear it, please come out because we have to represent our CNMI team and defend our hometown,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jones added while baseball is not officially back, he\u2019s just happy to be in a baseball field again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t really tell you how happy I am right now I\u2019m so ecstatic to be here I couldn\u2019t really sleep last night. It\u2019s so good to come back here and play. Right now the only thing I could predict is the CNMI will come out and push hard in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nathan Smith, a veteran of the Micronesian Baseball Classic, said it was a good Day 1 of the tryouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a good first practice. A lot of us are feeling the long offseason because it\u2019s been awhile since we last played. The last time we played competitively was in the Micronesian Baseball Classic in January 2020. It\u2019s been a little while so it\u2019s really good to go out here and get our bodies moving and get ready for this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former varsity high school baseball player from Southern California said the tryouts made sense considering there\u2019s hasn\u2019t been a Saipan Baseball League season the past couple of years.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike the coaches earlier said, usually the selection process is done at the end of the SBL season. But we didn\u2019t have that. It\u2019s usually based on your performance during the league and stats during the season but it\u2019s almost two years since we have competitively played here. So it makes sense to have this tryout process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

SBL Jay Santos also gave a pep talk to the players trying out where he assured them that they all have his and the SBL board\u2019s full support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe assure you we will give you all the tools you need to succeed. That\u2019s my responsibility and that\u2019s the board\u2019s responsibility. All we\u2019re asking is for you guys to make the sacrifice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The CNMI\u2019s quest to defend its gold medal in next year\u2019s Pacific Mini Games on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":355629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-355623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}