{"id":397921,"date":"2023-08-14T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=397921"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Practice-makes-perfect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Practice-makes-perfect\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Practice makes perfect\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cardinals should change their names to \u201cAces\u201d as they played their cards right and came out the ace on top of the deck with a perfect record\u2014and the title in the conclusion of the 2023 Tan Holdings-Saipan Baseball League season last Wednesday at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that the idiom \u201cpractice makes perfect\u201d is thrown around when someone is trying to be better at something, especially in sports, but to actually take it literally and come out of the season perfect is a feat that is\u2014quite simply\u2014unbeatable.<\/p>\n

Therefore, Nokki Saralu, the batting champion of the season, said that practicing regularly was the difference between their team and the other teams, but he added that communication and chemistry sprinkled in completed the trifecta to their perfect season.<\/p>\n

On being the batting champion of the season, he said \u201cI don\u2019t really bank on the accolades. It was a team sport\u2014so teamwork all year round.\u201d Saralu ended the regular season with a .576 batting average from 19 hits of 33 at-bats. He also had the most runs scored with 21.<\/p>\n

When asked for tips for the game as the batting champion, he said, \u201cjust be humble; respect the game; and practice. Practice makes perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

With baseball finally back in the CNMI, he said that it\u2019s great. \u201cIt\u2019s been years besides the Mini Games, but it\u2019s good to have everybody out to support and see that it\u2019s alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next? Saralu said that basically, the grind doesn\u2019t stop as they will be back on the field again this week to practice for the 2024 SBL season. \u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to it\u2014it\u2019s still a few months ahead but why stop now?\u201d<\/p>\n

Saralu then said after a \u201cGatorade shower\u201d from his teammates, \u201cthank you for the continued support and the love for the players. Thanks to the umpires, thanks to everyone for coming out. It was a great season.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Cardinals head coach, Juan Manibusan, he said their strategy through the season was their pitching and defense. \u201cAll of our players can pitch. We started off slow, fast, slow, then fast again. Every game, we have to use all our pitchers.\u201d<\/p>\n

With their offense, he said that most of the players were at the top of the season\u2019s offensive categories, and that \u201cpretty much, our offense and defense were solid. Most of these guys are all stars and they\u2019ve been playing for a while, plus they know each other,\u201d said Manibusan. \u201cThe team will still be the same moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Cardinals’ Nokki Saralu, who is the 2023 Tan Holdings-Saipan Baseball League batting champion, is interviewed after their championship win last Wednesday at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field.<\/p>\n

-LEIGH GASES<\/p>\n

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cardinals should change their names to \u201cAces\u201d as they played their cards right and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-397921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397921","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=397921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397921\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}