{"id":413801,"date":"2024-09-02T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-02T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=413801"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Record-35-teams-compete-in-Labor-Day-softball-tourney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Record-35-teams-compete-in-Labor-Day-softball-tourney\/","title":{"rendered":"Record 35 teams compete in Labor Day softball tourney"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAS VEGAS, Nevada\u2014<\/strong>Over a thousand people showed up at the opening of the 19th Annual CNMI Labor Day Softball Tournament, in which 35 total teams in three divisions participated in a friendly competition held at the Sunset Park on Sunset Road in Las Vegas, Nevada last Friday.<\/p>\n

After the 5pm opening ceremony, games immediately started in the three fields located in the park. As of press time yesterday, games were still ongoing. The championship games, awarding, and banquet will be held at the park today, Sunday (Las Vegas time).<\/p>\n

Rota Mayor Aubry Manglona Hocog, John Oliver Reyes \u201cBolis\u201d Gonzales, former representative Marco Peter, and Northern Mariana Islands Basketball Federation president James Lee were among those who watched the opening of the three-day tournament.<\/p>\n

James Sablan, who chairs the 2024 19th CNMI Labor Day Softball Tournament, said there are 27 teams in the men\u2019s division, five in the masters\u2019 division, and three in women\u2019s for a total of 35 teams.<\/p>\n

Sablan said the last time Las Vegas hosted the tournament there were 32 teams, so this year they have surpassed that record.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 19th CNMI Labor Day Softball Tournament is the biggest one here in Las Vegas. I\u2019m definitely happy with the turnout,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sablan said they have teams from all over the West Coast and even a team from back home in the CNMI made it.<\/p>\n

Washington has been selected to host the big tournament next year.<\/p>\n

John Schwarz, of the host ISAO 6-7-Old 2 team, said this is an annual event that brings together the CNMI people that are in the U.S. mainland and also teams from back home on Saipan.<\/p>\n

Schwarz said it\u2019s a way of getting everyone together or reunion with families and friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe travel from state to state yearly, Washington, Oregon, Las Vegas, California, and Arizona. This is a beautiful turnout as you can see there\u2019s probably a thousand people here or more and we\u2019re just happy to host and have a good time and great weekend,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Winners will get trophies and bragging rights.<\/p>\n

Former lawmaker Marco Peter, who just flew in to Las Vegas to join the tournament, was a member of one of six teams that started the tournament in 2005 in Salem, Oregon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt started in 2005 with just a group of friends,\u201d said Peter, who played with the Island Boys in the inaugural tournament in Oregon.<\/p>\n

He said chairman Sablan and Schwarz, who are running this year\u2019s event, played too in the first tournament.<\/p>\n

Peter, who is playing for the Taya Gua in the Masters Division, said watching the men\u2019s open league, where they started, is great.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing seeing all these kids and young adults,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Lee said in this annual event, everyone from the CNMI who are residing all over the United States, just come over here so it\u2019s a great moment to catch up with old friends and meeting people as well from Saipan or the CNMI in general.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son is going to school at UNLV [University of Nevada Las Vegas] going on his second year. Another excuse for me to come down too,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

Hocog said it\u2019s just such a great event here in the U.S. mainland where people from the islands home gather and enjoy the sports of softball.<\/p>\n

Hocog said it\u2019s amazing to see people visit their families and friends and just reconnect to the people who have left home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of teams. I\u2019m rooting for everybody. May the best teams win. But I think what\u2019s most important is the collaboration and you know the teamwork and the sportsmanship all the teams exemplify here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The mayor said she believes for many of them it\u2019s not really the competition, but about more so the gathering of friends and families.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a friendly, healthy competitive sports,\u201d Hocog said.<\/p>\n

Gonzales said this is his second or third trip to \u201cmeet the diaspora\u201d of residents from Rota, Saipan, Tinian, and the Northern Islands living around the states.<\/p>\n

He said every year they have this exciting gathering of diaspora of CNMI residents living abroad to celebrate Labor Day through the love of softball, baseball.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gets bigger and bigger every year and this year Vegas is hosting it. And it only behooves us to come and visit and say hi again on top of the fact that I\u2019m also running for U.S. Congress as an independent. It\u2019s great way to reconnect to the family first and foremost, and families too from Guam actually are here and so I\u2019m so excited,\u201d Gonzales said.<\/p>\n

Gonzales is among the six candidates running for CNMI delegate in the Nov. 5 general elections.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A total of 35 teams will compete in the 2024 19th CNMI Labor Day Softball Tournament that kicked of last Friday at the Sunset Park in Las Vegas, Nevada.<\/p>\n

-FERDIE DE LA TORRE
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

<\/p>\n

Rota Mayor Aubry Hocog and John Oliver Reyes \u201cBolis\u201d Gonzales pose for a photo during the opening of the three-day 2024 19th CNMI Labor Day Softball Tournament at the Sunset Park in Las Vegas, Nevada, Friday.<\/p>\n

-FERDIE DE LA TORRE
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

<\/p>\n

James Sablan is the chairman of the 2024 19th Annual Labor Day Softball Tournament.<\/p>\n

-FERDIE DE LA TORRE
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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