Celebrating 42 years of community service, the Rotary Club of Saipan hosted the tournament with four teams competing for the title, Rotary Lightning, Rotary Dodgers, Rotary Tigers and Rotary Keepers.
“For 42 years, the Rotary Club of Saipan has been providing outstanding community service by carrying out the mission of Rotary International and forging local and regional partnerships to achieve our goals,” said president Kim Forrester.
“We hosted this tournament to foster goodwill among our members as well as to have a fun and celebrate all that is Rotary,” he said.
Rotary Lightning Team Captain Jeff Boyer showed his fierce moves on the field as third baseman, chasing and diving after balls, while outfielders Laurie Peterka and Vinycia Seman caught fly balls, giving Rotary Lightning an edge over the Rotary Keepers, headed by Alex Sablan, 0-2 by the bottom of the first inning.
Forrester also pulled some impressive catching for the Rotary Lightning.
By the bottom of the second inning, the Rotary Lightning scored six more runs, making the Mercy Rule seem very possible for the Rotary Keepers.
But the Rotary Keepers, with the help of veteran baseball player JP Flores, would not be pushed back and scored four runs by the bottom of the second inning and two more runs by the top of the third inning.
Rotary Keepers players Dennis Yoshimoto, Steve Jang, Yoichi Matsumura, Ben Babauta, Perry Inos and Nora Sablan joined Alex Sablan in delivering the scores that kept the Rotary Lightning at bay
Rotary Keeper Richard Cody even pulled a gravity-defying base steal and scored a run, even if he had to crawl there.
But after scoring one run in the fourth and fifth innings, Lightning struck back with a run in the seventh inning to win the game at 9-8.
After a scrumptious lunch barbequed by Rotarians Yosh Gabaldon, Vicky Concepcion and Agnes McPhetres, the Rotarians were ready to play for the championship.
The Rotary Tigers, lacking players, ended up joining the Rotary Dodgers, headed by Josh Sasamoto, for the final game.
The Rotary Dodgers and Tigers showed their prowess by taking up three runs in the first inning, but the Lightning were quick to catch up with three runs.
Rotary Lightning Glen Perez’s son, Sean, wowed the team by catching two fly balls to and batted a bunt just past the heads of the third base man and the short stop, only to later make it home safe.
Rotary Dodgers and Tigers players Sasamoto, Babauta, Kelly Butcher, pitcher Dr. Dan Lamar, Inos, Laila Boyer and Laurence Boyer helped their team pull in the scores. The smack talking began with the pressure building, with Rotarian Lightning Glen Perez chiding Rotarian Dodgers Ben Babauta for “keep walking instead of hitting the balls.”
Babauta retorted that Perez should start catching balls instead of just “roasting in the outfield.”
Rotary Lightning went on to score four runs in the third inning, while the Rotary Dodgers only pulled in two runs. The game became heated in the fourth inning as Rotary Lightning delivered two runs and the Rotary Dodgers followed with another two.
By the fifth inning, Rotary Lightning was losing their torque after playing seven innings earlier and decided that the championship game will end two innings early.
“We knew that if we pulled deep and was able to continue to seven innings, we would have won the game,” said Rotary Dodgers team captain Josh Sasamoto.
Not so, says Rotary Lightning team captain Jeff Boyer.
“We showed who had skill and these three teams did not stand a chance,” he said.
Rotary Lightning walked out of the field with a 9-8 lead and the bragging rights as champions for the anniversary softball tournament for the Saipan Rotary Club. (LYB)
