Vinnie F. Sablan, manager of Saipan All Stars’ junior division said there has always been a rivalry between Guam and CNMI teams in all division.
He vowed to give all baseball fans in the region the amount of excitement they need but at the end of the game in Junior All Stars, he wants to see NMI people jump higher than Guamanians.
NMI defeated Guam last year to make it to the regional championship against the Philippines that won the game and advance to the World Series in Maine.
Guam’s All Star teams this year, he said are very competitive that is why they prepare twice as hard to be in the best shape they can be.
Four of those who played last year are still in the team. They are Harry Nakamura who tops this year’s Junior League regular season pitching leaders with 2.42 ERA, Anthony Salas who leads the season’s batting leaders with a batting average of 628, Peter Michael Tenorio who doubled five times and gave up 26 strike outs and Richard Dela Cruz who averaged 472 in batting.
He needs these veterans in junior division Sablan said as he promised to beat Philippines in the earlier round in able to bring up the NMI-Guam rivalry which he knows everybody wants to see.
Together with these veterans he said are NMI’s new guys that he’s sure will surprise the Philippines.
With combination of veterans and news guys who are faster and more consistent in hitting, Sablan said they will start strong right from the first inning of the very first game of the first round and get a lot of runs.
“We aim to get the momentum and won’t look back,” he said.
Although Guam, he noted gets “more feel of the tournament” having more games in district meet than NMI, but Sablan does not see it as an advantage.
What he knows is the advantage of NMI having only a few teams to concentrate on. The three games in NMI district tournament is quite enough for the boys to show their might as long as they put more efforts in practice.
