Although the Island Rebels and Natibu are just among the many power house teams, they both managed to retain their dominance as the island’s biggest softball league so far, marked its 10th week last Monday.
Since the Chamolinian league started in November last year, Natibu and the Island Rebels never met in the ball field yet, shooting the excitement up high among softball fans.
Centerfielder Kent Kalen who hit the Top 15 batters as of Jan. 11, averaging .739 with 12 RBIs and three home runs in 23 at-bats delivered for an easy win against Team Familia last week with a solo home run. In the past couple of games after the latest individual stats came out, Kalen had been hitting home runs each game.
Pitcher Ned Norita, is getting close to the batting stats after connecting a two-run home runs against Team Familia.
But what Natibu coach, Doro Camacho is really counting on is their defense. He usually put JR Suel in the left field to counter Island Rebel’s Toi Celis who had tallied 16 RBIs on 17 at-bats in the latest stats.
Camacho said, Kalen is most likely to stay in the center field to deal with Oscar Sablan, another Island Rebel’s power hitter who secured the fourth slot in the Jan. 11 individual stats, hitting 12 RBIs in 14 at-bats and had an average of .786.
“Kent is fast in the center so he is the best fielder for Oscar who usually fires to the center,” Camacho said.
Norita, the Natibu coach added can beat Island Rebel’s power hitters and Carl Hocog, will be there to help him in the mound.
“I’m pretty confident with these guys, because we have the strong defense,” Camacho said.
On the other hand, the Island Rebels’ coaching team would rather wait until the confrontation happens, than make a comment.
Like Natibu, the Island Rebels also have two men (Oscar Sablan and Toi Celis) in the Top 15 batters. They also have pitcher Marvin Palacios who had 3-0 record with 6.26 ERA in 19 innings played.
During the game against Advance Xterminators last week, after having a one-week bye, Roy Celis, Ray Cepeda and Byron Kaipat hit a solo home run to hand the Island Rebels their seven-game winning streak.
Another thing that makes the confrontation a game to watch is that both teams have the sluggers who had formed the national team in the off-island events. The members of the CNMI taem who participated in the Labor Day games in the U.S. years ago, are almost equally distributed to these two teams.
The schedule for make games is being worked out and won’t be out until Friday, according to the organizers. And prior to these make up games, both Natibu and the Island Rebels are set to face the other teams that cannot be underestimated.
So, one of these top teams may fell behind even before their match up comes.
“Somebody will have something in the end,” one of the avid fans was quoted as saying.
Island Rebels will face Berdax while Natibu will take on Chura this week. They also have to get through two other strong teams next week.
