EVERY year on Labor Day, former CNMI residents now living on the mainland U.S. compete in a weekend softball tournament while locals on the island miss out on the action. But not this year.
On Thursday, the 1st Annual CNMI Labor Day Softball Tournament kicked off at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field with 10 teams in the men’s division and four teams in the women’s division. They’re vying for the championship titles that will be decided on Sunday.
The tournament is the brainchild of a committee consisting of Kyle Hocog, Kyle Kaipat, Jordan Suel, Fuji Suel, Tommy Dela Cruz, Britanny Lizama, Tony Salas, Stormy Salas, Ben Jones, Ryan Mizutani and Jay Kintol.
Their goal is to start something that will be held each year during the Labor Day weekend in the CNMI.
“Our hope is that our neighboring islands would want to host the tournament next year,” Tony Salas said. “The goal of the tournament is to bring our islands together to enjoy each other’s presence and compete for the title.”
The men’s division consists of the following teams: 4KUNI (SPN), BAT-ITUDE (SPN), Blue Jays (SPN), Team Luta (RTA), Parre’ Pack (SPN), Pound Town (SPN), Skoba (SPN), Sons of San Jose (TIN), Mamaww (SPN), and Titang.
The women’s division teams are BDE (SPN), Boujee-Rebels (SPN), Lady Sufa (SPN), and Sliding Dirty (SPN).
The tournament began Thursday at around 6:30 p.m. with three men’s division games played.
The women’s division games will start on Saturday.
The committee would like to thank and recognize their sponsors and supporters including Rep Malcolm Omar, Guy Pudney and Marpac, Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero, Taste Town (Laurese Kileleman Mattao), John Oliver Gonzales, Kimberlyn King-Hinds, the Saipan Mayor’s Office, Vinnie Sablan, Saipan Shipping Co., Juan Santiago, Melissa Litulumar & Company, Cathy Salas & Company, Rep. BJ Attao, Rep. Ralph Yumul, Rep. Manny Gregory Castro, Rep. Diego Camacho, House Speaker Edmund Villagomez, Rep. Patrick San Nicolas, Rep. Angelo Camacho, Rep. Marissa Flores, Rep. Denita Yangtemai, Stormy Salas, Tracy Del Rosario, Rose Del Rosario and Juan and Lucy Aldan.
