Saipan Baseball League President Jay Santos delivers his remarks during the opening ceremony of the 2023 Tan Holdings Saipan Baseball League at the “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field on Saturday, March 25, 2023.
THE Saipan Baseball League is hosting a friendship tournament from July 25 to 28 at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field.
The University of Guam Tritons will compete with the top two teams of the 2023 Tan Holdings Saipan Baseball League — the Cardinals and the Junior Nationals — and the SBL All Stars team.
The round-robin tournament kicks off on Tuesday with the Junior Nationals playing against the Cardinals. On Wednesday, the SBL All Stars will face the UOG Tritons.
On Thursday, the UOG Tritons and the Junior Nationals will go mano a mano at 5:15 p.m. while the Cardinals and the SBL All Stars will square off at around 7:15 p.m.
The final round games on Friday are between the Junior Nationals and the SBL All Stars at 5:15 p.m., and the UOG Tritons and the Cardinals at 7:15 p.m.
According to SBL President Jay Santos, UOG Tritons Coach Roke Alcantara reached out and requested that Saipan host a tournament.
“And of course, we are willing to host the tournament,” Santos said. “We are really thankful to the Coach Roke Alcantara. We want to make this an annual thing.”
Santos said through the tournament, Alcantara can also recruit baseball players from Saipan. There are currently three players from the island playing for UOG.
Baseball clinics
“The SBL board is committed to get baseball going on in Saipan again, but we can’t do that without more of the youth involved,” Santos said.
Aside from the friendship tournament, UOG and the SBL board will host three clinics.
The first will be held today, Friday, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. for ages 16 to 21.
The next clinic is set for Saturday and will start at 9 a.m. for the U12 age group, followed by another clinic at 12 p.m. for the U15 age group.
“This is for the boys that are interested in going to UOG and, more importantly, to get an education and play baseball for Coach Roke,” Santos said.
He said SBL would also like to thank IT&E, Tan Holdings and the Northern Marianas Sports Association for their support.
