By Jonathan Perez / Special to the BusinessMirror
Saipan, CNMI—Officials of visiting teams Guam, Australia and the Philippines expressed mixed views on their respective chances in the 2015 Asia Pacific Junior, Senior and Big League Regional Baseball Tournament, which opened on Friday at the Francisco M. “Tan Ko” Palacios Ballfield.
Guam’s junior leaguers will play host CNMI on Saturday at 9 a.m., while its seniors squad will battle its northern counterparts at 11 a.m.
Guam Juniors Manager Vic Fernandez had a safe answer when asked how they would fare against five other squads in the juniors division, led by reigning World Series champion Chinese Taipei.
Australia, which is competing for the first time in the junior league division, the Philippines and Hong Kong are the other teams.
Philippine Seniors Team Coach Kelly Culubong likes their chances following the Muntinlupa Senior Leaguers’ performance during tune-up matches against collegiate squads and the country’s national team.
“We’re confident because they even beat some collegiate teams and played well against the national team. We concentrated practicing our hitting. That was our key when we beat Tanauan City in the finals. Defense has always been there since these are already senior league players. We’ll see everything on game day,” Culubong said.
The Philippines take on Hong Kong at 3 p.m. on Saturday in the seniors division, while the Big leaguers battle reigning champion Chinese Taipei at 5 p.m.
Fernandez said the regional tournament is a level higher compared to the tournaments they played in their respective Little League areas.
“Playing in the regionals has always been tough and very competitive. You are going up against the best teams in the region. You don’t have to take the other teams lightly,” Fernandez said. “We’re just going to go out and do our best.”
Fernandez said they only had less than one month to practice as a team after Guam’s Little League baseball season ended.
“But we’re ready and I’m confident with my team,” he said. “We’re working to improve certain areas, like how would they react if we choose to move them in different positions.”
Australia Manager Wayne Sheldon, who will be guiding the first-time junior leaguers, expressed confidence that his wards are capable of pulling an upset in their division.
“The team is a good combination of players that have speed, power, good pitching, batting and running. That, I think, would be our strongest points against the other teams,” Sheldon said.
Sheldon ranked Chinese Taipei as the team to beat but he doesn’t want to underestimate the other teams.