| July 15, 2006
Guam all-stars moving forward
By Akash Shringi
For Pacific Daily News
The Guam Big League all-stars are returning to the Big League World Series in Easley, S.C.
Guam defeated the home team Jakarta, Indonesia, 7-3 in the 2006 Asia-Pacific Big League Regional Tournament championship game yesterday in Jakarta.
"The boys just went out there and worked hard -- that's it," said Mike Bautista, father of Guam player Michael Bautista. "We told them just to play the game and bring home the championship and then we'll go to the next level."
Guam finished the tournament undefeated -- 3-0 in pool play and 1-0 in the championship game. Two of Guam's wins, however, came in the late innings. Those games were against the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Philippines. Guam had to rally in both games to come out on top. The Guam boys are expected to arrive on island at 1:20 a.m. Monday.
"I think the boys played well even though they were down," Mike Bautista said. "When they were down, they brought their morale up. I spoke to one of the Indonesian officials (on Thursday) and he said our boys showed a lot of respect to the country and the people around them. Hearing remarks like that tells a lot about the people of Guam. These boys are being good ambassadors for Guam."
Since competing in the Big League World Series in 2000, several coaches and island residents believe this year's Guam team has a realistic chance of winning the whole thing in South Carolina.
Nine of the 14 players were part of Guam's first- or second-ever Little League World Series teams in 2001 and 2002. In addition, most of those nine players have played in several other World Series, including the Junior League World Series and Senior League World Series.
The 14 Guam players are Derwin Aguon, Jarred Alerta, Jesse Alerta, Jarrett Barcinas, Matthew Barcinas, Michael Bautista, Freddy Cepeda Jr., Michael Cruz, Joshua Daga, Alejandro Diaz, Kurt Diaz, Kris Kaneshiro, Bobby Manibusan and Aaron Sanchez. Patrick Leon Guerrero is the manager.
The Big League World Series, scheduled to start July 29, is for players 17 and 18 years of age. |
