Girls with Game introduces new division; Little League preps for 2027 season

Despite challenges with the weather in the CNMI throughout the year, Saipan’s youth baseball and softball programs are gearing up and preparing for a new season. The Saipan Little League’s Girls with Game Fastpitch Softball League added a Junior-Senior Division for girls ages 13 to 16 and the Saipan Little League Baseball, Inc. is getting ready for its January 2027 season under newly elected officers and board members.

For the Girls with Game league which debuted early this year for girls aged 9-12, the new division is now the Junior-Senior Division for girls aged 13-16. There will be two teams playing in this league which will start either late December or January.

League commissioner and coach Moriah Sablan said the idea is to create even competition, have more game play, and allow them to have opportunities to compete off island.

The players have already started preparing for the season and during a clinic on a rainy Saturday (Oct. 24) at Navy Hill, they worked on fielding and throwing drills to strengthen their fundamentals. Then when rain came, the girls moved to the Marianas Batting Alley, where they worked on batting.

Sablan said of the upcoming league, “I’m so excited. Last year I kind of oversaw everything and kind of took the back seat to make sure everything ran correctly, so this year, I’m jumping in a coach role and I’m taking one of these teams. I’m really happy to just kind of get the older division going so that way, the girls that may be aging out to get that opportunity to play.”

With the players’ skills, she said, “I’m so shocked. We’ve never had a division for them and there’s been very minimal outlet for them to play, so to have this skill level already, and have these girls understand just kind of the basics and even a little bit more, is really great and this will make it easier to transition to gameplay.”

Meanwhile, Saipan Little League Baseball, Inc. is preparing to roll out its 2027 season under its newly elected leadership. Ray Yumul will serve as president, with Rudy Aguon as vice president, Luisa Arriola as secretary, and Kat Coldeen as treasurer. The newly elected board members are Moriah Sablan, Alisa Pangelinan, Malcolm Omar, Manny Tenorio, and Piding Tenorio.

The new leadership is working to recruit players, organize teams, and prepare the league for children 5 to 16 years old.

The anticipated divisions include Minors: ages 5-12 (contact Moriah Sablan at 670-286-1119), Majors: ages 9-12 (contact Kat Coldeen at 670-483-0017), Juniors: ages 12-14 (contact Luisa Cabrera at 670-284-7689), and Seniors: ages 13-16 (Luisa Cabrera). The organization also plans to continue girls’ fast-pitch softball and explore the possibility of introducing the 50/70 baseball division ages 11-13. The last day to submit team submissions is on Nov. 19 at 2pm.

Stay tuned for more announcements regarding player registration, divisional eligibility, and the official opening of the 2027 season.