Skoba 3-peats; 670 Babes crowned women’s champs

The past Memorial Day weekend was filled with softball, camaraderie, and community support at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Baseball Field and Miguel “Tan Ge” Pangelinan Softball Field, with both the men’s and women’s divisions going the distance, each playing both games to decide the double-elimination finals on Sunday, May 24, in the 2026 CNMI Softball Tournament.

In the men’s division, Skoba captured its third straight championship after edging rival Mamaaw in dramatic walk-off fashion, 8-7, in the winner-take-all finale that went into extra innings.

The hero was Brian Camacho, whose deep fly ball brought home Eli Aughenbaugh from third base for the championship-winning run. It finally ended a back-and-forth battle between the two teams, with clutch hits and ties in nearly every inning.

In the first game though, Mamaaw—riding a hot streak before punching its ticket to the finals—carried that momentum into an 8-5 victory. Their pitcher quieted Skoba’s bats as they were only able to score most of their runs towards the end of the game—but it wasn’t enough as Mamaaw forced the winner-take-all with the sun setting slowly over the horizon.

However, Skoba came alive and bounced back to show why they had already won two straight titles, sealing its third championship in the final game. It was a fitting finish to a tournament that opened Friday, May 22, battled through rain delays Saturday, and wrapped up under scorching Sunday heat.

Third place went to Parre Pack. The rest of the men’s teams were Da Aliens, Ma’toka, Fakamean, Bat-titude, Mamaaw, Riddim, Blue Jays, Just Fams, and Mwaalir Alutung.

Tony Salas, a Skoba player and tournament committee member, said of the win, “It’s good, we always put up a good fight. We tried our best—we gotta give it to the guys for giving it their all.

We played a good team, Mamaaw, and they battled through—gotta give it to them. They did the same thing last year with us, they took us to the eighth game and battled hard, so big ups to those guys for always playing hard.”

Then, speaking as a committee member, Salas also reflected on the tournament itself, saying that it was successful. With the tournament also being a donation drive, he said there were lots of donated canned goods and clothing that will go out to the community in need. “We got a lot of clothes and canned food so we’re going to figure out what’s the best route for this—take this house to house or to a shelter—we just want to give back and that was the point of this.”

He then thanked the tourney’s sponsors, organizers, volunteers, and players for their support for the successful tourney, and is looking forward to the next tournament.

In the women’s division, the 670 Magas Babes battled their way to the top by winning both finals games to take down top seed Lady Akkari. The Babes, who came into the finals riding a hot streak of their own, clinched the first game, 8-5, behind a solo home run from Kianu Aldan against veteran pitcher Jovie Omar.

Lady Akkari then put on their game faces and caught fire at the plate, matching the heat their pitcher brought from the mound. Omar still couldn’t cool down the Babes’ offense, though, and the championship game turned into another back-and-forth battle for the title.

In the end, the Babes had the final say, scoring three runs late, including the walk-off run off the bat of Moriah Sablan as Lady Akkari’s defense broke down, sealing the 13-12 championship victory.

After the game, assistant coach Paul Salalila said their championship win “feels good. We didn’t do anything except stand over there and shout at them, but they did the hard work. They did a wonderful job. It was wonderful to have everybody here again to play and have fun.”

Team captain Pauline Camacho, for her part said, “I’m just so happy the girls pulled through.

We all went through Typhoon Sinlaku recovery—we’re still recovering but I’m glad they did this tournament just to come here and decompress. Thank you.”

For head coach Bill Camacho, he thanked and gave a shout out to the organizers and hoped there would be more tournaments to come.

The Babes roster with Aldan, Sablan, and Camacho were Amy Cabrera, Rachel Salalila, Cat Dela Cruz, Lizann Deleon Guerrero, Jen Palacios, Julie Palacios, Alannah Sablan, Janice Celis, Tiah Camacho, Kuki Pangelinan, Tanny Hocog, Franica Masga, Edilynn Benjamin, and Angie Ruiz.

The Lady Akkari roster behind Omar included Mardina Kaipat, Konalynn Cabrera, Lanalei Santos, Alexiana Tyquiengco, Ayan Kaipat, Davian Atalig, Rosie Saralu, Daisy Kaipat, Kona Tudela, Marissa Cepeda, Tee Remarii, Sonia Isaac, Nenita Romolor, Nancie Celis, Kaydie Kaipat, and Brittany Luzama.

Third place went to Lady Sufa after losing to 670 Babes in the semis.

The women’s teams also included Guam’s Lady Mixers, Quit Pitchin, Tipsies, and Lady Blue Jays.