Team Manila enters Softball World Series Finals
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 11 Aug 2010
KALAMAZOO, MI (via Pera Padala) ? Team Manila made mince meat of West Monroe of Louisiana, 6-1, Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) to complete an amazing story-book comeback from two early setbacks in the elimination round to earn its place in the gold medal game of the 2010 Big League Softball World Series at the center field of the Vanderberg Park here.
The victory, fashioned out on Julie Marie Muyco?s no-hit, no-run, no-error three-inning start, was the Golden Girls? sixth straight since losing their first two games against Grand Rapids of the host State Michigan, 1-2, last Aug. 5 and to Dunedin of Florida, 4-7, both of the U.S., the following day.
The win, which already assured a repeat their predecessors? 2008 second place finish, the Golden Girls will now try to improve turn that silver medal feat to gold against top Grand Rapids side, representing the U.S.? Central District, in the winner-take-all encounter between the league?s two top teams to decide which between them will be crowned the finest 14-18-year old softbelles in the world Wednesday (Thursday in Manila).
Grand Rapids topped the qualifying phase of the nine-team cast with an immaculate 8-0 win-loss record, including a 4-0 blanking of Latin American champion San Juan Puerto Rico also Tuesday, as against the second-best 6-2 of the Manilenyas, whose trip here was supported by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Cebuana Lhuillier Pera Padala, Le Soleil de Boracay and Cebuana Lhuillier Insurance Solution.
Wednesday?s meeting will actually the third between the two teams in three years and a repeat of the their title-collision in 2008 which the hosts? won, 2-1, so that the Golden Girls will not only be out to avenge their twin defeats, but, likewise, seek to become the first non-American to win the crown since the Big League Division was introduced in the Little League International calendar in 1982.
?That actually is what we?re seeking here, a revenge of that title defeat in 2008. Kaya nga lamang hilo pa ang mga bata noong maglaban kami noong opening day dahil sa haba ng biyahe mula Maynila, ? Ana Santiago, one of the assistants of head coach Filomino ?Boy? Codinera, said after that easy victory over the U.S. Southwest qualifier.
?Dumating kasi kami dito oras na lamang ang pagitan bago maglaro at yung anim na player galling pa sa Jakarta para sa Asean championship,? Santiago said in reference to the Philippine Blu Girls? trip to Indonesia where they successfully retained the Asean championship a little over a week ago.
Reinforcing the Blu Girls were team Manila mainstays Muyco, Elvie Entrina, Mariz Garde, Rizza Bernardino, Melanie Macatangay, Marlyn Francisco and Veronica Belleza.
?Pero ngayon, naka-recover na ang mga bata at palagay ko kaya na naming talunin ang kalaban at maiuwi ang korona,? she said drawing concurrence from Codinera, delegation head and Manila Little League president Robert Evangelista and another assistant Randy Dizer.
Muyco, younger sister of the more illustrious Cloiene, acknowledged as the country?s no. 1 hurler, stood 10-feet tall on the mound retiring all nine West Monroe batters she faced one after another, striking out seven of them.
The statuesque Bacolod City lass and pride of Adamson University, in fact, needed only nine pitches in sending all the three that crossed her path in the second glued at the box either swinging or standing before yielding the mound to Veronica Belleza at the start of the fourth.
Belleza and Melanie Macatangay, who pitched for two innings each, accounted for the mere two hits the opposition could manage, both of whom they stranded on the bases.
And while the trio kept themselves busy sending their rivals back in the dugout frustrated, their teammates rained three West Monroe batters pitchers with 13 hits, three in the decisive second frame where Belleza and Muyco themselves, and Annalie Benjamin, Erica Escanuela and Isabel Gomez conspired for two runs the team only needed.
So dominant were the Filipinas at the plate all of them were credited with at least a connection, six of them blasting a double each ? Entrina, Francisco, Macatangay, Belleza, Nerissa Benjamin and Gomez.
Garde, Yrla Rojo, the lone player representing Tondo?s Smokey Mountain, Annalie Benjamin, Carol Banay Amanda ?Bada? Lao also contributed to the win with a base-hit each as the Girls scored a run more in the third, two in the fifth and another in the sixth.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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