Philippine Softball Teams? Agony and Ecstasy
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 08 Dec 2011
?It hurts and the feeling persists.?
Apolonio ?Apol? Rosales, a member of the Philippine Blu Boys for the past 15 years, said of how and he and his teammates felt from the time the Philippine Olympic Committee and the Philippine Sports Commission initially decided to exclude the national men?s softball team from the Southeast Asian Games up to the time they eventually made it last month?s 26th edition of the biennial conclave in Indonesia.
?We really were hurt because we were the defending champions and that we will not be able to defend the title for reasons our sports officials only knew,? Rosales, who plays third base in both baseball and softball, told Malaya Business Insight early this week, echoing the observation made by softball/baseball great Filomeno ?Boy? Codinera.
Codinera, in a separate conversation with this writer before he left for Los Angeles in California for his annual medical check-up, exclaimed, ?this is the only country in the world where the defending champion is not allowed from defending its title for lack of money.?
?Nakakahiya tayo sa ating mga kalapit-bansa na para makasama lamang sa biyahe eh ang atleta o team pa ang maghahanap ng pera para makalahok sa isang international competition,? Codinera lamented then. ?The job of our athlete is to play for flag and country. Raising funds is for the POC and PSC to do.?
Rosales revealed that the entire team was downhearted and disconcerted in the Blu Boys? opening game against host Indonesia, 2-4, somewhat derailing their title-retention bid and, perhaps, leading the POC and PSC officials to believe that they were, after all correct in not allowing them to go.
?We?re not mad at anybody. Siguro tampo lamang. So, nag-usap-usap kaming lahat, from the coaching staff down to the last player and we told ourselves, look when we left Manila, nobody believed, except ourselves and the ASA-Phil officials, na kaya nating manalo ng gold medal. Our president (ASA-Phil head Jean Henri Lhuillier) was there, secretary general Danny Francisco was here along with several members of the board.? he said.
?Sabi namin sa sarili namin, kailangan nating panindigan ito at patunayan sa lahat sa kanila at sa buong bansang Pilipino na tayo ang hari ng softball dito sa Southeast Asia,? the 34-year-old Rosales, who was in his fourth SEA Games stint besides carrying, too, the country?s colors in three world championships, four Asian championships and five Asean championships, recalled.
And as the old clich? goes, the rest was history, the Blu Boys vaulted back from that earlier defeat and to the elation of Lhuillier, whose firm, Cebuana Lhuillier, bankrolled their participation to the tune of more or less Pl.5 million, by trouncing all-comer that crowed their path, Singapoore, 11-1; Malaysia, 9-0; before avednging against their hosts, 2-1; in the semifinals, and 7-3 in the gold medal play.
?That was, to me, our sweetest title victory,? Lhuillier, who is in his second term as ASA-Phil top honcho said during the victory party he hosted in honor of the Blu Boys and Blu Girls, who swept both the men?s and women?s sides of softball competitions. ?While we expected the twin victories, mas matamis ito kasi, ayaw ngang payagan ang Blu Boys na sumama sa trip to Indonesia. And second, we are the only team sport that swept both the men?s and women?s divisions.?
?It?s actually doubly sweet because the Blu Girls, not only won all their assignments, we also surrendered only two runs in the six games we played, winning a pair in abbreviated fashion and four via shutout,? Lhuillier, husband of former gymnastic sensation and later taekwondo Barcelona Olympic Games bronze medalist Bea Lucero, added.
Lhuillier was referring to the Blu Girls of coach Ana Santiago?s overwhelming of Thailand, 10-1; blanking of Singapore, 7-0; Indonesia, 7-0; Malaysia, 12-0; repeating over Indonesia, 5-1, in the semis; and Thailand in the finals, 6-0.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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