INQUIRER Sports

TAMUNING, Guam - It's an appearance four years in the making. And Rizal province is not about to let the opportunity slip away in the Asia-Pacific Softball Regional Championships here.

Rizal is one of four Philippine teams seeing action Wednesday as the country starts its title-retention bid in all four divisions of the World Series qualifier at the Tamuning Multi-Purpose field.

?To get here was our target four years ago when we formed this team,? said former Rizal board member and concurrent provincial legal officer Rolando Rivera, who stands at the forefront of the province?s softball program.

Rizal, which beat powerhouse teams like Manila-ILLAM and Sta. Cruz, Laguna en route to the national title, faces Jakarta in their opening match in the Big League (16-18) division at 1:30 p.m.

Cavite, another greenhorn at this stage, opens its best-of-five series with Guam for the Little League (11-12) title.

Two ILLAM teams also start their best-of-five series with their Guam counterparts in the Junior League (13-14) and Senior League (14-16) today.

The three divisions were reduced to best-of-five affairs after India and China pulled out of the tournament.

The Philippines has swept all four divisions of this tournament since 2002.

And the prospects again look good, according to Little League Philippines district administrator Jolly Gomez.

?We have very strong teams,? said Gomez, noting that the squads had to go through one of the toughest Philippine Series tournaments in years to get here.

A win over Jakarta and another over Guam on Thursday will give Rizal the Asia-Pacific slot in the 2009 Big League World Series in Michigan.

Rizal will be bannered by players from San Mateo High School.