ILOILO settled for fourth place in the 2013 Junior League Softball World Series following a narrow 2-3 loss Sunday to Canfield, Ohio, in Kirkland, Washington.
Three days after stunning favorite Cumberland, New Jersey, in the quarterfinals, the Filipinos, representing Asia-Pacific in the series, failed to hang on to a slender lead in the seventh inning and lost the battle for third place.
Up until the semifinals, where they lost to host Kirkland, 3-12, the Iloilo softbelles had been the tournament’s surprise package.
The PH squad, with a 1-3 record in Pool A play, barely made it to the knockout phase against Cumberland, the top seed in Pool B.
Still, the fourth-place finish is the best among the five Philippine teams that saw action in the World Series.
Iloilo’s Little League (11-12) squad wound up seventh in Oregon; Team Manila failed in its bid for a title repeat after getting eliminated in pool play of the Softball World Series in Delaware; Sta. Cruz, Laguna, failed to survive the elimination phase in Senior League and Illam of Manila also failed to advance from the elimination phase in Maine. Cedelf P. Tupas