From left to right: team members Karina Arabal and Sarah Agravante along with ASAPhil operations’ manager Jun Veloso at the Scoop sa Kamayan forum.
MANILA, Philippines — The women’s softball team is banking on youth and speed to improve its fifth place finish in 2011 when it returns to the 2013 Asian women’s softball championship in Kaohsiung, Taiwan this November.
The Blu Girls are aiming for at least a podium finish against tough competition — half of which belong in the world’s top five — in the Asian meet slated from November 25 to 29.
They finished fourth in 2007 and a notch lower in 2011.
“I think our strength is that this team is young, we’re fast and agile,” said Jun Veloso, Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines’ operations manager, in Filipino Friday.
But fielding a young line up — with the age of all but two players in the roster ranging from 16 to 22 years old — is not without its downside.
“Our lack of experience could be our weakness. Although some of them have played in the Little League, the pressure is different here,” Veloso said.
Veloso also said that they only started training as a team in August, with the support of the Philippine Sports Commission.
The only holdovers from the 2007 squad are Sarah Agravante and Karina Aribal, and the presence of these two 29-year-old veterans will go a long way.
“We’re aiming for third. That’s what we have been aiming for ever since,” said Agravante, who was present at the weekly SCOOP Forum in Kamayan Padre Faura.
“Our chances are possible naman. We’ve been training really hard for this, and the team really has great chemistry,” said Aribal.
The Blu Girls will be up against softball powerhouse nations like world number one Japan, China and Chinse Taipei — and incidentally, the Philippines’ will be facing these teams first in the five-day tournament.
They play the Taiwanese on the 25th, the Chinese and Japanese on the 26th, then Hong Kong and South Korea on the 27th. The top four advance to the playoffs.