Brave Blu Girls give Taiwanese big scare

INCHEON, South Korea—The Philippine Blu Girls came within a whisker of pulling down Chinese Taipei before yielding a 5-4 decision on a cold and rainy Monday morning in the 17th Asian Games at Songdo LNG Baseball Stadium.

Dani Gilmore drove in two runs as the Blu Girls scored three times at the top of the fifth and chopped the deficit to a single run as they showed their rivals they were no longer the same girls routed by the Taiwanese, 16-1 in the World Cup of Softball last July.

“There was no doubt at all in our minds that we were going to go out there, seize the moment and grab a win,” said Gilmore, a product of Oregon State University.

“We went out there and really fought hard and fought to the end. We had momentum but we just came up short,” she added.

The Blu Girls had decided during a dinner meeting the previous evening that they would come out more positive in the match and try to win every game they were to play henceforth.

Trailing, 1-2, catcher Lu Hsue-mei and Li Szu-shih belted solo home runs to lift the Taiwanese to a 5-2 lead after four innings. But Garie Blando and Elma Prohinog both singled off Chung Hui-lin to start the PH rally in the fifth.

Chung was replaced by Hsin Lin-ying Hsin, who was greeted by Gilmore with another single to drive home Parohinog. Luzviminda Embudo’s sacrifice bunt advanced Gilmore to second before Morgan Stuart sent her home with another single.

The Blu Girls will play Thailand on Tuesday before a rematch with China, in a still unannounced schedule, that will decide the country’s medal chance.