Blu Girls hammer Thais, forge playoff with China

INCHEON, South Korea—The Philippine Blu Girls destroyed Thailand, 13-0, Tuesday to qualify as the fourth seed in the page system playoff of the softball competition of the 17th Asian Games at Songdo LNG Baseball Stadium here.

Riding the momentum of a near upset against powerhouse Chinese Taipei, the Blu Girls left nothing to chance, scoring seven runs in the second inning and another six in the bottom of the fourth before the game was finally halted.

“As expected, we beat them, but I did not expect that we’d win that way,” said national coach Randy Dizer. “The girls were all-out and scored all those hits.”

The victory set up the Blu Girls for a playoff duel against China at 2:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. in Manila) on Wednesday.

Under the page system, a win by the Blu Girls will set them up in a match against the loser of the other playoff game between Japan and Chinese Taipei.

The winner of that second playoff match advances against the winner of the Japan-Chinese Taipei duel.

The Philippines will assure itself of a bronze medal with a victory over China.

If it beats the loser of the Japan-Chinese Taipei duel, it will be assured of a silver.

“I really feel we have a great chance here,” said third-base ace Morgan Stuart, who batted in three runs off two hits. “We have our sights set on a medal.” The Philippines bowed to the Taiwanese, 4-5, on Monday.

The Blu Girls also led China, 2-1, in the second inning over the weekend and had the Asian champions in trouble before they made a fielding error that led to a scoring avalanche and an 8-2 loss.

“Mentally, we just have to focus more,” said short stop Garie Blando, who batted in two runs.

Dani Gilmore had three hits and Leia Ruiz batted in two runs to fuel the win.