TWO Philippine teams fell by the wayside in the face of superior foreign opposition at the start of the Asia Pacific Intermediate and Senior League Baseball Tournament at Clark International Sports Complex at The Villages in Clark Field, Pampanga.
Japan put on a clinic against newcomer Sarangani, 8-0, at the start of Intermediate play on a rainy Monday morning.
The Senior Leaguers of International Little League of Manila (ILLAM) also took an opening-day defeat, bowing to Australia, 4-21.
ILLAM was still in the thick of the fight in the first five innings when the Aussies caught fire, scoring 15 runs in the last two frames for an emphatic victory.
Guam overcame defending champion CNMI, 12-7, in the other Senior match in the World Series-qualifying tournament backed by Mister Donut and the Philippine Sports Commission.
The Sarangani batters found international play tougher than expected as the Japanese cashed in on their defensive errors with seven runs to virtually put the game away.
Taisei Okui and Taketo Ikenaka reached home plate on passed balls, before Yuma Hara belted a two-run double for a 4-0 advantage. The Japanese onslaught continued with Suguru Taniguchi scoring while the Filipinos were picking off Seiya Matsushita.
“I still feel we played well considering that Japan is used to playing in the World Series,” said Sarangani coach Lord Ken Naval, whose squad was cheered on by a huge contingent led by Gov. Steve Solon, Vice Gov. Elmer De Peralta, Maitum and Sarangani Mayor Alexander Bryan Riganit
“We did our best. We were hitting their pitches but just couldn’t translate them to runs, and we had catching errors.” Cedelf P. Tupas