Photo by Romy Homillada
PALEMBANG, Indonesia—The baseball team they nearly left behind turned in a golden performance on a rainy Sunday here.
Raring to prove their worth, the National clouters repeated over the Indonesians, 2-0, to regain the Southeast Asian Games crown at the wet, sloshy Jakabaring Sport City diamond.
Roel Empacis and Jonash Ponce took turns to drive in the two runs that gave the Filipinos a sweep of the event they last ruled in the 2005 SEA Games back home.
Empacis broke the scoreless deadlock in the sixth inning by sending home Ruben Angeles, who singled to first and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Joseph Orillana.
Ponce then drove home Orillana from second in the eighth.
In the qualifying round, the Filipinos also blanked the Indonesians, 4-0, trounced the defending champion Thais, 9-2, and routed the Vietnamese and Malaysians by similar 10-0 scores.
Pitcher Darwin dela Calzada picked up the victory in a no-relief job.
“We’re very, very happy,” said Angeles, the 44-year-old team captain, in Filipino.
“We feel vindicated. Despite the many controversies and criticisms that we’re aging, we delivered for the country in these Games.”
The clouters were only given the go-signal to play by the Philippine Olympic Committee late last month after businessman Marty Eizmendi issued the guarantee of payment for their participation.
Originally scheduled in the morning, the championship game was moved to the afternoon and had to be stopped twice due to a heavy downpour that inundated the field and soaked the players.
Thailand wrested the baseball crown from the Philippines in 2007 in Nakhon Ratchasima.
The Thais also stunned the Filipinos in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, exploding for seven runs in the ninth inning en route to an 8-1 triumph.