PH bets dominate early PNG action

DUMAGUETE CITY—The Philippine Blu Girls and Blu Boys came here to provide inspiration but they brought shock and awe instead.

Although playing here as guest teams, the Southeast Asian Games softball champions Blu Girls and Blu Boys blanked their foes in their respective double-headers even as  upstart Denise Santos posted an early win in women’s billiards, beating 12-year-old national pool member Cheska Centeno, 7-3, yesterday in the POC-PSC National Games here.

The Blu Girls first blasted Cebu, 10-0, before taking a walkover win over Negros Occidental which conceded the match even before the first pitch was thrown inside the sprawling Silliman University campus.

Over in Sibulan town, the Blu Boys crushed Lapu Lapu City, 15-0, and Negros Oriental, by the same score. Also winning in men’s softball were Silay over Negros Oriental, 10-3, while SIT Cebu routed Ginhulngan, 15-0.

In Pasig, national bet Walbert Mendoza of Fencing Club Manila picked up two golds in fencing with expected wins in men’s individual sabre and epee. Justine Gail Tinio of University of the East annexed the women’s individual foil title, while Geisha de Leon of La Salle topped the women’s individual sabre.

UE’s Rolando Canlas and Cristine Almas ruled the men’s individual foil and women’s individual epee, respectively, while their school bagged the women’s team foil championship. FCM dominated the men’s team sabre even as Far Eastern University plucked the women’s team epee diadem.

The International Little League Association of Manila-powered Philippine junior team trounced the Titans, 12-2, in five innings in men’s baseball in Sto. Niño, Marikina.

The Blu Girls, training for the Asean Championships in Indonesia in October, collected a total of 11 hits and had two errors, while the Cebuanas, composed of high schoolers who won the silver in the recent Palarong Pambansa, only had one hit and two errors in five innings.

Amateur Softball Association-Philippines executive director Jun Veloso said they had the Blu Girls and Boys compete as guest teams to give  their rivals a chance to face the national players in the competition organized by the Philippine Olympic Committee and Philippine Sports Commission.

Over at the Lamberto Macias sports complex convention center, Santos shocked Centeno, a bronze medalist last year in Bacolod, to advance in the double-round elimination in  a field that includes PH team veteran Mary Ann Basas.

The 15-year-old Santos took up billiards as her family has four tables for rent in their home in Pateros. The incoming fourth year high school at Pateros Catholic School said she wanted to be a part of the national team.

Also winning their first round assignments in the 9-ball event were Luis Sobardo of the PH team who routed Allan Culi Jr., of Dumaguete, 9-0; Edison Heresiller of Zamboanga, who blasted Joel Dy of Dumaguete, 9-5; and Randy Tabares of Dumaguete, who thumped Cris Lee Amposta, 9-6.