Filipinas’ Sarina Bolden. –ORACLE PARK
Philippine women’s football team star striker Sarina Bolden threw out the ceremonial first pitch before a Major League Baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds.
Bolden got the honor at the Giants home ballpark, Oracle Park, on Monday (Tuesday Manila time) as part of the team’s Filipino Heritage Night. The 26-year-old was born in nearby Santa Clara to an American father and a Filipina mother.
The player responsible for scoring the country’s first goal in the Fifa Women’s World Cup walked to the mound wearing a cream white No. 7 Giants jersey with her name inscribed before making a right-handed throw.
San Francisco went on to win, 4-1, to go 68-63 on the season while Cincinnati fell to 68-65.
Her appearance came a month after the Filipinas completed their maiden appearance in women’s football’s biggest stage, falling a win short of advancing to the round-of-16.
It was against co-host New Zealand where Bolden fired a header in the 24th minute that eventually gave the Philippines a historic 1-0 victory at Wellington’s Regional Stadium.
The Filipino Heritage Night is an annual fixture in the Giants season to honor Filipinos living in the Bay Area.