Blu Girls stay in hunt despite loss to Taiwanese

Philippine Blu Girls. Photo from Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines

The Philippine Blu Girls kept an inside track at making the semifinals despite suffering their first defeat at the hands of Chinese Taipei in the Women Softball Asia Cup on Monday in Incheon, South Korea.

A 5-0 loss to the Taiwanese at Songdo LNG Baseball Stadium brought the Blu Girls down to a 3-1 (win-loss) and a share of third place with China after being held to just two hits and giving up two homers in the second and sixth innings.

But the Philippines is still within the top four of the nine-team field halfway into the preliminary phase of the qualifier for the Women’s World Softball World Cup, which starts in June.

The Blu Girls have another doubleheader in store on Tuesday against sixth-place Singapore in the morning and China in the afternoon.

Three World Cup slots are at stake in the continental tournament, but the World Baseball Softball Confederation announced that Asia will be given the last wildcard slot in the World Cup.

Monday got off well for the Blu Girls when they clobbered Thailand, 10-0, in a game that needed only four innings due to a mercy rule, but the bats were held silent by Chinese Taipei in the latter part of the doubleheader.

Chinese Taipei, which climbed to the top of the standings at 4-0, also peppered the Philippine pitching with three runs in the second, highlighted by a two-run homer by Chia-Hui Ko off starter Kaith Jalandoni.

The other round-tripper happened in the sixth as Glory Alonzo saw her pitch to Szu-Shih Li clear the left-centerfield wall for a two-run shot.

Defending champion Japan is behind Chinese Taipei in the standings at 3-0 while host South Korea is fifth at 2-2. Singapore holds a 1-2 slate, followed by winless teams Thailand (0-3), India (0-3) and Hong Kong (0-4). INQ