The Philippine women’s softball team bounced back from back-to-back setbacks with an emphatic 7-3 victory over Republic of Korea in the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan on Monday.
The Cebuana Lhuillier-backed Blu Girls opened their Asian Games bid with a 0-10 loss to host Japan followed by a 1-10 beating against powerhouse Chinese Taipei.
The Philippines, however, entered the win column on Monday with a seven-run explosion in the sixth inning against the Koreans.
Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines (ASA-PHIL) presidentJean Henri Lhuillier welcomed the team’s turnaround, highlighting the resilience shown after a challenging opening stretch.
“This is the kind of response we wanted to see from our Blu Girls. The first two games were difficult, but they stayed together, trusted each other, and continued to fight,” said Lhuillier, who also president and CEO of Cebuana Lhuillier.
“This win against Korea shows their resilience and what they are capable of when they play with confidence. We are very proud of the way they bounced back, and we know they will continue to give everything for the Philippines.”
Nicole Adra Hammoude provided one of the Philippines’ strongest performances at the plate, finishing with three hits, three RBIs, and one run in four at-bats.
Team captain Ma. Charlotte Sales drove in three runs and reached the home plate herself.
Skylynne Kopia Ellazar, Reyae Mae Villamin, Mylia Isabel Perez and Mary Jane Libaton also scored runs for the Philippines.
The Blu Girls finished with 10 hits and committed no errors while Korea recorded eight hits and one error.
Glory Alonzo started the game and kept the Koreans scoreless through four innings, allowing four hits while striking out two.
Royevel Palma pitched the remaining three innings for the Philippines and surrendered three runs on four hits with two strikeouts.
Korea scored three runs in the fourth inning but the Philippines answered with seven unanswered runs in the sixth.
Korea was unable to score again the rest of the way.
The Philippines will next face Thailand on Sept. 29, Singapore on Sept. 30, China on Oct. 1 and Hong Kong on Oct. 2.
