HS, collegiate women’s softball up in 2 venues

MANILA, Philippines – The Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines (Asaphil) and Cebuana Lhuillier will hold the Inter-Secondary Women’s and Inter-Collegiate Women’s and Men’s Softball Championships in Marikina and Baguio.

To expand the pool of women softball players for the national team, the event was  revived six years ago through the efforts of Asaphil president and Cebuana Lhuillier president and CEO Jean Henri Lhuillier.

Meanwhile, 20 teams will slug it out in the inter-secondary women’s softball tournament in Marikina beginning tomorrow while the National Inter-Collegiate Women’s Softball Championship drew 11 teams with action firing off Sunday in Baguio.

Last year, San Mateo, Rizal bested 10 other teams to rule the inter-secondary division while Adamson University topped the inter-collegiate championships.

A guest team from Indonesia will again join the event and spice up the inter-collegiate tournament.

Meanwhile, Asaphil and Cebuana Lhuillier also held for the first time the Inter-Collegiate Men’s Softball Championships this year with five pioneering teams.

“Through these national Opens, we hope to provide opportunities to provincial players to get the needed exposure and training in case they want to pursue a professional career. We hope to discover new and fresh talents that could be part of our country’s softball team in the future,” said Lhuillier.

Asaphil is the country’s official governing body for the sport of softball. It is a private sports organization, recognized as the national sport association (NSA) for softball. It currently manages the Philippines’ national softball teams –  the Phl Blu Boys and Blu Girls.