Blu Girls in high spirits, battle powerhouse Japanese

NANJING, China – Team Philippines takes on heavy favorite Japan Wednesday afternoon, hoping to keep the momentum of its inspiring 7-0 rout of Korea Tuesday and pull off a shocker in the seventh Junior Women World Softball Championship at the Nanjing University of Technology Stadium here.

The Blu Girls leaned on Geda Valencia’s awesome pitching and a near-perfect stint at the plate to trounce the Koreans in a victory that made up for their 0-7 setback to the vaunted Chinese squad on opening day.

But the Blu Girls will perhaps need more than a miracle to topple the talented Japanese side, which shares the Group A lead with China with three straight victories.

Japan, winner of three titles in this quadrennial meet for women aged 19 years old and below, including the last edition in Chinese Taipei, whipped New Zealand, 8-1, and Korea, 11-0, Tuesday before downing Australia, 2-0, Wednesday morning at the second stadium in this scenic river city.

"Mataas ang spirit ng mga bata, they’ve also practiced well," said Manila Congressman Harry Angping (Third District), the RP delegation head who is accompanied by softball secretary-general Lisa Tingzon-Rentero.

"Hopefully, these factors could help us against the Japanese, who are the favorites in this tournament," he added.

RP coach Roberto Ituralde is expected to start again with Valencia, a sophomore education student at Santo Tomas, against the Japanese’ formidable battery of hitters.

"If we want to win this, we need to come up with a game better than we played against the Koreans," Ituralde said.

Aside from Valencia, RP is also pinning its hopes on Karina Aribal (first base), Sarah Jane Agravante (centerfield), Yocel Aguilar (catcher), Elaine Caladiao (shortstop), Joan Locsin (third base), Loverly Parohinog (left field), Esmeralda Tayag (right field) and Sheirylou Valenzuela (second base).

Also lined up for the Blu Girls, composed of players selected from various collegiate schools in Metro Manila, in Thursday’s double-header are the Czech Republic at 11 a.m. at the main stadium and Australia at 1 p.m. at the secondary grounds.

The Czechs are currently bunched with the Koreans at the bottom of Group A with three losses while the Aussies are trailing the Japanese and the Chinese in the same group with a 2-1 win-loss record.