Softball Pilipinas fall season opens Dec. 12

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine softball moves up to another level with the launching of Softball Pilipinas – Fall Season, the very first semi-professional softball league in South East Asia on Saturday at the Rosario Sports Complex in Pasig.

A total of five teams have confirmed participation in the three-month long tournament presented by Cebuana Lhuillier and sponsored by LBC, with the country’s national softball and baseball players seeing action in the league as they have been farmed out among the different teams to ensure a balanced competition, according to league commissioner Johnny Perlas.

“We have been planning this for a long time as we know it will have a positive impact on Philippine softball, our players need more opportunities to continue playing the game and Softball Pilipinas will provide them that opportunity, “ said sportsman-businessman Jean Henri Lhuillier, president of the Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines (Asaphil) which has sanctioned the tournament.

First game on tap this Saturday at 8:30 a.m. will be the match-up between Smart Gilas-Rizal Technological University, led by national softball players Apol Rosales and Jerome Bacarisas, together with baseball’s Ernesto Binarao, and the G.A. Realtors, powered by Mark Rae Ramirez, Dario Bacarisas, Vic Enriquez, and Emerson Atilano.

Following the colorful opening ceremonies that starts at 10 a.m., the second game will see LBC, led by Oscar Bradshaw, Ben Maravilles, and Marlon Pagkaliwagan, reinforced by baseball player Vio Roxas, playing against PHITEN-Air Force, boasting of Orlando Binarao, Roger Rojas, and Anthony Santos with Junifer Pinero from baseball.

PHITEN-Air Force returns to action in the third and final game for the day as it squares off against Forward Taguig, led by Jasper Cabrera, Gregorio Marquez, and Isidro Abello, together with another national baseball player Ruben Angeles.