MANILA, Philippines - Asian Zone champion Philippine Little Razcals found their road to glory a lot harder as they were bracketed into the tougher Orange Division of the PONY International Mustang World Series in Texas.
From their original spot in the White Division, the Little Razcals were transferred to the Orange group where they will have to mix it up with big and rugged Mexican Zone champion, five-time World Series champ West Zone and talented North Zone champ.
The White Division will have the Caribbean Zone and South Zone champions and the host team.
Despite being bunched in a virtual group of death, the Filipinos remain upbeat of their chances for one of two semifinal berths at stake in Orange.
“Either way, we will still have to eventually play well against all the good teams in the tournament to win the championship,” said Philippine PONY president and delegation head Boy Tingzon.
“We’ll just have to take it one game at a time and concentrate on the proper execution of our plays and strategies,” he added.
It is also imperative for the Little Razcals’ pitchers to step up amid the searing Texas heat.
“It will boil down to how many pitchers will step up for each team since PONY rules limit pitchers to pitch only six innings a game or 12 innings for the whole tournament,” Tingzon said.
“The heat will also be a factor since Texas has been experiencing drought of over 100 degree temperatures for the past 30 days,” he added.
The Little Razcals will begin their campaign against the Mexican Zone titlists on Aug. 3, then take on West Zone Champion from California the next day, and tackle the North Zone boss on Aug. 5. All games are set at 8:30 pm (Texas time). The semifinals will be played in the morning of Aug. 6 with the championship slated in the evening of the same day.