Iloilo, Manila belles step up drive for WS

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines’ Little League and Big League softbelles moved in the threshold of another stint in the world series after picking up win No. 2 against their respective rivals in the Little League Asia Pacific and Middle Regional tournament at the Clark Parade Grounds in Pampanga yesterday.

Phl representative Iloilo demolished Australia, 17-1, to go up by 2-0 in their best-of-five duel for the Aspac majors softball crown while Big League bet Manila South, the former world titlists, dispatched Guam for the second time, 7-1, to inch closer to a return to the worlds in their side of hostilities.

The Ilonggas earlier shut out the Aussies, 10-0, while the Manilenas opened their campaign with an 11-0 rout of the Guamanians Sunday.

The host nation’s aces in Junior League Softball, Iloilo, meanwhile, prevailed over Indonesia, 7-0, to get its title defense in the 13-14 age bracket off to a blazing start.

Phl also scored in the centerpiece Little League Baseball as local champ Tanauan hammered Indonesia, 16-1, to post its second straight win and seize the lead in Pool B.

Buoyed by their 9-2 triumph over Guam the previous day, the Tanauenos asserted themselves against the Indons immediately and ripped the game apart with a six-run binge in the first spiked by Neil Perez’s home run to left.