Blu Girls fall to Chinese, kiss semis hopes goodbye

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines got derailed in their World Cup bid after succumbing to the great wall of China, 6-2, Tuesday in the Women’s Softball Asia Cup at the Singdo LNG Stadium grounds in Incheon, South Korea.

The defeat to the World No. 13 Chinese was the World No. 30 Blu Girls’ second in six outings that stymied the latter’s bid to advance to the semifinals, where they would have had an opportunity to claim one of the slots to the XVIII WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup in July in Europe.

After a scoreless tie in the opening inning, the Chinese unloaded a four-run rampage capped by a booming Xie Jun double to center field that sent Chen Jia home and the Filipinas sprawling on the canvas.

Slowly, the Blu Girls managed to inch closer following a Cristy Roa RBI (runs batted in) and a Danica delos Santos run off a pitching error on top of the fourth and sixth inning, respectively, that cut their deficit to just two, 4-2.

And then disaster struck anew in the bottom of the sixth when Xu Jia’s sacrifice fly pushed He Xiaoyan and Dong Zixuan home for two RBIs.

It was another painful defeat for the country after also falling to World No. 3 Chinese Taipei, 5-0, Monday.

Despite it, coach Randy Dizer’s charges remained in semis and World Cup contention as they still play a lowly India and World No. 2 Japan in the final two days of elimination-round play.

The Blu Girls were supposed to play the Indians Wednesday, but the match was rescheduled due to inclement weather.