BLU GIRLS MABIGAT ANG LABAN SA SOFTBALL WORLD CUP

NAKAHANDA ang Philippine Blu Girls na makipagsabayan sa mga katunggali sa Softball World Cup na gaganapin sa July 22-27 sa Italy.

“It’s going to be tough. We’re not going to win the World Cup but I think the team will do good and make the country proud,” pahayag ni catcher Cheska Altamonte.

Ang Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines (AsaPhil) secretary-general ay dumalo sa Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum kahapon kasama si first-base Elsie dela Torre.

“Prepared naman kami at puspusan ang ensayo,” pahayag ni Dela Torre bago ang pag-alis ng koponan patungong Italy sa July 16. Ito na ang ika-7 pagsabak ng Blu Girls sa World Cup magmula noong 1970 nang maitala ng bansa ang best finish nito na third sa Osaka, Japan.

Sinabi ni Altamonte sa forum na ang nalalapit nilang pagsabak ay hindi magiging madali.

Sa 18-team World Cup, kung saan defending champion ang United States, ang Blu Girls ay nasa grupo ng three-time champion Japan, Canada, Venezuela, New Zealand at host Italy. Ang kanilang unang laro ay kontra Canadians sa July 22.

“There are six teams in this World Cup that made it to the Tokyo Olympics and three of them are in our bracket (Japan, Canada and Italy),” sabi ni Altamonte.

“We’ve won against Japan and we’ve never played Italy. New Zealand we’ve won against them. And Venezuela is the most frustrating for us because palaging panalo dapat. Canada we’ve won against in 2017,” aniya.

“That’s why it has to be a perfect game,” sabi ni Altamonte, idinagdag na hindi siya lalaro sa lahat ng matches upang bigyan ng pagkakataon ang iba pang catchers sa Blu Girls lineup na maglaro kontra pinakamagagaling.

“Now, the majority of our players are homegrown because that’s part of the program aimed at elevating the level of play here. We have a lot of new players. But you can see them growing and getting better.”

Gagawin ng Blu Girls ang lahat ng kanilang makakaya sa kanilang World Cup stint habang naghahanda para sa Asian Games sa Hangzhou sa September, at umaasa sa podium finish.

“Kaya talaga. A podium finish is very realistic. I believe we can do it,” she said of the Blu Girls, whose best finish in the Asian Games was fourth in 2014 in Incheon and 2018 in Jakarta.

-CLYDE MARIANO