Jr Blu Girls split world tilt matches

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines opened its bid with an upset over a high-ranked rival but lost its second match in five innings Monday in the XII Junior Women’s Softball World Championship in Clearwater, Florida.

The 20th-ranked Junior Blu Girls trampled No. 12 Italy, 10-3, to get off to a rousing start in Section A but suffered a 0-13 shutout at the hands of No. 9 Chinese Taipei in the afternoon session.

Phl next faces Guatemala Tuesday.

The Junior Blu Girls wielded hot bats against the Italians, tagging them with a combined 13 hits with Elsie dela Torre driving in two RBIs and one run on a 2-for-4 clip and Juliet Omul batting in two runners to the plate also on 2-for-4.

Royevel Palma earned the win as she pitched a four-hitter and extinguished three batters she faced while surrendering one run in 4.2 innings.

“The Junior Blu Girls’ win against Italy is a great way to ease into the tournament. They have been consistently displaying exceptional skills and performance these past months so I know they will deliver more impressive showing in the next matches,” said Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines president Jean Henri Lhuillier.

But the Pinay softbelles couldn’t get going against the fancied Taiwanese.

The Chinese-Taipei girls blasted in six runs in the second and added two and five in the fourth and fifth, respectively, to put the game beyond Phl’s reach.

Lin Chih Chu led the shutout victory with three hits and two strikeouts in a five-inning stint.