The Philippines take crown

THE Philippines edged Indonesia 3-2 in the final to emerge champions of the Brunei Amateur Softball and Baseball Association (BASBA) Silver Jubilee Tournament at the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien (SOAS) field in the capital yesterday.

The Filipino side were the first to bat but couldn't get on the scoreboard failing to connect on the pitch.

Likewise Indonesia too couldn't get any points in the first inning due to some good pitching by Leo Barredo, who struck out two of the Indonesian batters.

The deadlock finally broke in the third inning when Anhar Rahman scored the first point of the game for Indonesia and Otto Wahyu Minarto followed with the second after some poor catching by the Philippines.

Barredo seemed to have tire and was replaced by Roger Rojas for the fourth inning.

The Philippines quickly replied with their first batter in the fourth, Mark Ramirez, hitting a home run to pull one back at 2-1.

The game was even at two apiece after Rizel Santos slid home for the Filipino side.

But neither team could find the winner for the next two innings. The turn came when Denmark Bathan made a good run from the second base all the way for the point to give the Philippines the lead for the first time at 3-2 in the seventh inning. Rojas then stepped up to the task when he struck out three consecutive batters in the final inning to ensure his team victory.

"It was a very crucial game and it was different from our previous meeting. We were behind by two runs in the third and fourth innings but we managed to come back and tie the game. For me, it was difficult as my players were hitting the ball long," said Noel Bumagat, the Philippines coach.

"In the last inning, I needed my player to bat safe just to move base. Then we needed the next batter for a big hit which allowed for the big run to help us score."

The Philippines had defeated Indonesia 4-0 earlier in the morning to send the Filipinos straight into the final whereas Indonesia defeated Brunei 8-1 in the third-place playoff that put them in the final.

Mohd Setya Budhi, the Indonesia coach, blamed fatigue for their failure to win the crown.

"We had to play three games today (Sunday) unlike our opponents who only had two matches. We tried our best eventhough we were tired but our batting was not that good," said Mohd Setya.

Brunei A claimed third place after Shamsul Saidi made the winning run to edge Singapore 5-4 yesterday morning.

The competition held in conjunction with the 10th Asean Softball Championship saw five countries Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia take part.

Present as guest of honour was YAM Pg Maharaja Setia Laila Diraja Sahibul Irshad Pg Anak Hj Abdul Rahim Pg Indera Mahkota Pg Anak (Dr) Kemaludin Al-Haj.

The Brunei Times