THE 2017 Cebuana Lhuillier-ASAPHIL 18-Under National Women’s Softball Championship got off to to rousing start Friday morning with a total of 27 teams, divided into three groups and coming from all over the country joining the tournament organized by ASAPHIL and hosted by the city government of Marikina in its twin softball fields in Sto.Niino and Barangka.
“The number of teams is a big jump from last year’s edition, where we had only 20 teams. I believe that the recent second place finish of the Blu Girls in the Asian Women’s Softball Championship in Taiwan is a big factor in the increase in number of participants. This is an annual grassroots program of ASAPHIL to broaden the base of players in women’s softball,” said an elated Jean Henri Lhuillier, ASAPHIL President and whose group of companies is backing the weeklong tournament.
ASAPHIL Executive Vice President Atty. Rolly Rivera, who did the ceremonial pitch together with ASAPHIL Sec-Gen Denis Dueno, at the simple opening ceremonies said: “It is important that we sustain the momentum after our recent successful international stints in various tournaments including the World Cup and the Canada Cup earlier this year and where we beat world ranked teams.”
In the absence of defending champion Bacolod, top seed is last year’s runnerup Tanauan, which opened its campaign with a lop-sided 12-0 win over Saranggani in Group A, where it was joined by other opening-day winners in the same group.
Manila, which dealt Saranggani another loss, won, 13-6, while Cabuyao had an impressive 15-0 victory over Tacloban.
Makati A, meanwhile, outscored Cabuyao, 10-2, in the tournament sponsored by Cebuana Lhullier, Cebuana Pera Padala, Cebuana Microloans, Cebuana Micro Inc, Cebuana Savings Bank, and the Cebuana Lhuillier Foundation.
In Group B, Naga City posted a 15-1 victory over Abra; Tanauan B blanked Sit Cebu, 8-0; Pasig debuted with a masterful 13-3 win over Cavite Province; and ILLAM was likewise impressive in blanking Binan, 7-0.
All games in Groups A and B were played in Sto. Nino.
Visiting team Cabiao showed a lot of class in whitewashing Taguig, 18-0, in Group C; Rizal matched it with a 15-0 victory over Mindoro; seeded team Sta. Maria, Bulacan emerged an 8-0 winner over Dasmarinas; while Cebu City-Abellana bombarded a hapless Taguig team for a 19-0 win in the opening-day games of the tournament, also backed by Le Soliel de Boracay, Palm Rock, One Hagdan, and Just Jewels.
“Next summer, we will hold our annual inter-collegiate tournament again to support ASAPHIL’s grassroots program,” said ASAPHIL Operations Manager Jun Veloso.