Sta. Maria, Bulacan posted back-to-back victories to jump-start its bid in the single round-robin semifinals of the 2018 Cebuana Lhuillier-Philippine Junior Women’s (18-under) Softball Championship on Friday at the Sto. Niño Softball Field in Marikina City
Sta. Maria, which finished at second place in Group B with a 7-1 record during the elims, routed San Miguel (Bulacan), 11-1, before scoring a masterful 9-2 payback win against early favorite Rizal.
Rizal breezed past the elimination round unscathed in eight games in Group B, including a 4-0 shutout win over Sta. Maria.
Rizal continued its dominance at the start of the semis by outlasting defending champion Tanauan, 8-4, in a battle of unbeaten teams, but succumbed to Sta. Maria’s defense later in the day.
Tanauan, meanwhile, topped Group A with an 8-0 card.
After bowing to Rizal in the semis, the defending champs bounced back with an 8-1 triumph over San Miguel in the semis.
The organizing Amateur Softballl Association of the Philippines is using this tournament as basis for selecting the members of the Philippine junior women’s (19-under) softball team (Blu Girls) for the next edition of the World Women’s Junior Championship.
“I understand and take pride in the fact that our Blu Girls have just moved up in the world rankings because of their overall performance this year, including Tanauan’s title victory in the 2018 Senior League Softball World Series,” said ASAPHIL president Jean Henri Lhuillier. “This makes conducting this kind of tournament even more important to Philippine softball. ASAPHIL is committed to doing that.”
In today’s page system final round, the number one team at the end of the semis takes on the number two team with the winner advancing to the championship game.
The number three and four teams will also collide with the loser automatically settling to fourth place. The winner of this match will take on the loser of the other game for the second berth in the championship game.
A total of 18 teams participated in this Cebuana Lhuillier-backed tournament.
The other teams are Salazar Colleges of Science and Institute of Technology of Cebu, Dasmarinas, Makati, Los Banos, Naga, Talavera and Tacloban in Group A and Miriam College, Manila, Pasig, Quezon City, San Ildefonso, Tuguegarao and Woodrose in Group B.