It is the turn of the Blu Boys to make a bid for next year’s World Cup Softball in New Zealand as they leave for Japan by end of the month to compete in the Men’ Softball World Cup Qualifier.
“We believe we have relatively good chances of taking one of the two slots at stake as Japan will take the first seat in all probabilities. This is part of our continuous effort to develop the sport and men’s softball here,” said ASAPHIL President Jean Henri Lhuillier.
The qualifying tournament is scheduled September 3 to 9 in Shimanto, Kochi in Japan.
The Blu Boys, aching to redeem themselves from their disappointing runner-up finish in the 2019 SEA Games, will be composed of eight carryovers from that team and UAAP players from UP, UST, Adamson and PUP, according to head coach, former softball standout Apol Rosales.
As part of their preparations, the Blu Boys underwent a recent team-building at the PJLI training center in Antipolo and will play a series of tune-up games against teams from Dasmarinas in Cavite, and Tanauan and Cuenca in Batangas.
“These will be good practice games considering our opponents will feature former national players. Our concern is we have a lot of rookies and it would have been better had we gotten international exposure prior to this,” said Rosales.
He is looking at more than even chances for his team to get a seat in next year’s finals.
“I would say based on where we are now, we have 60% to 70% chances of accomplishing our goal,” he concluded.