The Blu Girls, the Philippines’ national women’s softball team, missed a chance to secure a wild card slot at next year’s softball World Cup late Wednesday, yielding to Group C host Italy in another pulsating albeit rain-delayed game.
The final score: Italy 6, the Philippines 5.
The Blu Girls opened the scoring in the match held late Wednesday at Castions di Strada, with Alaina Talisik’s single sending the lead off hitter on second base to home to log the only run in the first inning. The Blu Girls scored four more runs, two each in the 3rd and 4th innings.
But Italy, led by Giulia Koutsoyanopulos, refused to again lose to the Philippines, which just a day earlier claimed the final Group C playoff slot for a chance to win one of two wild card slots in the 2024 softball World Cup Finals.
Italy scored 3 runs in the 2nd inning and 2 more in the 3rd to lead the Philippines, 5-3, before the game was suspended for over two hours at the top of the 4th. The Philippines was at bat, with no outs and two runners on base, before bad weather temporarily stopped the game.
Shortly after the match resumed, the Blu Girls scored two runs, equalizing the count, 5-5, and setting up another dramatic finish on the last day of the group stage.
Italy scored a lone run at the bottom of the 4th for a 6-5 lead, and held the Philippines without a run in the last three innings to secure third place and a share of the two wild cards with China.
Both the Philippines and Italy had 10 hits at bat.
The top two finishers in Groups A, B and C all advance to next year’s world championship, with the top two third placers in the group stages getting the two wild card tickets. The USA and Australia finished on top of Group A, Puerto Rico and Netherlands topped Group B, while Japan and Canada claimed the top spot in Group C.
