The Philippines did not exactly ease into its Asian Games softball campaign. It came out swinging.
The Blu Girls blasted three home runs and collected 10 hits Friday to beat Hong Kong, 9-3 at Anjo Softball Ground in Anjo, Japan, closing the preliminary round with a 4-3 win-loss record.
The victory placed the Philippines fourth in the standings and set up a bronze-medal showdown with Chinese Taipei on Saturday.
That meeting comes with some unfinished business. In the preliminary round, Chinese Taipei handed the Filipinas a 10-1 beating, making Saturday’s rematch less a stroll down memory lane than an opportunity to rewrite it.
Against Hong Kong, center fielder Ma. Angelu Gabriel set the tone in the first inning, launching a solo homer as the Philippines opened a 1-0 lead. The Filipinas barely gave their opponents time to settle before adding more.
Right fielder Reyae Mae Villamin followed with a two-run shot in the second, pushing the advantage to 4-0. A five-run fifth inning then put the game largely beyond Hong Kong’s reach, with first baseman Roma Jane Cruz’s two-run homer providing the loudest punctuation.
Cruz finished with three RBIs, including a sacrifice fly, while shortstop Nicole Hammoude contributed an RBI and Skylynne Ellazar doubled and drove in a run. Gabriel also doubled and scored twice, giving the Philippines another spark at the top of the order.
The offense was busy, but the pitching did its share of the housekeeping.
Pitcher Royevel Palma worked six innings, allowing four hits and striking out three without giving up a run. Pitchers Glory Alonzo and Mary Joy Alpitche combined for the final inning, although Hong Kong managed to scratch across all three of its runs in the third.
Hong Kong finished with eight hits, but three errors made its afternoon harder than the scoreboard suggested.
The Blu Girls, meanwhile, scored in four of the first five innings and finished the preliminaries with a timely reminder of their power.
Three homers in seven innings is hardly subtle. Saturday, however, may require more than volume. Chinese Taipei already knows how to silence these bats. The Blu Girls now get one more chance to answer.
