RP bows to Samoa, loses quarters bid

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — The Philippines’ hopes of getting into the elite four-team cast from the Group of Death were dashed by newcomer Samoa’s fast start and clutch hits, 6-0, in their sudden death in the XI men’s world softball championship here Thursday.

The Samoans, stalled in their bid for the Top Eight quarterfinals with a five inning 0-8 shellacking by rival Australia, completed the job at the expense of the Filipinos in the freezing wind-swept second diamond of the Smokefree Ballpark.

Wheeling back into contention at the tougher side of the qualifier, the Blu Boys got a free lift in the make-or-break showdown with the Samoans as South Africa ambushed a dispirited Venezuela, 6-1, earlier in the day.

But the spunk and athleticism displayed by the scrappy Filipinos in their victories over the South Africans, 9-6, and the Netherlands side, 6-1, didn’t materialize in the match that counted most and the team bowed out of the series where it was the No. 2 Asian qualifier.

Priming up for the contest with their ritual haka war dance, the Samoans seized the initiative right in the first inning with two runs and went on to feast on the RP pitching rotation, which gave up seven hits in all.

Thus ended the Blu Boys saga in softball’s World Series with two wins and five losses, a no mean feat considering they had to make do with an injury-hit 12-man roster in a high powered competition on their side of the draw.

Samoa advanced to the quarterfinals with three wins against four losses and will meet the Czech Republic in the second game at 2:30 p.m. while Australia, the third qualifier from A group, plays Argentina, the fourth B qualifier, at 12 noon.

Former champion Canadian stopped defending titlist New Zealand, 5-4, to rule the bracket with six wins and one loss. The NZ Black Sox earned the second berth in the double page playoff.

The United States, one of only two unscathed squads in the prelims, topped the ho-hum seven-team pool B with five straight wins, followed by Japan, the Czech Republic and Argentina.

That set up a thriller of a match between New Zealand, which took the No. 2 post in A side with the winner-over-loser rule, and the United States while Japan goes up against Canada in the duels of top ranked teams.

Filipino ace hurler Mark Rae Ramirez, the hero of the team’s winning stand against the Dutch a day earlier, just didn’t have the snap in the pitch and was chased out right in the first inning by the Samoans with two runs and two hits.

He would re-enter in the seventh inning as the Blu Boys spent the rest of the rotation trying to contain Samoa’s surge while compounding their dilemma with an offense that just wouldn’t jell to a lethal cohesive whole.

"Binigyan ng pagkakataon pumasok pero di ukol. They would put men on base and pulled off clutch hits at nawala naman ang opensa natin," said RP head coach Reynaldo Manzanares.

Samoa’s No. 1 pitcher Heinrick Shannon, who didn’t last two innings in a duel with Australia’s fireballer Andrew Kirkpatrick the previous night, became the thorn on the RP side as he scattered three hits in six innings.

"We started out strong and that helped us get the win. We didn’t come up to play last night (against Australia) but we did today. It’s our do-or-die and I’m glad we ended up on top," said coach Michael Forsyth of the team beefed up by former New Zealand Black Sox.

He added: "The Philippines is a very good side except we needed this win to qualify and we did."

The Blu Boys had only three men left on base as they struggled with their bats. Even Melvin Villegas, whose crisp and incisive batting produced a 3-for-3 against the Netherlands, couldn’t get into offensive groove and it took some clean hits from catcher Rizel Santos, Orlando Binarao and brother Manolito and Apolonio Rosales to put some semblance of offense for the RP team.

Ramirez took out the first two batters he faced but designated player Dwayne Gerard took a hard grounder to second base and with pinch runner Eddie Thomsen stealing second, Gene Lutton scored an RBI with a single to centerfield.