Japanese nine demolishes Filipino rivals

MANILA, Philippines - Host Philippines ran into Asian powerhouse Japan and absorbed a 1-14 loss yesterday for its first loss in two outings in the Pony Baseball/Softball International’s 2010 Asia-Pacific Zone Pony Division Championships at the Sto. Niño grounds in Marikina City.

The Japanese scored three runs in the second inning, a lead the Filipinos, represented by Tanauan, Batangas, managed to trim to two at the bottom of the same inning.

Japan then turned the tight contest to a ghastly rout by pulling off a pair of five-run binges in the fifth and seventh innings to seal the one-sided win in this event organized by Philippine Tot Baseball Foundation president Rodolfo “Boy” Tingzon Jr. and hosted by Marikina City headed by Mayor Del de Guzman.

“Tough luck,” said Tingzon.

It was the first win for the Japanese following a 2-22 drubbing they suffered at the hands of the Taiwanese, who won the event’s last staging in RP four years back, in Sunday’s opener.

The Filipinos, meanwhile, fell to their first setback after blasting the Indonesians, 8-1, over the weekend in the four-day meet backed by 100 Plus and Summit Natural Drinking Water.

RP hopes to pull off a miracle of a victory against Chinese Taipei, which was playing Indonesia at press time, in their 10 a.m. encounter today for a chance to advance to the finals.

A loss though would relegate the Filipinos to a battle for third place at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

The championship game is set at 1 p.m. the

same day.