Razcals rout Viets in AsPac

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Pony baseball team crushed host Vietnam, 26-3, yesterday to boost its bid for a finals slot in the Mustang Division Asia Pacific Zone Championship at the Vin Yen baseball field in Vinh Phuc Province, Vietnam.

Javy Limpo and Marty Ranada took over for the Little Razcals in the abbreviated game, foiling the Vietnamese’s offensive while Phl struck nearly at will in their own trip at-bat.

It was the second straight win for the Little Razcals, giving them solo leadership in the under-10 tournament participated in by four nations. In joint second were Indonesia and Singapore with identical 1-1 slates and Vietnam occupied the rear with 0-2.

The Phl batters can clinch a championship berth today with a victory against Indonesia at the end of eliminations.

The Indons failed to match the Little Razcals’ 2-0 card as they bowed to Singapore and wavered against the superb performance of hurler Justine Bieker, 12-2.

However, Indonesia can still thwart the Phl’s finals bid if they beat the Little Razcals by at least 10 runs, a margin that could come in handy if a three-way tie among the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore ensues and needed to be broken via quotient.

Singapore, which lost to Phl on opening day, 13-3, is fancied to prevail over Vietnam today in the last game of preliminaries and wind up with a 2-1 card.

“If we beat Indonesia, we’ll be in the finals against Singapore. If Indonesia wins against the Philippines, there will be a three-way tie. We just hope Indonesia does not beat us by 10 or more runs because Indonesia has a higher quotient than us, having beaten Vietnam 29-1,” said Phl Pony Baseball president and Pony Southeast Asian representative Boy Tingzon.

The Razcals and their rivals are disputing the ticket to the Mustang World Series slated August in Texas that awaits the champion of the AsPac tilt.