Little Razcals brace for Asian tilt

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine “Little Razcals” 9-10 year-old baseball team and the “Barakos” 10-year-old squad will fine-tune their skills under Japanese expert Isamu Sato in the last two weeks before plunging into action in the PONY International Mustang and Bronco-11 Asian Championships in Singapore.

Sato is the director of the Chiba Prefecture Youth Baseball Association, whose training system has made Chiba a dominant force in the Under-12 age group of the All-Japan Championships. His entry is expected to make the defending Asian champion Razcals and the Barakos sharper for the May 21-27 competitions.

These training sessions will culminate in a baseball seminar to be conducted by Japan Major League Baseball superstar Norihiro Komada of the Yomuri Giants on May 19 at the Sto. Niño Baseball Field in Marikina.

“We are doing everything possible for these teams to have another chance for a crack at the PONY International World Series,” said Tot Baseball president Boy Tingzon, whose association has modified the training program of the Little Razcals and the Barakos to make them competitive at the world level.

The Asian Championships serves as qualifier for the PONY International Mustang World Series on Aug. 2 in Burleson, Texas and the Bronco-11 World Championships on July 25-30 in Chesterfield, Virginia.