ADELAIDE, Australia - The Philippines moved on the verge of a sweep of the elimination round of the 10th Pacific Schools Games girls softball competition with two wins on Tuesday at the Adelaide Shores, West Beach.
The Pinays, accompanied by Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) commissioner Charles Raymond Maxey, survived their toughest challenge by far turning back West Australia 4-3 after yielding the most number of runs in their six outings.
They came back later to dispose off Queensland 8-0 to stay on top of the eight-team field entering its final elimination-round assignment on Wednesday against Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
"Our players are the smallest in the event as they have tall opponents here. But they have big fighting hearts and if they play with the same intensity in the next succeding games they have a huge chance of winning the gold," Maxey told SPIN.ph.
The PH belles, coached by Russel Hulleza and composed mostly of players from Negros Occidental, Makati and Bulacan, opened the tournament with a 6-0 spanking of host South Australia before clobbering India 16-0 on Sunday.
They swept another doubleheader on Monday with a close 1-0 win over New South Wales followed by a rout of Victoria, 5-1.
The team, whose nucleus won a silver medal in the World Little League series, earned its first two wins with Glory Alonzo, the fastballer from Domingo Lacson National High School in Bacolod, striking out seven batters against South Australia.
Madaylene Dumaug and catcher Chastine Jover homered to lead the attack over India.
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