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Guilin, China—Little League Philippines Major Boys, 12 years old and younger, scored an impressive run in the recent Asia Pacific and Middle East Regional Tournament, concluding their World Little League qualifiers with an exciting second runner-up finish.
The team was led by manager Lillian Golez Urbina and University of the Philippines’ Baseball Varsity head coach Anthony Dizer, who was partly assisted by coaching staff members Ruel Batuto and Alex Razon.
The team was composed of players from the International Little League Association of Manila, or Illam, the community organization inspiring the sport’s return to the country. The members of the team were Kean Agcaoili, Joaquin Casanova, Ohmid Halabisaz, Gabby Mendoza, Joaquin Mendoza, Jakob Poturniak, Alex Puen, Rico Samson, Matthew San Juan, Xabi Tengco and Zachary Urbina.
This was one of the country’s strongest finishes in the International Little League competition in the last 30 years.
“The last time we saw a Philippine baseball major’s team finish this strong, and at this level, was probably back in 1995,” Urbina said.
“Our team in 1995, however, was marred by controversy, being stripped off its world title for intentionally fielding overaged players, leading to the Philippines’ suspension from international competition,” Dizer said.
The Philippines’ dominated Pool A of the regional finals, breezing past countries Hong Kong, China, Saudi Arabia and traditional baseball heavyweight Saipan. Pool B was composed of Chinese Taipei, South Korea, Guam, Thailand and Indonesia.
The Philippines suffered its only competition loss at the hands of powerhouse Chinese Taipei—11-6—in a spectacular nail-biting, do-or-die semi final battle.
Chinese Taipei then went on to defeat defending World Little League titleholder South Korea in the finals with a 3-2 score on a winning run. Chinese Taipei will now be representing the Asia Pacific and Middle East region in the upcoming Little League Series, which will be held from August 20 to 30 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
The Philippine Little League team was sponsored by Focus Athletics, WorldHub Services, Otterbox, NationStar, EC Composites, Esquire Financing, Monark-Caterpillar and Security Bank.