Courtesy of UNLV Athletics
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – The UNLV softball program has two of its own suiting up for the Philippines at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games in South Korea. Garie Blando and Francesca Foti, who are both Filipino-Americans and juniors at UNLV, helped the Blu Girls to a sixth-place finish at this summer’s General Tire World Cup of Softball IX in Irvine, Calif., in their first foray in international competitions.
The Asian Games are a four-year competition that supports 36 sports contested between 45 Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) member states and is the second largest international games next to the Olympics. They began on Sept. 14 and will conclude on Oct. 4.
The softball portion of the Games kicked off Saturday with the Philippines picking up a 3-1 victory over South Korea before they suffered a 10-2 loss to Japan, a perennial power in the sport. Unfortunately, the Blu Girls have lost twice more with an 8-2 defeat to China before a 5-4 setback to Chinese Taipei Sunday and Monday, respectively.
The squad (1-3) has one round-robin affair against Thailand (0-4) remaining. A win by the Blu Girls will earn them a spot in the playoffs with Japan (4-0), Chinese Taipei (3-1) and China (3-1).
Through the four games, Blando is hitting .333 (3-for-9) with three runs and one RBI, while Foti has pitched 9.1 innings with three strikeouts against nine runs (five earned) and four walks.
Philippines Asian Games Schedule
Date Opponent Result Sat., Sept. 27 vs. South Korea W, 3-1 Sat., Sept. 27 vs. Japan L, 10-2 Sun., Sept. 28 vs. China L, 8-2 Mon, Sept. 29 vs. Chinese Taipei L, 5-4 Tues., Sept. 30 vs. Thailand Wed., Oct. 1 TBA Wed., Oct.1 TBA Thu., Oct. 2 TBA Thu., Oct. 2 TBA
Daily Updates from Blando and Foti
Day 1
Foti: The tournament started today and we played Korea first and beat them 3-1. I didn’t play in that game, but the girls did so well! They’ve come a long way. The second game we played Japan. I think our performance against South Korea had the Japanese team shaking a little bit because they started Ueno! After Japan was up by six they pulled her, but it was pretty cool to have them start their number one. She has never pitched against the Philippines because they were never worried about losing to us. Japan scored six runs in the first inning; five off of Riza and one off of me. I was put in with runners on first and third and the first batter I faced hit a sac fly to score the run. After the first inning, I held them scoreless for three innings. My changeup was money! They scored four runs off of three errors and then I was pulled.
Blando: We just ended another day here in Korea. We played Korea and Japan today and the team did very well. Our first game against Korea was very exciting. The Korean team had a lot of support from a number of fans that were cheering them on. Before the game everyone was nervous and anxious. We couldn’t wait to play and the team has been training for three months just for this tournament. The atmosphere was very professional and it felt good to finally take the field again in a competitive matter.
Against Korea, I did really well. I was aggressive in my first at bat and ended up getting the first RBI. I got on base every time; onc with a walk. I was seeing the ball well, too. In the second game, I was still aggressive early in the count, but maybe too aggressive. I got fooled on the changeup. The Japanese pitchers like to quick pitch a lot. The field is a bit uneven. It’s turf, but with dirt on top of it.
We ended up battling with Korea every inning and you could see that the team’s hard work had paid off. Everyone was fully invested in the game and it was a complete team effort. Our defense was very solid, we had timely hitting, and our pitching was consistent. Most importantly, our spirit throughout the game never faded off, it was very lively and energetic. We ended up winning that game 3-1. However, in the second game I think the team was a little bit intimidated knowing that we were playing Japan and I know that this somewhat affected our spirits and overall play during the game. Right away we came to the realization that Ueno was pitching against us and you could see from everyone’s faces that we were a little bit nervous. But, it also gave us a little bit of confidence knowing that they wanted to pitch their best pitcher against us. We started off a little rusty with some errors that resulted in a couple unearned runs but after that we had an inning where we had a rally with hits that resulted in two runs. After that we went back to making some mental mistakes on the field and our hitting just faded off. We ended up losing 10-2 in five innings. As a team we decided that we were going to shake off that game and focus on the next game taking each game one by one. We are not going to let that game push our spirits down and instead we intend to come out strong against China. Anyways we miss you guys in Vegas and we hope everything is coming along great with the team. We are excited to come back but for now we want to win some ball games!
Day 2
Foti: Today we played China. I came in to relieve Annalie in the bottom of the fourth. I gave up two hits and one run with two walks and one strike out. We lost 8-2. But tomorrow is a new day and we take on Chinese Taipei at 9 am. The field doesn’t know who is supposed to win and it is a new day. So tomorrow I hope to tell you all about the win. Because I am tired of losing and being compared to Japan and China, and being told that we lost already when the game hasn’t even started!
Day 3
Foti: Today we took on Chinese Taipei. I started and gave up a home run in both the first and second innings. They scored their third run on two base hits in the third inning. But I did have a good Lisa Fernandez stat today: After I gave up the home runs and the hits, I came back with strikes, and made the batters ground out. I threw lots and lots of changeups for strikes today. We put up a heck of a fight, but we lost by one run, 5-4. I think the girls are finally realizing that we can keep up with these teams and we are just as good as them. We take on Thailand next and need to win that game to go to the playoffs. And if we win the first game of the playoffs we are guaranteed bronze.
I was interviewed after the game. After we finished talking about the game they asked personal questions and put my mom and grandpa (from the Philippines) on camera. They made me ask them how it makes them feel to watch me play for our country. And when my grandpa started saying how proud he was and ranting and raving… I CRIED LIKE A BIG BABY!!! So everyone watching the sports channel in the Philippines watched me cry. It was pretty bad.
But now we are back in the village and getting ready to go shopping and eat dinner out of the village … because the food in the village is getting old. It’s the same everyday.
Miss you guys and everyone else!
Blando: We lost to Chinese Taipei today 5-4, but I was so happy knowing that all of us gave 100% of what we had today mentally and physically. From the start you knew that we were ready to play no matter who our opponent was. We had great energy throughout all the innings and we had more focus today than all the other days. I saw the ball very well today, walked twice, and got a hit, also scored twice with aggressive base running. Even though we didn’t come out with a win today, I am very happy with the way we competed as one unit. Tomorrow we play Thailand, and if we win that game we keep playing until we lose. So, there is still a chance to get gold.
