The Philippine Blu Girls notched their third straight win at the expense of Korea, 5-3, Monday morning, and then China later in the day, 1-0, in the women’s softball at the Gelura Bung Karno pitch here.
Against Korea, with the Blu Girls just ahead by one, 4-3, right fielder Reese Guevarra scored the insurance point for the Philippines in the upper frame of the 7th inning as she darted home from the first base on a hit to the centerfield by teammate Chelsea Suitos.
With Sierra Lange pitching for the Philippines, the Korean batters were struck out in the final frame.
“This is a very important win for us,” said coach Randy Dizer. “Nakatapak na ang isang paa namin sa next round.”
Against China later on, Garnet Blando’s single paved the way for a Hailey Decker run in the fifth inning to give the Blu Girls the advantage.
Ezra Jalandoni was superb in six innings pitched, before Lange closed out for the undefeated Filipinas once again.
Curiously, the Blu Girls still have four games to go in the round-robin eliminations against Japan on Tuesday, Indonesia and Taipei on Wednesday
The top four teams will battle it out via the page system, where the top two teams will face each other for the first final slot.
The second final slot will be contested by the number two team against the winner of the faceoff between number three and number four.
The fencers were also victorious in their early forays, as Samantha Catantan and Maxine Esteban won their women’s individual foil assignments at the Jakarta Convention Center.
The 17-year-old Catantan swept her three rivals in Pool C, namely Thong Champa of Thailand, 5-1; Rita About of Lebanon, 5-2; and Ho Ka You of Macau, 5-1; before bowing to Yi Ting of China, 0-5, and Karin Miyawaki of Japan, 2-5.
In the Round of 32, Catantan – who missed a Youth Olympic Games slot recently by placing fourth in the Asian Juniors – clipped Thailand’s Ploy Pailin, 15-6, for a Round of 16 match against Hong Kong’s Liu Yan Was, a bronze medalist in the Incheon Games.
Meanwhile, the 18-year-old Esteban carded 2 wins and 3 losses in Pool D, winning over Malaysians Tyanne Fong, 5-0 and Amanda Mery, 5-4, before losing to foes from Japan, Singapore and China.
Esteban, who regularly trains in Europe, dispatched Macau’s Ho Peng, 15-9, in the Round of 32, to set up a battle with Japan’s Azuma Zera, a silver medalist at the World Cadet Championships.
Swimmer Jasmine Alkhaldi made it to the final of the women’s 100-meter freestyle event at the GBK Aquatic Center after posting the sixth best time of 56.38 seconds during the morning heats.
However, the Filipino-American finished in seventh place during the Final with a time of 56.29 seconds.
In taekwondo, Rhezie Aragon fell to Iranian Elaheh Sheidaei, 2-10, in women’s 53kg round of 16, even as Darlene Arpon defeated Sangita Basyel Nepali, 20-17, in the women’s -67 kg round of 16, to set advance to the quarterfinals.
