The men's and women's softball teams scored a double kill, while a couple of female boxers topped their weight divisions as Team Philippines won four gold medals Saturday in the 26th Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia.
The women's team, known as the Blu Girls, blanked Thailand, 6-0, in the gold medal match to underscore their dominance of the field by completing a sweep of all their four games without conceding a single run. They scored three runs right in the first inning and added two more in the third and one more in the sixth for good measure as they peppered the Thai batter with 13 hits.
The men's team fought back from a 1-3 deficit in the fifth inning by exploding for five runs in the sixth to overwhelm host Indonesia, 7-3, to complete the country's sweep of the softball competitions.
Lady boxers Josie Gabuco and Alice Kate Aparri matched softball's two-gold haul by successfully defending their titles in their respective weight divisions. Gabuco claimed her second straight pinweight gold by routing Trinh Thi Diem of Vietnam, 18-5, while lightflyweight Aparri demolished Myanmar's Thet Htar San, 20-5. A third gold slipped away after Neshty Petecio lost to Thailand's Peamwliai Laope, 10-16 in the bantamweight finals. Meanwhile, flyweight Rey Saludar, the Asian Games champion, suffered a stinging 17-29 setback to Indonesia's Julio Bria in their semifinal duel to settle for the bronze.
Three aging warriors also failed in their gold medal hunts, all of them falling in the semifinals of their respective sports. Judoka John Baylon lost for the first time in 10 SEAGs, losing in the 81-kg. division, to end his gold medal run. Cecil Mamiit, the tennis men's singles champion since 2005, also saw his SEA Games reign come to an end with a three-set loss to Christopher Mungkat of Indonesia, while Django Bustamante lost 9-3 to eventual champion Ricky Yang of Indonesia in men's 9-ball.
Discovery Perlas Pilipinas, who should've won the gold, still hit a milestone by formally claiming the country's first-ever silver in women's basketball with a 73-68 win over Indonesia to finish the round-robin competition with three wins and one loss. Cycling, equestrian, wushu, sailing, and water polo also won silvers, and overall the country garnered a 4-6-11 haul.
The Philippines stayed at sixth place with a 23-41-57 medal count, 16 golds behind Singapore. On Sunday, the baseball team, bowler Frederick Ong, and the men's basketball team all shoot for precious golds. The batters, who almost did not make it to the Games, are still unbeaten and face Indonesia in the finals in the morning. Ong, already a gold-medal winner here, paces the men's masters event after the first block and will take a 43-pin lead over compatriot Biboy Rivera into the second block scheduled in the afternoon. In the evening, Sinag Pilipinas plays Thailand in the men's basketball finals, heavy favorites to cop the gold once again.
Additionally, Filipino bets are competing in 20 other events on Sunday where gold medals are at stake, including wushu, judo, traditional boat racing, soft tennis, chess, bridge, weightlifting, and fin swimming.
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