The Philippine Blu Girls scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning to complete a stunning 11-7 victory over Taiwan yesterday Manila time and complete a sweep of Pool B in the Canada Cup International Softball Championship in Surrey, British Columbia.
Hailey Decker and Gabrielle Maurice hit back-to-back run-scoring doubles before Kailee Cuico blasted a two-run homer in the final inning as the Blu Girls recovered from squandering a 7-1 lead to confirm their place in the tournament’s next pool play.
It was the third straight victory for the national softbelles, who opened the competition with a shock 6-2 defeat of host and world No. 3 Canada followed by a 7-0 walkover win over a Pakistan side that failed to arrive reportedly over visa-processing issues.
The Blu Girls advanced to the next pool play where they’ll face the second-placer of Pool A and Venezuela.
Maurice gave the Philippines a 2-0 lead when she drilled a two-run homer off Chia-Chen Tsai with one out in the fourth inning.
They padded their lead to 7-1 in the next inning after Decker singled with the bases loaded, Cuico drew a walk and Blando and Skylenne Ellazar producing back-to-back RBI singles.
But Taiwan responded by scoring fifth in the bottom half of the fifth before Miao-Yi Chen singled off Philippine starter Sierra Lange, scoring Ching-Ping Shih from second to tie the count of 7-all.