Blu Girls ready for title defense
PHILIPPINE Sports Commission chairman Patrick ‘Pato’ Gregorio wishes the Blu Girls led by Charlotte Sales and Roma Cruz with head coach Ana Santiago well as they defend their title in the women’s softball event of the 33rd Southeast Asian Games.
Photograph courtesy of PSA
The hopes and expectations are high for the Philippine women’s softball team when it tries to defend the gold medal in the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Thailand.
But head coach Ana Santiago, who will be making her fifth SEA Games appearance, said the goal remains the same for the Blu Girls, who last won the gold in the Manila hosting of the biennial meet in 2019.
“Even if there was no softball in the last two SEA Games, our hunger to win is still there. Our goal is no less than the gold medal,” Santiago said during Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the conference hall of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
The Blu Girls are a force to reckon with in the SEA Games and are once again expected to figure in the battle for the gold medal. Since 1979, they have won 11 gold medals in the biennial event.
“That’s why we are so happy that softball is back in the SEA Games. Our team is ready. We know our goal,” added Santiago, who was joined in the forum by team captain Charlotte Sales (third base) and outfielder Roma Cruz, who is also the team’s biggest hitter.
Sales and Cruz are both first-timers in the SEA Games but expressed their readiness to perform along with the 14 other members of the team, including three Fil-Americans and two remnants of the 2019 team.
“Our training camp (in Taiwan) was really a big deal. It helped us in developing our teamwork, communication and camaraderie,” said Sales in the forum presented by San Miguel Corp., Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, MILO, and the country’s 24/7 sports app ArenaPlus.
In the last Asian Cup in China last July, Cruz bagged the Most Homeruns award with five and helped the Blu Girls qualify for the 2026 Asian Games with a fourth-place finish.
“Even if it’s my first time in the SEA Games, I want to go all out,” Cruz said.
The Blu Girls defeated Indonesia for the gold medal in 2019 but Santiago sees Singapore as perhaps the biggest threat this time.
They will take on the Singaporeans in their first game on 15 December, followed by Malaysia on 16 December and a double-header against Thailand and Indonesia on 17 December. The gold medal match is set on 20 December.
“I think Singapore will be our toughest opponent. They had a good preparation and even went to Australia, Japan and Taiwan to train,” Santiago added.