Champs Taiwan crushes RP in Pony baseball

Team Philippines suffered a 6-1 defeat at the hands of Chinese-Taipei at the end of the elimination round on Tuesday in the 2010 Asia Pacific Zone Pony Division Championships at the Sto. Nino Baseball Field in Marikina City. RP pitcher Felizardo Laurio pitched two shutout innings and struck out three of the the first six batters he faced but lost his bearings in the third when the defending champions adjusted to his pitches. Taiwan exploded with five runs in the next three frames to complete a three-game sweep of its elimination round assignments. Laurio pitched in no relief giving up six runs on 10 hits with four strikeouts. Tang Huai Lin weaved his magic on the mound confusing the RP batters with his blazing fastballs that resulted to six strikeouts in the two innings he pitched. Tu Li Fan pitched in relief and kept the hosts at bay with his curve balls before Lan Hao Yu finished off the RP batters when he closed out Taiwan's pitching rotation. The loss was the second straight for the Philippines after a 14-1 crushing it suffered at the hands of Japan. They will face Indonesia in the battle for third. Chinese-Taipei and Japan clash in the finals with the winner representing the Asia-Pacific region to the World Pony Series slated from August 6 to 14 in Washington, Pennsylvania. The winner in the battle for third place will be declared the Southeast Asian champion and will earn the right to play in the 2011 World Pony Under-13 tournament. - JVP, GMANews.TV