The Philippines Women's National Softball Team, nicknamed the "Blu Girls", is the national team of

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. They are governed by the

Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines The Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines is the national governing body for softball in the Philippines. It is accredited by the International Softball Federation which is the governing body for the sport of softball in the world. It c ...

. They won a bronze medal in 1970

ISF Women's World Championship The Women's Softball World Cup is a fastpitch softball tournament for women's national teams held historically every four years, now every two years, by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). The tournament, originally known as the ''I ...

in Osaka, Japan and it was their first medal won in a World Championship. The Philippines is among the best teams in Southeast Asia having won the gold medal in every edition of the Southeast Asian Games which had women's softball event.

History

The Philippine women's team were a powerhouse in Asia never placing outside the top 10 in the global rankings during the 1970s although the Philippines always ranked behind

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Their greatest achievement at that time was the third-place finish at the

Women's Softball World Championship The Women's Softball World Cup is a fastpitch softball tournament for women's national teams held historically every four years, now every two years, by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). The tournament, originally known as the ''I ...

in 1970. They placed fourth in the 1974 edition. They are also a dominant force in Southeast Asia, having won all the gold medals in all editions of the

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supe ...

where women's softball was contested. However, by the 1990s, the Philippine national team experienced a decline. The team competed at the 1990

Normal, Illinois Normal is a town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was 52,736. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area, and Illinois' seventh most ...

where they finished with 4 wins and 5 losses. At the 1998

Fujinomiya City is a city located in central Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 132,507 in 56,655 households, and a population density of 340 persons per km². The total area of the city is . History The city name comes from ...

where they finished sixteenth and only managed to secure a single win. The policy of the

Philippine Sports Commission The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC, ) is an agency of the Philippine government which tackles matters concerning sports in the country. The sports agency is independent from the Philippine Olympic Committee which enjoys autonomy from the gov ...

of dismantling the national training pool whenever a particular sport was scrapped from the calendar of events of the Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games, and the Olympics contributed to the women's softball team's decline. In the 2000s, Raul Saberon, a businessman and a former men's national softball and baseball player, secured financial support for the women's softball team from

Jean Henri Lhuillier Jean Henri Diago Lhuillier (, born March 24, 1969) is a Filipino businessman, diplomat and sports patron. He is the President and CEO of the PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies, which operates and manages Cebuana Lhuillier, the largest micro financi ...

, who later became head of the

.The team made a failed attempt to qualify for the

2006 Asian Games 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

and the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

though made some progress. At the

2017 Asian Women's Softball Championship The 2017 Asian Women's Softball Championship was an international softball tournament which featured twelve nations and was held from 29 November–4 December 2017 in Taichung, Taiwan. The top five teams qualified for the 2018 Asian Games while t ...

, the Philippines finished second to Japan, the best finish of the country in 45 years. In doing so, they qualified for the

and

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

in 2018.

Roster

National squad for the

2014 World Cup of Softball The ninth World Cup of Softball was held between July 7–13, 2014 in Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine ...

, July 7–13, 2014. Head Coach: Randy Dizer National squad for the

2017 World Cup of Softball The twelfth World Cup of Softball was held between July 5-9, 2017, in Oklahoma City. Japan defended their championship by defeating the United States in the title game. Participating teams Seven countries participated in the tournament with the U ...

, July 5–9, 2017. Head Coach: Randy Dizer

Competition results

World Cup

USA Softball International Cup

Asian Games

Southeast Asian Games

Notes

References

External links

International Softball Federation
{{Women's national softball teams Women's national softball teams Women's national sports teams of the Philippines Softball in the Philippines