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INTERNATIONAL Little League Association of Manila (ILLAM) put three
of its teams in the championship playoffs in all but one divisions
in boys baseball and two in girls softball as the 2008 Little League
Philippine Series lower its curtains Sunday at the Alabang Country
Club fields.
The ILLAM batters lost its titles in both the
centerpiece Major League (11-12) boys baseball and girls softball
but can console themselves when their teammates face separate
opponents in the finals of the Junior League (13-14), Senior League
(14-16) and Big League (14-16) as well as in girls softball Junior
League and Big League.
The ILLAM Junior Leaguers battle host Muntinlupa
City, their Senior Leaguers duel with their counterparts from
Tanauan City and their Big Leaguers meet the boys from Makati City
in the hope of representing the country in the Asia Pacific
championships in those divisions this coming June 28 to July 5 in
Saipan.
ILLAM’S red-white and blue-clad softbelles
take on the girls from Bacolod City West for the girls softball
Junior League crown and the Manila Golden Girls for the Big League
plum where winners will proceed to Guangzhou in China for the Asia
pacific elimination on the way to the World Series.
Instead of ILLAM, winner of the Major League
baseball last year, it will be the boys from Tanauan that will
dispute the 11-12 title against Muntinlupa with the winner earning a
trip to Hong Kong Disneyland for the Asia Pacific championship.
Cavite and Bacolod take each other for the
Major League softball diadem, while another team from the City of
Smile will battle Muntinlupa for the Senior League softball
championship.
Makati City earned the right to face ILLAM for
the Big League baseball crown via the winner over the other rule
after tying Palayan City in second place behind ILLAM.
Muntinlupa completed ILLAM’s dethronement as
the Major League baseball kingpin with a masterful 16-9 victory in
the semifinal round yesterday, while Tanauan paved the way for the
title showdown with the Batanguenos following a 13-2 thrashing of
Bulacan.
The championship playoff action start at 7:30
a.m.
-- Eddie Alinea
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