JAKARTA -- The Philippine Blu Girls opened their Asian Games campaign on a bright note, blasting Hong Kong 7-0 Sunday night at the Gelora Bung Karno softball field in a game that was called off after four and a half innings due to the mercy rule.
The Blu Girls pulled away right from the start, scoring six runs while holding Hong Kong scoreless in the first inning. After both sides failed to score in the second and third, the Philippines added one more run in the fourth as Hong Kong continued to commit errors.
After Hong Kong failed to make headway in the fifth inning, the game was officially called off due to the mercy rule, which states that a team ahead by seven or more runs after five innings automatically wins.
Coach Randy Dizer, however, was far from satisfied with the lopsided win.
"We lacked hitting," he said. "We were just helped by their own errors. If we perform this way against Korea [on Monday] we will be in trouble."
The Blu Girls have a hectic Monday ahead of them as they face Korea in the afternoon and then China later in the evening. The top four teams in the seven-nation, one-round robin tournament will advance to the stepladder semifinals, so every win counts.
Korea beat Hong Kong, 5-1, in the opening game of the tournament, then lost 2-3 to Chinese Taipei a few hours later. Hosts Indonesia suffered twin shutout losses, bowing to China, 12-0, and Japan, 7-0.