Little League Disaster Averted

The Junior Bacolod softball team is going to the World Series after all. After some quick action by Little League Philippines their slot in the annual championship event was restored. Newspaper reports this morning indicated that the team had been dropped by Little League authorities in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. This action was taken as a result of the failure by the Bacolod Senior softball team (14 to 16 years old) to travel to their World Series event in Delaware. Last June the Senior Bacolod team won the right to play in the World Series by defeating Indonesia and Guam in the Asia Pacific Regional.

Little League Philippines however must not rest. There is a need to investigate thoroughly what happened to the Senior Bacolod team. Being winners of the Asia Pacific Regional their cost of travel to the World Series would have been covered by Little League International. The Philippines is sending five teams to various Little League World Series events in the United States this year. Several of the teams faced difficulties in obtaining United States visas. Partly this was because of the controversy last year where a Bacolod coach remained in the United States illegally.

Little League provides the best training and international exposure for youth baseball and softball players from the Philippines. Many players who participated in past Little League international competitions have gone on to represent the Philippines including members of the baseball and softball teams that won gold medals in the 2005 Southeast Asian Games.

Little League Philippines should conduct a thorough investigation of this controversy as well as those that have occurred in the past. There should also be more strict screening of teams that are to represent Philippine Little League in order to avoid future problems. We need to show Little League International that the Philippines has a good and reliable Little League program.