Jakarta Blue baseball minor league team, a top contender at the ongoing South East Asia Youth Baseball and Softball Tournament (SEAYBST) in the capital, remains unbeaten after the first three days of the championship.
Jakarta Blue crushed Perth 8-4 (2-0, 0-0, 0-0, 3-2, 0-0, 3-2) in the boys’ minor league match on Tuesday.
“The teams were on par in regard to technique. We managed to capitalize on Perth’s mistakes during the game and pressure them with aggresive play,” Jakarta Blue team manager Iwan Sadono told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Jakarta Blue defeated compatriots Jakarta Silver 12-7 in Monday’s match, while on day one, Jakarta Blue crushed Bangkok 14-2.
The promising host team will meet Singapore on Wednesday and face-off against Manila on Thursday.
“Manila team will be our biggest threat because they are also an aggresive team, besides having great pitchers and their own professional coach,” said Iwan, adding that Jakarta Blue’s coach, Matt Sinder, was in fact a parent of one of a team member.
“I am convinced that we will be able to outrun Singapore tommorow,” added Iwan, whose son Aryo Damar plays a as pitcher, shortstop and first baseman in the team.
The Singapore team will be tough to beat, proving their mettle by winning their first two games against Bangkok (9-1) and Jakarta Silver (7-5).
“I saw [Singapore] play in a tourney last year in Singapore. They did not play well,” said Iwan in high spirit.
Jakarta Blue is a heavily tipped favorite to win this year’s SEAYBST as it is made up by most of the Rockies — the minor league champion team at the Jakarta Youth Baseball Association (JYBA) Tournament, which ran from November last year to March this year.
The tournament, which runs until March 27, is divided into boys’ minor, major and senior league baseball and girls’ major and senior leagues.
In another baseball minor league’s match on Tuesday, Jakarta Silver beat Bangkok 17-13. Meanwhile, in the baseball major league sector, Jakarta Blue defeated Jakarta Silver 7-0, Manila fell to Bangkok 10-12 and Perth 1-2 to Singapore.
In the baseball senior league, Bangkok crushed Perth2 10-5, while in the softball senior league, Manila2 lost to Perth 6-10, and in the softball major, Perth crushed Manila 28-2.
Four baseball minor league matches, three senior league matches, a major league match, and three girls’ softball matches scheduled on Tuesday were stopped due to heavy rain.
Jakarta Blue defeated Jakarta Silver 12-7 in Monday’s match, while on day one, Jakarta Blue crushed Bangkok 14-2.
