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Coach of champion softball team: We wanted to make Pinoys proud 

By ANDREI MEDINA, GMA News

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The coach of the Philippine team that won the Big League Softball World Series (BLSWS)  this week said they wanted to make Filipinos proud by clinching the championship. According to a report of the news site M Live, coach Ana Santiago said “We traveled 8,000 miles to go here because we wanted to be a champion; we wanted to be recognized; we wanted to be proud – Filipino proud,” she added.  Santiago said their victory  was for all the Filipinos who have become victims of the massive floods caused by continuous heavy rains in Luzon in the past few days. She added that the finals game was "dedicated to the people from the Philippines who are experiencing a huge flood." The death toll from several days of heavy rain brought by the southwest monsoon in the Philippines rose to 60 on Friday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said. Seven people remained missing, while 24 roads and three bridges remained impassable to vehicles. Not an easy win After heartbreaking losses in the finals of the BLSWS in the past two years, Team Manila – representing the Asia Pacific region – has finally won the championship at the Vandenberg Park in Kalamazoo, Michigan on August 8.
 
Team Manila scored a 14-2 victory over the Westchester, California Team to secure the win.
The Manila Team didn’t really have it easy during the beginning of the series.
 
They lost their first two matches and this prompted a change of strategy for Santiago, who joined the Manila coaching staff in 2005 and became the manager in 2008.  
After the two losses, Santiago told the team: "No computers, no Internet, no cell phone. Just concentrate on the game."
 
The team then went on a roll to the championship with a six-streak win record and were up against the Westchester, California Team for the championship.
 
Before the finals game, Santiago told the team to "talk to your errors and just tell your errors that they will be here in the meantime in this (room) and that I’ll be back after the game."
 
The Manila team won with flying colors, adding to their winning streak by crushing Westchester 14-2 and becoming the first non-US team to win the championship.
 
Santiago praised the girls, saying “They sacrificed a lot this tournament."
 
In one of Santiago's pep talks, she told the girls, “If you want to be a champion, play like a champion. 
Proud of Team Manila
 
News of Team Manila’s achievement have spread to the Twitter community where some ‘Tweeps’ shared their thoughts about the team’s victory:
 
Angela Agapito: “Congrats to the Philippine girls for finally winning the Big League Softball World Series in Kalamazoo, MI :) #FilipinoProud”
 
Ina Yulo: “Some good news: Philippine Big League Softball team wins the championship at the World Series! The first non-US team to do so!”
 
Alex Zuluaga: “So happy!! After 4yrs of coming in 2nd, our big league softball team finally bagged the number one spot! First non-US World Series Champs!”
 
Irene Tuazon: “Congrats to the Manila Softball Team for being the Big League World Series Champions! You bring sunshine, @manilaleague! :)”
 
rexlit: “Wala man tayong medalya sa Olympics nanalo naman tayo sa Big League Softball World Series at World Hip Hop Championship.” 
- VVP, GMA News
 
Tags: unitedstates, softball, sports
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