It’s been six years since the last time the Negros Occidental softball team represented the Philippines in the Little League Softball Asia-Pacific Regional Tournament and the Little League World Series.
Just before Holy Week, the Negros Occidental Little League Charter captured the major and senior divisions of the 2017 Philippine Series in Dumaguete City, the qualifying tournament for the Asia-Pacific regional tournament, set to take place in Singapore.
The tournament is the gateway to the Little League World Series, held every year in the United States.
Aside from winning at the Palarong Pambansa over the years, the Negros Occidental softball teams have also represented the country and brought home World Series honors several times.
Back in 1996, the Philippines became World Series Junior League title champions, courtesy of the Paglaum National High School in Bacolod City.
Also, aimed at honoring the longtime supporters in the province, the Little League of the Philippines, in partnership with the Sports Communicators Organization of the Philippines-Bacolod, Inc. and the city government of Bacolod, brought the 2011 Little League Softball Asia-Pacific Regional Tournament to the University of St. La Salle in 2011. Teams from China, Indonesia, and Guam competed against the Philippines in four divisions.
With the successful staging of that event, many softball fanatics are praying the tournament returns to the province./WDJ