After the Negros Occidental junior league and little league softball teams won the 2018 Little League Softball Asia-Pacific qualifiers in Singapore, with each earning berths in this year’s Softball World Series, the Bacolod City government recently awarded each team with P500,000.

The teams will next be playing in separate tournaments in the United States.

Members of both teams recently paid a courtesy call on Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia at the Bacolod City Government Center.

Both teams also played in the World Series last year.

Last year, the team comprised of Domingo Lacson National High School students made it to the finals of the 2017 Senior League Softball World Series, before falling in the finals, 4-0, to host team Delaware-District 3 at the Bruce Layton Field in Lower Sussex, Delaware in the United States. This year, they qualified for the Junior League Softball World Series, while will take place from July 29 to August 25 in Kirkland, Washington.

Meanwhile, students from the Education and Training Center School (ETCS) III made it to the Little League Softball World Series last year in Portland, Oregon, also in the US, but exited the tournament after four games. This year, students from ETCS I qualified for the same competition, which will take place from August 8 to 15 in Portland.

Joining the teams during their visit were Department of Foreign Affairs Regional Consular Office-Bacolod officer-in-charge Carolina Constantino and Annie Briones, a member of her staff, who processed passports for the teams./WDJ