By REDintern Gerann Ngiam and reader Kenny Goh

singapore softball president's cup

Short stop Gabriel Li makes a throw to first base. (Photo 1 © Roger Lau)

Jakarta, March 25-27, 2011 — Singapore beat Indonesia 2-0 in a three-game series in the inaugural softball President’s Cup. Singapore won the first two games 7-6 and 7-4 respectively before sharing the spoils in a 6-6 tie in Game 3.

This event is expected to be be held annually and both countries will take turns to host the Cup.

With the 2011 SEA Games coming up in Palembang, Indonesia at the end of the year, the Singapore National Men’s Softball Team are aiming to do better than the bronze-medal finish in the 2007 SEA Games held in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.

The current national team is made up of a mix of players from the 2007 squad and some new editions to add depth to the team. However, even with the experienced players from the 2007 squad, the team is still fairly young.

Game 1

Singapore beat Indonesia 7-6 in Game 1.

Singapore surged ahead in the early innings when Kenny Goh drove an outside fastball towards the gap between the Indonesian center and left fielder, driving in Tan Yi Rui and Ng Cheong Yong who got on base through walks.

In the 2nd inning, a barrage of successive singles from Tan Yi Rui, Ganesh and Farhan Harahap created a deadly combination as it scored three runs, making it 5-3 to Singapore at the end of the 2nd.

However the Indonesians made their case as to why they were defending silver medallists by knocking in successive singles of their own to tie up the game at 5 a-piece.

In the 4th Inning, Team Singapore scored two runs to regain the lead through singles by Captain Farhan Harahap and Ivan Ng.

The Indonesians did pull a run back in the 7th. However, the pitching prowess of Liew Kuang Hao combined with the tight defense of Singapore held the Indonesians to just one run with the bases loaded, shutting the door on their opponents.

Singapore Starting Lineup and Batting Order for Game 1
1st — Tan Yi Rui (Left Field), 2nd — Ganesh (Second Base), 3rd — Farhan Harahap (First Base), 4th — Ng Cheong Yong (Designated Hitter), 5th — Kenny Goh (Right Field), 6th — Ivan Ng (Catcher), 7th — Gabriel Li (Short Stop), 8th — Marcus Lew (Third Base), 9th — Ivan Phua (Centre Field), 10th — Leonard Sim (Pitcher)

Game 2
In Game 2, Singapore beat Indonesia 7-4 to go 2-0 up in the overall series.

The game also saw Junior Pitcher Gerann Ngiam start for the first time at the senior level this year. Junior players Zulfiqah, Ivan Phua and Gerann Ngiam were promoted from the national youth squad after successfully winning the silver medal at the 4th Under-19 Asian Youth Softball Championships held in Mumbai, India, in December 2010.

Things did not go as smoothly for the young Singapore squad during the early parts of the game as they let in three runs through good plays by the experienced and older Indonesian players.

Team Singapore were left scoreless and hitless for five straight innings and the game was turning out to be a real test of the team’s mental and physical toughness.

In the 6th inning, with Singapore down 4-0, the young squad showed the crowd watching on in the Central Business District of Jakarta a glimpse of what they were capable of and staged a comeback.

Singles from Alvin Lim, Ganesh and Farhan were followed by deadly triples from Marcus Lew and Farhan Harahap as Team Singapore scored a ridiculous seven runs in that inning to take the lead for the first time in Game 2. The team never lost the lead after that as they were backed up by clutch fielding to secure the win.

Singapore Starting Lineup and Batting Order for Game 2
1st — Tan Yi Rui (Left Field), 2nd — Ganesh (Centre Field), 3rd — Farhan Harahap (First Base), 4th — Kenny Goh (Second Base), 5th — Alvin Lim (Designated Player), 6th — Marcus Lew (Third Base), 7th — Ivan Ng (Catcher), 8th — Andreu Han (Short Stop), 9th — Chang Yit (Right Field), 10th — Gerann Ngiam (Pitcher)

Game 3

Singapore drew 6-6 with Indonesia in the final dead rubber game but the team still showed hunger for despite the previous two victories.

The Indonesians struck strongly in the 1st inning with four straight singles and by the middle of the 2nd inning, they were up 3-0 on the back of their first three batters who produced an array of singles.

However Singapore came back during the same inning with singles from Keefe Tan, Gabriel Li, Alvin Lim and a massive drive down the line from Muhammad Zulfiqah to score four runs and give Singapore a 4-3 lead.

In the 4th inning, Indonesia put on the pressure and scored three straight runs to lead 6-4.

Ng Cheong Yong then pulled a run back in the 5th for Singapore, when he hit a massive home run over the center field fence for Singapore to trail by only one run at 5-6.

Gabriel Li then led off with a triple in the 7th inning to give Singapore momentum to work on and subsequently, clutch bunting by youth player Ivan Phua saw Gabriel Li come home to score the tying run for the match to finish 6-6.

Singapore Starting Lineup and Batting Order for Game 3
1st — Gabriel Li (Short Stop), 2nd — Alvin Lim (Center Field) 3rd — Ng Cheong Yong (First Base), 4th — Jee Boon (Second Base), 5th — Keefe Tan (Right Field), 6th — Roger Lau (Catcher), 7th — Zulfiqah (Left Field), 8th — Chang Yit (Designated Hitter), 9th — Andrew Han (Third Base), Leonard Sim (Pitcher)

Go to next page for more photos