By MARK REY MONTEJO
The Philippine women’s softball team continued its climb on the global stage after improving three rungs in the latest World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) rankings.
According to the WBSC’s updated rankings released Wednesday, Dec. 31, the Blu Girls moved up to No. 13 with 993 points, buoyed by the 227 points they earned in 2025 which was enough to lift them to fourth place in the Asian region.
The Nationals won their 11th straight gold medal after sweeping their rivals in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.
Though the Filipina batters took 45 points for their SEAG victory, it was their fourth place finish in the Women Softball Asia Cup 2025 in Xi’an, China last July that earned them 182 points and served as the biggest contribution to their ranking improvement.
Still No. 1 in the standings is Japan with 3649 points, followed by USA (3490), Puerto Rico (3010), Canada (2667), Chinese Taipei (2276), the Netherlands (1988), Mexico (1825), China (1686), Italy (1542), and Czech Republic (1520).
Meanwhile, the men’s team climbed two places to No. 17 with 290 points.
They also conquered the SEA Games and remained at No. 4 in Asia.
Japan is also atop the men’s side with 2989 points ahead of Venezuela (2621), Argentina (2325), Canada (2165), and USA (1964).
