By Ami Afriatni

Given the chaos that led up to its appearance at the World Men’s Softball Championship, Indonesia’s lackluster showing was hardly surprising.

Indonesia lost all seven of its games in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, only avoiding being shut out entirely by scoring one run in each of its final two Pool B games.

Indonesian Amateur Baseball and Softball Federation (Perbasasi) president Gugun Yudinar said he hoped the team would be better for the experience.

“What can we expect from a team with two weeks of preparation? We almost decided not to send the team to the championship because of a budget shortfall before we found a donor,” Gugun said on Saturday. “I just hope the young players, especially pitchers, could have their first experience playing in international competition and learn a lot from it to face the 2011 Southeast Asian Games to be held in our country.”

Indonesia brought five pitchers to the championship, three of whom were new to international competition. Reza Nurman Chustriawan, Iqbal Tawakal and Syaefullah all represented their country for the first time during the game against Venezuela.

Indonesia lost to Puerto Rico (9-0), South Africa (7-0), Venezuela (18-0), Canada (9-0) and Australia (10-0) before getting on the board.

Danika Sarottana scored Indonesia’s first run of the tournament, crossing the plate during his team’s 15-1 loss to Argentina on Thursday. On Friday, Muhammad Saputra scored the lone run for Indonesia during its 8-1 loss to the Czech Republic.

Otto Minarto led Indonesia at the plate with four hits during the tournament. Heri Haeruman and Rizki Ramdhani each had three hits, while Saputra, Danika, Jakaria and Fricharda Oestabima each hit safely twice.

Gugun said the next step for Perbasasi is to hold a decentralized training camp in preparation for the 2011 SEA Games. The toughest opponents standing in the way of Indonesia’s goal of gold, Gugun added, were Thailand and the Philippines.

The proposed camp would take place in Jakarta, Lampung, West Java, East Java and East Kalimantan provinces. During the camp, Perbasasi plans to hold monthly tests for players to assess their readiness.

“I’m thinking of a foster father program to succeed the plan, and Perbasasi will work it out. If we make it, I’m sure we’ll win the gold in 2011,” Gugun said.

The Philippines finished fifth in Group A, winning three of its seven games. It defeated Great Britain 4-3 in its tournament opener and also beat Mexico (7-4) and Botswana (7-5).

Japan, the other Asian nation at the event, reached the knockout rounds after finishing 4-3 in Group A.

It beat the Philippines (5-0), Mexico (10-4), Botswana (9-4) and Denmark (14-7) in pool play. It beat Argentina 7-6 in knockout play before falling 9-6 to New Zealand. Softball

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