The date, March 20, 1972. The event—the 3rd Men’s World Softbll Championship at the Rodriguez Sports Center in the Municipality of Marikina, then still part of Rizal Province,
Canada had just dethroned the United States as world champion and host Phlippines was battling Mexico for fourth place and although there was no medal at stake, a win, at least to the two combatants, was tantamount to winning the gold medal.
It was already at the lower half of the 10th inning when Filomeno “Boy” Codinera Jr. stepped on the plate opposite Mexican hurler Roberto Florencia, considered a legend in his country at that time.
The crowd of 32,000 that included President Ferdinand Marcos, was in suspense motion awaiting for what will happen. Florencia had earlier sent two of Codinera’s teammates to the showers.
Three other Filipino batters were still on board—Reynaldo “Baby” Manzanares, the eventual winning pitcher, Bino Sta. Maria and Francisto Vanta, who at the upper half of that same period, had tagged Florencia with a single each, filling the bases.
It was a full count situation, meaning the guy manning the mound had lured Codinera, called “Blaha” (as in bahala na, or “Minong”) to baseball and softball circle), to swing on three balls and two strikes in an attempt to “kill” him, too and extend the match to another inning.
The fans inside the stadium were up on their feet throughout the more than ten minutes of psychological battle between Codinera, a policeman by profession for the “Manila’s Finest”.
It was a no-win situation though for Florencia, who could have only given his team another lease in life by throwing a perfect pitch the Filipino batter could not be able to lay his bat on. A ball could have advanced Manzanares home and end the Mexican’s bid for a finish higher than fourth.
Florencia opted for a strike, a blinding fastball, which Codinera hit, sending the ball soaring high and out of the stadium’s fence. It landed in the waters of a nearby swimming pool.
It turned out to be a grandslam that saw Manzanares, Sta. Maria and Vanta crossing the plate one after another with Codinera following suit, jogging leisurely while enjoying the cheers of the crowd. Codinera’ heroics handed the Philippines a 6-0 victory with the Blu Boys duplicating a similar fourth place finish which they fahioned out four years earlier in the tournament’s second edition held in Oklahoma.
Pandemonium broke loose as fans, led by Preident Marcos, Rizal Gov. Isidro Rodriguez, then president of organizing Amateur Softball Association-Philippines, spilled through the field, shouting, jumping and celebrating as if the Philippines had pocketed the crown.
“Sa tutoo lang, wala tayong talo sa situwasyon noon,” recalled Codinera, now bed-ridden due to several strokes that struck him the past few years.