Sometimes, it is necessary to move forward from a situation, even without a resolution, to focus on bigger things and look at what happened in a better light.
This applies to what happened to Ateneo de Manila University catcher Joaquin Casanova after he incurred a neck injury in his collision with University of the Philippines’ shortstop Nano Asuncion in the two universities’ first-round match-up. The latter, running at full speed towards home plate, dove and collided with Casanova, who was waiting to field the ball and tag the batter-runner, causing the Ateneo rookie to fall hard.
Casanova was stretchered out of the game while Asuncion was suspended for one match.
“I was supposed to be out for a couple of weeks, but thankfully, after missing the first game, my neck started to feel a little better. It was uncomfortable, but it wasn’t hurting anymore. It was enough for me to play since,” the homegrown youngin shared, recalling the only game he missed against Adamson University, where he came to watch albeit on neck support.
Going back to that incident, Casanova said, “At first, I didn’t notice him (referring to Asuncion), but then, for me, it would’ve been part of the play. But then, usually when plays like that happen, you usually say sorry right after, but until now, I haven’t gotten an apology from him.
“So I guess it’s water under the bridge already.”
With the former Ateneo High School team captain back behind the plate for the Blue Eagles, the proud baseball squad tried to arrest its skid.
However, after that tension-filled loss against the Fighting Maroons, they have yet to discover their winning form, getting their sixth straight loss from the same squad where it all started. And for the first time in recent years, they will be missing the UAAP Finals, something Casanova was not expecting.
“We have high expectations, especially since all of us were the stars in each of our respective high schools. So coming in, we really have high expectations for ourselves. Especially after winning the first two games, we are expected to at least dominate many more games,” the rookie said.
“But we had a cold spell in the next few games, but thankfully, today we had a better game than those last few games where we lost by a lot of points.”
A solid game against the league-leading Fighting Maroons was something Casanova and the rest of the Ateneo team look to build on as they will try to finish the season strong, not just for pride, but to also show everyone they are ready for a comeback in Season 86.
“The last two games, as much as they are non-bearing as our hopes for the Finals are gone, we still want to make a statement, especially for our team next season. This team — I don’t know how many will graduate, but maybe less than three. So we will pretty much be the same team,” he said.
“So we want to make a statement that for the next season, we’ll be the team to beat.”
