ADAMSON University swept the UAAP Season 85 softball tournament Tuesday double-header, blanking Ateneo de Manila University in the morning, 3-0, before disposing of De La Salle University in the afternoon, 6-2, at the UP Dililman Baseball Field.
Already ahead 2-0 against the Lady Batters, Mae Langga added two more runs for the Lady Falcons via a two-runs-batted-in grounder single to bring Krisha Cantor and MJ Maguad home at the bottom of the second inning.
But DLSU answered back in the third inning with Gladelyn Alipato’s single that scored Marian Manansala and Nica Velasco, 2-4, which Adamson responded with two insurance runs in the sixth from Cantor and Madaelene Domaug care of Alaiza Talisik’s grounder and Maguad’s sacrifice fly to seal the deal.
“Sobrang off ang paluan namin, hoping ako sa next game lumabas siya. Ang maganda lang sa kanila kahit close game, hindi sila nara-rattle,” said Adamson head coach Ana Santiago on their tight wins.
Ezra Jalandoni made her much-awaited debut for the Lady Falcons but only pitched three innings against DLSU before being replaced by Glory Alonzo, who already threw a complete game against Ateneo.
Neomay Mahinay and Elsie Dela Torre both went 2-of-3 at-bat against the Blue Eagles, which only got two hits.
In the other game, University of the Philippines stayed perfect after a 7-2 victory over University of Santo Tomas.
Reuel Caogdan and Algrace Adajar connived for the Fighting Maroons, driving in five of their seven runs for a 3-0 record.
“Talagang very prepared kami for this tournament kasi nung last UAAP namin, lesson learned sa amin yun so yung mga bata, buo ang loob nila na this time, babawi kami,” said UP head coach Ron Pagkaliwagan.
Caogdan’s double opened the scoring for UP at the bottom of the first inning, while Adajar extended the gap in the third with a triple to deep left-center field that brought home Danica Aquino and Nickole Dela Cruz, 4-1.
Laica Atlas, Adajar, and Dela Cruz also reached home plate in different innings to stretch the lead to 7-1 before the Tiger Softbelles converted one run in the sixth.
DLSU, Ateneo, and UST remained winless with identical 0-2 records.
The much-awaited clash between unbeaten UP and AdU will be on Saturday at 11:30 am. Meanwhile, UST will face DLSU in the morning before meeting Ateneo in the afternoon.
“Malakas ang UP. Basta ilaro lang namin ‘yung dapat namin ilaro,” said Santiago.
