University of Santo Tomas secured third place after escaping De La Salle University in eight innings, 3-1 , in the UAAP Season 85 softball tournament on Tuesday at the UP Diliman Baseball Field.
With the Tiger Softbelles ahead 1-0 at the bottom of the sixth inning, Lady Batter April Gonzales hit a single before Gladelyn Alipato sent her home with a flyball to left center field to tie the game.
After a runless top of the seventh by UST, pitcher Kikay Palma did not allow La Salle to score a walkoff win by going 1-2-3 to extend the match.
Tin Bautista and Angela Solidarios drove in Aleona Langga and Shyla Celis in the eighth via a grounder and a sacrifice bunt, respectively, to give the Tiger Softbelles the lead for good as Palma fanned Erin Manalo, Cassandra Inot, and Gonzales at the bottom.
Despite the bronze finish, UST head coach Sandy Barredo expressed that their performance could have been better.
“Bad performance pa rin. Ineexpect ko yung mga seniors magki-click eh pero hindi. Wala sa kundisyon especially si (Kikay) Palma, she’s suffering from a muscle injury. Bawi na lang sa isang taon hopefully makakuha ng players na makakatulong ni Kikay sa pitching area,” said Barredo.
In other games, finalists Adamson University and University of the Philippines dominated separate foes ahead of their second round clash.
The nine-time defending champions quickly finished La Salle in a combined no-hitter performance by April Minanga and Glory Alonzo in the morning, 11-0 abb. 4th, while the Fighting Maroons pounced Ateneo de Manila University, 14-0 abb. 6th.
“Actually nung pumasok ang second round nakikita ko na ang improvement ng hitting namin and hopefully mag tuloy tuloy,” said Adamson head coach Ana Santiago, whose wards peppered the Lady Batters with eight hits, including two solo home runs from Jeelyn Pajotal and Victoria Magbanua.
“Looking forward for the game against UP kasi diba yung last game namin talagang it was a classic game,” added the decorated mentor on their 11:30 am battle on Saturday.
The Lady Falcons blew the game wide open with four and six runs in the third and fourth innings, respectively.
Freshman Minanga registered seven strikeouts in her first start, while Alonzo ended the Lady Batters to invoke the mercy rule.
“We are 100 percent ready,” said UP head coach Ron Pagkaliwagan on facing Adamson anew.
Already ahead 6-0, the Fighting Maroons opened the floodgates even more at the top of the sixth inning as they brought in eight more runs highlighted by April Rosita’s three-run blast to left field.
La Salle ended the tournament with a 1-7 win-loss card and saw seniors Kiana Juan, Madelein Aguilar, Ericka De Jesus, Michelle Santos, and Nica Velasco round the bases for the final time.
The Lines:
Game 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
AdU 0 1 4 6 x x x 11 8 0
DLSU 0 0 0 0 x x x 0 0 2
Game 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
UP 3 0 3 0 0 8 x 14 16 1
Ateneo 0 0 0 0 0 0 x 0 5 2
Game 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 R H E
UST 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 4 2
DLSU 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 1
