What a time for the University of the Philippines Lady Maroons to come alive.
| TEAMS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| UST (5-4) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 4 | |||||
| UP (3-6) | 2 | 2 | 1 | X | 5 | 7 |
The lady batters from Diliman arrested it’s six game losing streak, holding the University of Santo Tomas Tiger Softbelles, 5-2, Monday morning at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium in Manila.
It the win came at a timely manner as the Lady Maroons kept their slim playoff hopes alive as they are now just a full game behind La Salle and UE for fourth spot with three games to go. UST, on the other hand, has lost four of its last six games, dropping to a 5-4 slate, still good for third.
And it was senior Ella Martinez who secured the win for State U. The 19-year-old pitched all seven innings of the game, allowing seven hits but was able to hold UST down to just two hits in the final four innings of the game.
UP though had to rally back after falling to a 0-2 deficit in the first three innings of the game. A sacrifice fly by Lea Guevarra brought home Mallows Garde during the second inning for the breakthrough run of the game while Garde followede it up in the next inning by bringing home Hannah dela Torre when the bases were loaded.
Third-year MJ Abanes though was able to knot the game at the bottom end of the third inning, knocking a single to left field to bring home two runners.
By then, it ws all UP, having a field day against starting pitcher Ricky Latican and Ariellyn Areglado. Two more runs in the fourth inning, both coming from errors, and an RBI double by Jaz Movido gave UP enough cushion to take home the win.
UST ace Ann Antolihao pitched the last 3 1/3 innings but the offense could not rally back the Tiger Softbelles.
Junior MJ Abanes and batchmate Penales paced UP’s offense wth 2 RBIs each. Abanes went an efficient 2-of-3 at bat as well.
UP will have a four-day break before returning to the diamond as they face the Ateneo Lady Eagles. UST takes on the same team on Thursday, March 2 at 7:30 am.
