| SCOREBOARD |
| FINAL | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | R | H |
| UE (1-0) | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 12 |
| UP (0-1) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 |
Coming into the season, the UP Lady Maroons had a good outing in preseason tournaments. The team placed 3rd in the Intercollegiate Softball tournament behind the Adamson Lady Falcons and the National University Lady Bulldogs. With that result, the team was pegged to be a contender in the UAAP Season 77 tournament.
The UE Lady Warriors, led by rookie Imee Salvador’s two runs and three RBI’s, spoiled the UAAP Season 77 debut of the Lady Maroons with a 10-4 extra inning drubbing last Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.
After a scoreless 1st inning that saw both teams adjust to the pitching of their opponents, the Lady Warriors made up for a two-out start in the 2nd inning to score three runs behind a homerun by Salvador. The UE lead extended to 4-0 at the top of the 3rd inning via a Jonavie Jerezano RBI that led to a Mary Rose Panes run.
The Lady Maroons slowly ground their way back into the game during the bottom of the 3rd inning. A single by Gabriela Paz and Cherokee Diolata and an accidental hit-by-pitch on Angela Penales loaded the bases for UP. Chantal Bongat was then awarded a walk due to base-on-balls to give Paz a run. A catching error by 2nd baseman Charlene Quintos on a fly ball by UP team captain Louise Hashimoto paved the way for Penales and Diolata to score runs, cutting the UP deficit to just a solitary point.
The Lady Maroons tied things up at 4-4 at the bottom of the 4th inning. Lily Gonzales made a base hit to open the bottom of the 4th and then stole 2nd base during Cruz’s at bat. A catching error by UST 1st baseman Panes gave Gonzales the chance to run to home plate to tie the game.
The next three regulation innings were a display of excellent fielding for both teams. UP left fielder Penales and 1st baseman, rookie Jazreel Movido stymied the UE batters during regulation while the same was said for UE left fielder Josephine Francisco.
With the game still tied after seven innings, the game went into an 8th inning with the Lady Warriors batting first. All throughout the game, ironwoman and pitcher Diolata was not subbed out. The fatigue of pitching eight straight innings took its toll on her pitches in the 8th. The floodgates opened as newly-substituted Elvie Senangote, Lovely Redaja, Junaiza Jaspe, Quintos, and Salvador all scored in succession to give UE a five run lead. Roxzell Niloban also scored a run for the Lady Warriors to cap-off a game-breaking inning. The UP Lady Maroons failed to score a run in the 8th inning to give UE the win.
Salvador’s two runs and three RBI’s led the Lady Warriors. Fellow rookie Quintos also had two runs for the Lady Warriors together with two RBI’s. For the Lady Maroons, Diolata led the team with one run, three hits, and two RBI’s. As the sole pitcher for the Lady Maroons this game, she gave-up 10 runs, 11 hits, 8 ERs, 9 1B, 2 2B, 1 HR and four errors.
The UE Lady Warriors will next face the 0-1 ADMU Lady Batters while the Lady Maroons face-off against the rejuvenated DLSU Lady Batters on Wednesday, January 28.
