THE UST Tiger Softbelles dominated the DLSU Lady Batters, 6-0, to close out the first round of the UAAP Season 86 softball tournament at the UP Diliman Baseball Field on Saturday, March 9.
UST ended the first round with a 3-1 win-loss record for the second spot behind the undefeated Adamson Lady Falcons (4-0), while DLSU dropped to a 2-2 tally.
A Charlotte Sales double in the bottom of the first inning advanced Erika Fernandez to third and allowed Christine Bautista to hit a sacrifice fly to plate Fernandez and give UST the opening lead, 1-0.
In the bottom of the second inning, Shyla Celis scored a leadoff single and a subsequent steal to third that set up Mharnie de la Cruz to hit an RBI single and double UST’s lead, 2-0.
The onslaught didn’t stop in the second inning as Lyca Blanco squared up DLSU pitcher Joerjette Jordan’s fastball for a two run-batted-in (RBI) triple to score Campos and De la Cruz, followed by a double by Erika Fernandez that scored Blanco to extend UST’s lead, 5-0.
UST rookie Helga Campos added a run after stealing third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a Fernandez sacrifice fly, 6-0.
After six dominant innings courtesy of starting pitcher Celine Chang, Royevel Palma struck out DLSU’s Kyle Matarong and Kristina Reyes, before grounding Julianne Moral to first to put the finishing touches on the UST win.
Chang tallied five strikeouts and six shutout innings to add to her already terrific debut season.
“Maganda performance ni Celine. Una kasi dapat three innings lang siya pero nagpakita siya ng maganda so tinuloy-tuloy namin para mahasa na rin siya,” UST assistant coach Esmeralda Tayag told the Varsitarian.
The league has yet to announce the game schedules for the second round.
