FORGET about the UST Softbelles’ humiliating 0-10 defeat against the University of the East.
A decision by the UAAP board forfeiting the game kept UST’s clean slate, and propelled the squad to the top of the team standings with a 3-0 record alongside defending champion Adamson University.
UST Coach Sandy Barredo said UE’s game against UST and the University of the Philippines were forfeited because shortstopper Maricar Barrientos was not included in the official line-up submitted to the screening committee.
But apart from lady luck shining on the Softbelles, the UST squad’s good fortune can also be credited to their steely offense and defense in other games, like the one they showed versus De La Salle University last January 16, which ended in a 9-2 slaughter.
Softbelle Karen Paghubasan sparked a run in the second frame through Elizabeth Tayag’s outfield grounder for a 1-0 lead. UST openned the third inning with a 4-0 salvo when Season 72 homerun queen Melanie Laserna unleashed a centerfield hit that gave her and teammates Jenalyn Polinario and Lilet Arago safe passage to the home plate. Paghubasan looped around the bases once again, courtesy of La Salle’s Alyssa Bunag’s catching error.
UST’s scoring run went unanswered in the next inning after consecutive fly outs from Marinella Llave and Patricia Puzon, due to the good defensive presence of UST right fielder Tayag and third baseman Paghubasan.
The offensive nightmare that plagued La Salle finally ended when Bunag and Czarina Ferrer whittled twin runs to register the team’s sole two points in the game, due to the lax fielding of UST at the bottom of the fifth inning. But that proved to be its last hurrah as the match ended 9-2 via the mercy rule. The victory was a follow-up to UST’s 11-1 thumping of Ateneo de Manila University last January 9.
Hazy
The road to championship glory remained blurry for the Golden Sox after it took a 4-9 beating from De La Salle Green Archers last January 14 at the Rizal Memorial Ballpark.
De La Salle built momentum in the first inning with Nicholas Uichico and Paolo Mallari, scoring early runners against the feeble defense of the Golden Sox for an early 2-0 lead.
Michael Zapanta halted the bleeding for UST in the second inning, reaching home base through La Salle catcher Miguel Baroque’s error. But the green-and-white batters regained their composure in the next frame after runs made by Mallari, Gabriel Baroque and Uichico.
Easy walks granted to UST’s Mario Cerda, Jr. and Carlo Conge helped the Golden Sox inch closer in the third inning, 5-3. Chun Wang Song’s hit to centerfield propelled Angelo Castillo home to keep De La Salle within reach, 5-4.
This was as far as UST could go as La Salle took over in the succeeding innings with successful runs form Mallari , Uichico, Baroque and Jeffrey Ardio to ultimately bulldoze the España batters’ defense.
“All runs were not ended. In the offense, we were not able to even the score,” coach Jeffrey Santiago said.
Prior to the debacle, the Golden Sox escaped Ateneo by a whisker, 10-9, last January 10.
UST had a comfortable 3-0 buffer until the fourth inning, when the Blue Batters exploded for two runs.
In the fifth inning, the España-based batters sparked a four-run rampage, but Ateneo answered with six runs to bridge the gap at 8-7 by the sixth inning.
Song’s superb hit to centerfield killed the chances of the Loyola-based batters, driving home triple runs with a single at the bottom half of the sixth inning.
Ateneo responded with Carlo Banzon’s lone run in the eighth inning, but it was not enough to save the Eagles. With the loss to La Salle, the Golden Sox now hold a 1-1 win-loss slate.
