REIGNING champion UST Golden Sox demolished the twin towers of UAAP baseball in their last two games to sweep the tournament at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Park.
UST crushed last year’s runner-up National University (NU), 6-5, last January 27 after escaping past defending “three-peat” champions Adamson University, 4-3, last January 20 to finally stop its six-year championship dry spell.
“We worked hard and this is the result. I told them to think as if it were just an ordinary game so that they won’t get pressured,” coach Jeffrey Santiago said. “I also told them not to be overconfident.”
The Golden Sox took over the game with a series of runs after the fourth inning. They were then trailing NU, 0-2.
Leading by a whisker at the top of the eighth inning and with two team outs, UST scored another runner via John Pedracio’s right field hit and errors committed by NU’s third baseman Mick Natividad, 6-4. In the bottom half, NU responded with a run of its to inch closer, 6-5.
However, that was only as far as NU could go as the team went scoreless in the ninth inning. NU’s biggest headache then was pitcher Amber Plaza, who was called at the last minute to relieve Gerald Mitra on the mound.
“I was a bit nervous but I really wanted to pitch. I did not expect that coach would let me so when he did, I just gave my all. I knew I could do it,” said Plaza who is on his second playing year.
“I was really thinking of using Plaza in the last inning. He has great speed and a lot of variations [in pitching]. He is really for the kill,” said Santiago, who had tapped Best Pitcher Glenn Tuazon and Mitra in most of the previous games.
In the fourth inning, Rookie of the Year Arvin Plaza made the first run for UST followed by Kasulhay Argel and Nikko Reyes’ twin runners to lead the game at 3-2.
The black-and-gold squad continued pounding on the opponent, scoring a point each in the fifth and sixth inning.
In the fifth frame, Arvin Plaza made another run from the second base after Argel’s fly ball and NU centerfielder Russel dela Cruz’s error. In the bottom half, NU retaliated by making a run via a stolen base after UST’s third baseman Arcel Aligno also made an error, 4-3.
The España-based batters also took home special awards. Reyes snared the Most Runs Batted In with 13 RBIs, Most Homeruns and Best Slugger awards. He was also hailed as this season’s Most Valuable Player.
“I did not expect all this because in the second round my playing was off,” said Reyes, a second year Commerce student.
Meanwhile, the UST Softbelles failed to defend their crown as Adamson ran away with an elimination sweep which made them eventual champions.
In the last game of the tournament, the España-based softbelles outran fifth- seeded Ateneo de Manila University, 3-2, last January 22 at the UP field.
An unyielding Ateneo team was evident in the first inning as they scored first, 0-1, but UST banged Ateneo’s defense and tied the match, 1-all.
At the top of the seventh inning the Katipunan-based softbelles scored an RBI giving them the lead, 2-1 but UST solidified the match with another run in bottom of the seventh inning. Frauleine Michelle S. Villanueva and Anne Marie Carmela L. Dayauon
