THE UST Golden Sox kept their momentum going, scoring back-to-back victories while their female counterparts dropped their third game, in separate duels at the Rizal Stadium in Manila.
Defending champions Golden Sox scored their second win in a row against Adamson University, 12-7, last Jan. 19, four days after overwhelming the University of the Philippines, 9-4.
Gerald Mitra’s ground ball on top of the last inning gave reigning MVP Nikko Reyes and Christian Mercado an easy run to erect a 12-7 lead and ensure victory for UST.
Playing his first season, Mercado stepped up and nailed a left fielder that allowed Season 73 Rookie of the Year Arvin Plaza to the home plate early that inning.
A late-game Adamson surge almost erased the 9-7 lead of UST after Carlo Conge, who hauled three runs for the Golden Sox, and Giovanni Ona were benched due to cramps. But the rest of the team held the fort all the way to the end.
“The team’s game is back somehow,” said coach Jeffrey Santiago, whose wards lost their opening game against De La Salle University last Jan. 12.
“The boys were a bit complacent. Our offense was good in the first inning but it got cold later on,” he added in Filipino.
On top of the second inning, Reyes batted a homerun that paved the way for Conge and team captain Kasulhay Argel and stretch UST’s lead, 8-3. The Golden Sox waxed hot in the opening inning with a 5-0 advantage. But they went cold in the fourth before getting their bearings back in the eight inning.
Hapless softbelles
The rookie-laden UST Softbelles yielded to defending champion Adamson, 1-5, last Jan. 18.
Season 73 MVP and RP team mainstay Julie Marie Muyco led Adamson with accurate pitching, which pestered UST’s offense with strikeouts and flyouts.
It was only in the fifth inning that the Softbelles were able to score via a Lovely Basa homerun.
“They were lucky because they scored off our errors,” UST coach Sandy Barredo said in Filipino. “Our pitching improved later on but we could not back it up with good defense.”
Pressure went high for the Softbelles in the sixth inning as Bacolod standout Angelique Benjamin batted a fiery left fielder, sending her teammates Sundai Marie Alipato and rookie Rachelle Ann Secor to second and third bases, respectively.
UST’s Lovely Basa smashed a grounder for possible double home runs, but Adamson’s basemen reigned supreme in the end eliminating Secor just seconds before reaching home base.
Erratic batting and sloppy defense plagued the España batters early in the first inning, allowing the Falcons to chalk up two runs for a 0-2 lead.
