WITH pitcher Mallows Garde sitting out the first three innings due to hand injury, the UST Softbelles failed to secure the last finals slot and succumbed to a more-composed National University (NU), 3-5, in their UAAP softball semifinals match at the Rizal Memorial Stadium last Feb. 17.
NU went up early win a run on Coleen Alilin’s solid centerfield hit at the top of the second inning. It was followed by two more runs, one from Whell Gene Nietes, in the succeeding frame.
But the Softbelles snatched the momentum at the bottom of the third inning as they scored two homeruns, the other one from Sundae Alipato, to trim the lead to one.
Garde finally entered the game in the uneventful fourth frame after NU had already erected a 2-3 advantage.
UST came alive in the sixth inning and seemed to be on its way to a championship duel with Adamson University as Angelique Benjamin tallied a run to tie the match at 3-all.
But the Softbelles’ defense collapsed in the seventh frame and allowed two more runs by NU to kiss their title hopes goodbye.
“Missed pitch talaga. Must-score sana sa fifth inning pero hindi nag-contribute ang mid-batting order natin,” coach Sandy Barredo said.
Still, Barredo was satisfied with the Softbelles’ third-place finish this season, a notch higher than their finish last year.
“Sayang, hindi naka-contribute sa overall championship sana,” he said. “But we fought a good fight, and improvement ‘yung nag-third tayo ngayon.”
