Adamson punches ticket to softball Finals

c/o UAAP

Adamson solidified its quest for an eleventh straight UAAP title in softball after a 5-0 shutout victory over La Salle at the UP Baseball Field inside the Diliman campus, anchoring their performance with a couple of home runs.

Khrisha Cantor legged out a solo inside-the-park homer in the second inning, while pinch-hitter Mary Jane Libaton contributed hers in the sixth inning.

Angelu Gabriel and Alaiza Talisik each netted hits for the Lady Falcons, while also managing to eventually touch home.

Even with the victory, their sixteenth straight dating back to last season, head coach Ana Santiago still thinks there is room for improvement.

She says, "Medyo mababa 'yung opensa namin ngayon but a win is a win."

When about about their final match of the eliminations against UST, Santiago notes, "Let's see kung paano kami maglalaro against (University of Santo Tomas) kasi no-bearing na sa 'min. Pero kahit no-bearing na, we'll treat it like any other game, kasi ang preparation namin is for the Finals na. Kung paano kami maglalaro against UST will show how we'll play sa Finals."

The Green Archers finish their season with a 1-7 record, but their gallant stand made it difficult for the Lady Falcons to manufacture runs.

In the other matchup, the University of the Philippines rode on a three-run fifth inning to secure a 4-1 victory over UST.

Generose Torremocha and Danica Aquino's hits got them on base, with a couple of errors eventually getting them home. powered those runs to break the game open, with Ricca Vispo adding the other run to erect a 4-0 lead.

This was a half-inning after the Fighting Maroons got consecutive fly ball outs to hold off the Tiger Softbelles, who had Jojielyn Lim and Shyla Celis in scoring position to potentially tie the game or even snatch the lead.

Ron Pagkaliwagan shared afterwards, "Sinabi ko lang sa kanila na maniwala sila sa sarili nila na kaya nila. Kahit pa national team 'yung kalaban, kaya naman naming lumaban. Ito nga 'yung resulta."

The win moves UP to a game back of UST heading into the final round of the eliminations on April 3.

The Maroons will need to win their match against Ateneo at 3pm, then hope that Adamson defeats UST at 5pm to force a playoff for the second finals spot.

The Lines:

La Salle   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 1 4

Adamson 0 1 2 0 0 2 x - 5 5 3

UP   1 0 0 0 3 0 0 - 4 5 4

UST 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 1 3 5