Green Batters, Softbelles head in different directions

With an undefeated start to their UAAP 76 campaign, the DLSU Green Batters have shocked everyone as they stand as the surprise league leaders.

However, things aren’t looking too good for the DLSU Softbelles as they currently sport a win-loss record of 1-5 in the UAAP 76 Women’s Softball tournament, tied with the ADMU Lady Eagles for last place. Last year’s champions, the AdU Lady Falcons, lead the tournament with a perfect record.

Facing the fearsome NU Bulldogs, last year’s UAAP runner-up the Green Batters picked up a surprise 5-2 win on opening day behind the efforts of Carlos Munoz, who pitched all nine innings while striking out 10 opponents in the process. Their next foes were even tougher as they faced the powerhouse ADMU Blue Eagles, the reigning UAAP champions. The Green Batters were unfazed though as they walked away with a 13-6 victory which was sparked by a 7-0 run over the first three innings of the match. In their next contest, the Green Batters continued their romp with a convincing 14-4 victory over the UST Growling Tigers and they now sit comfortably atop the league with a 3-0 win-loss record.

Leading the charge for the Green Batters is Munoz, who holds the highest batting average among all players at 0.500. He also holds the most number of hits on the team with four, and he is tied with Luis Laurel and Pocholo Dominguez with three Runs Batted In (RBI) a piece. Leadoff hitter Francisco Hashimoto leads the team in runs with four.

The Softbelles didn’t begin the season as well as their male counterparts, dropping their first two games against the NU Lady Bulldogs and the UP Lady Maroons. It wasn’t until their next game, against the ADMU Lady Eagles, that they picked up their first win. However, they were unable to build on their momentum as the team proceeded to lose each of their final three games of the first round against the AdU Lady Falcons, the UE Lady Warriors and the UST Tigresses.

In most of the games played by the Softbelles, they were beaten by a score of six points or more – losing to NU by six, 9-3, Adamson by 11, 12-1, UST by seven, 11-4, and UE by nine, 16-7. The lone exception was their match against UP, in which they lost by a deficit of just two points, 5-3.

During last year’s season, the Softbelles kicked off by winning two out of their first three games, against Ateneo and UE. However, they did not win another game for the remainder of the tournament and finished the season with a 2-10 record, good for seventh place.

Among the players on the Softbelles, player Genella Cruz leads the team with three RBI, five runs and nine hits. She has the second highest batting average on the team with 0.563, the first going to Gezelle Dilay, with 0.571 though she has only appeared in four games. The team drove in a total of 12 runs in the first half of the season.

The Green Batters will look to continue their chase for the UAAP championship this season as they also look to avenge their poor finish last season wherein they failed to make the top four. The Softbelles are now hanging on for dear life, though their hopes of finishing in the upper echelon of the standings are not yet lost with several second round games yet to be played.