UAAP: Lady Batters defeat UE, Green Batters enter finals

The DLSU Lady Batters picked up their second win in the second round as they got the better of the UE Lady Warriors, taking a 4-2 victory last Wednesday, February 25.

On the other hand, the DLSU Green Batters survived a late game run by the ADMU Blue Eagles, defeating the defending champions in a tight match, 14-12, last February 26 at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.

With the Green Batters’ victory, they advance to the finals wherein they will meet the Blue Eagles once again in a best-of-three series. This season’s finals will be a rematch of last season’s where Ateneo emerged victorious over La Salle.

Careful plays

The Lady Warriors were the first to score in the match as Niloban got away with a run. In the second inning, UE’s Jaspe completed another run to follow up their first point, giving the Warriors a score of 2-0.

Trailing by two points, the Lady Batters kept UE from bagging more runs while trying to get some of their own. The momentum shifted to DLSU when they suddenly attacked the Lady Warriors with an onslaught of runs, ending the fourth inning with a 4-0 run for La Salle, courtesy of Jamica Arribas, Pat Belarmino, Judie Ramos, and Judy Ann Macatangay.

The teams’ scores were at a standstill in the remaining innings, finishing the match with a final score of 4-2, in favor of DLSU. During the game, the UE Lady Warriors accumulated a total of three hits, two were completed as runs. Meanwhile, the Lady Batters brought home four of the six hits they made.

Back in the finals

The Green Batters started the first inning on a high note as Dino Imperial was able to send Paolo Salud home. Meanwhile, four-year veteran Carlos Muñoz and team captain Carlos Laurel were able to go back to the home base for the second and third points of La Salle behind a hit by rookie Boo Barandiaran.

Franco Hashimoto went for second base after slugging the ball to the right field and also sent Barandiaran and Pocholo Dominguez back to the home base. In the bottom half of the inning, La Salle’s errors gave an opportunity to three players to score the first three points of the Blue Eagles.

The Katipunan-based squad was able to score another point before ending the first inning. La Salle led Ateneo by three after the first inning, 7-4.

Both teams were even in the second inning with two points apiece but La Salle was not able to score in the third inning while Ateneo had one point. However, the Green Batters were able to come back in the fourth inning and dominated the Blue Eagles, 3-0. Barandiaran, Muñoz, and Paul Naguit successfully went back to the home base and scored the additional points for DLSU.

After the fifth inning, La Salle was still ahead of Ateneo, 13-9. No scores were produced by the two squads in the sixth and seventh innings until Barandiaran scored a point for the Green-and-White in the eighth inning. The Blue Eagles also scored one point in the inning.

In the final inning, the Green Batters were unable to score a point while Ateneo executed a double play. The match started to heat up as the Blue Eagles scored two points with all bases occupied by the Ateneo Batters.

A pinch hitter was tapped in hopes to turn the tides for the Blue Eagles. Untalan hit a fly ball that concluded the match in favor of the Green Batters. La Salle head coach Joseph Orillana feels good about the win against Ateneo and says that the victory may be a good head start for them as they enter the finals. “Parang ito na yung preparation namin for the championship,” he shares.

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Before proceeding to the finals, the Green Batters will still face the UP Fighting Maroons and continue their match which was suspended last February 22 due to weather conditions.

The continuation of the game will be on Sunday, March 1, at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium. The said match will no longer affect the standings due to the lead of La Salle and Ateneo over the rest of the pack.

The Lady Batters, for their part, will once again face the unbeaten AdU Lady Falcons at 12 noon this Saturday, February 28, in hopes to steal a win from the defending champions.