The DLSU Lady Batters added another win to their UAAP Season 87 Softball Tournament standing after making quick work of the ADMU Blue Eagles, 9-1, earlier today, March 18, at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.
Monster start
The Lady Batters fielded a different starting squad in their matchup against the Blue Eagles. Glecilyn Alipato stepped in as pitcher, which proved to be the right decision as she forced the Ateneo hitters to strike out at the top of the first. La Salle capitalized on their early defensive stops. Team Captain Cassandra Inot immediately got a hit at the bottom of the first, allowing her to get to third base. Tiffany Labargan followed up on her captain’s efforts, hitting the ball to enable Inot to get a run, 1-0.
At the top of the second, the Green-and-White quickly caught the Ateneo hitters before they could get a run to immediately switch to the bottom of the second. As the momentum was on DLSU’s side, Jeryll Duller and Inot loaded the bases after their hits were too much for Ateneo to handle. With a run imminent, Labargan wrote a sequel to her first inning hit, sending the Ateneo defense scrambling again and allowing Duller and Inot to get a run to extend La Salle’s lead, 3-0.
La Salle made quick work again of ADMU’s hitters at the top of the third inning. The Lady Batters pulled away in the bottom of the third as their hits and tactical runs were too much for the Blue Eagles to handle. With the bases loaded, April Gonzales and Alipato get early runs to give La Salle an even bigger lead, 5-0. But La Salle did not stop there, as they had runners in all bases ready when Labargan once again showed a powerful hit, 9-0.
Quick ending
With a comfortable lead, the Green-and-White let a run slip at the top of the fourth. Raya Franco finally scored for Ateneo after working her way through the bases, 9-1. However, the Atenean top inning was short lived as DLSU stepped up on defense. La Salle, however, were unable to extend their lead as Gonzales, Joerjette Jordan, and Jazmin Visaya’s hits were caught before they could make a run for base.
In the fifth inning, Jordan returned to the mound to pitch for La Salle again. Her fresh throwing arm proved to be the exclamation point for the win as she forced early outs for ADMU to end the inning and seal the win, 9-1.
After the game, Head Coach Jasper Cabrera shared that he rotated his squad today to preserve the energy for their upcoming games, “Unang-una, ini-start ko si Glecilyn (Alipato), ni-reserve ko si Jordan para sa UP. If ever dikitan ang laban, naka-ready naman siya; kaya pinasok ko siya nung huli para mag-close at least na-regularize ‘yung game namin para siguardo. Tapos ginamit ko mga reserve player para makapahinga yung iba kasi yung iba may mga sakit; naramdaman sa katawan. Kaya hati-hati sila.”
(I started Glecilyn (Alipato) because I wanted to reserve Jordan for the game versus UP. If ever the game was close, she was ready to come in; so in the end, I still used her to close and regularize the game, to be sure. And I used the reserve players so that the other players can rest because others are getting sick; they are feeling it in their bodies. That is why they split the workload today.)
“‘Yung third inning na ‘yun, nagagalit ako kasi nag-relax sila. Kaya napasigaw ako [kasi] sabi ko…hindi [sila] nag-all out dito, kasi ang target more runs talaga. Gusto ko action more on hitting. Sabi ko if hindi tumama or mag-score nang malaki, mag-ensayo tayo bukas.”
(In the third inning, I got mad because they relaxed a bit. That is why I screamed because I said they are not going all out, because the target is really to have more runs. I wanted more action on the hitting. I told them if we do not score big, we will practice tomorrow.)
After securing back-to-back wins, the Lady Batters now have a 3-3 record in their campaign. They will be looking to rise further in the standings when they take on the UP Fighting Maroons on Saturday, March 22, at 10 am at the same venue.
