THE ATENEO Lady Eagles fell just short of a second win, as they couldn’t hold on in extra innings losing, 5-4, to the University of the Philippines (UP) Lady Maroons. Clutch plays from UP’s Perales and Molino, as well as Ateneo’s Bea Parma culminated one of the season’s closest and most hard-fought battles — the final one for Clarisse Dacanay, Ira Nevalga and Shereen Salvatierra of Ateneo.

The Lady Maroons took advantage of the rain and muddy field to begin the game as their first three batters loaded the bases with successive bunts. While rookie pitcher Kevyn Lacson would take down the next two batters, UP’s left-fielder Bongat worked a 14-pitch at-bat into a walk to score a run.

The game would then enter a scoring lull, with no runs being scored from the top of the first up until the bottom of the fifth inning, where the Lady Eagles would tie the game. Team Captain Nevalga would nab a base hit, steal 2nd then run to 3rd on a groundout by Nicki Borromeo. It would be Ateneo’s left-fielder Kat Villa-Real who’d hit the game-tying RBI single with a hard groundball that would escape through the infield near short.

One inning later, Coach Randy Dizer would deploy a similar strategy the Lady Maroons pulled off in the first inning. After a short rain delay prior to the sixth inning, sophomores Gabby Macatulad and Noelle Dela Cruz would get on base with a couple of successful bunts. Bea Parma — who has been playing with a fractured finger for most of the season — then hit a flyball to shallow left field that dropped for a 2 RBI double and a 3-1 lead for Ateneo.

UP would cut the lead in half in the bottom part of the 6th inning after second baseman Abanes would triple on a long hit to left field. A sacfly by UP’s Dela Cruz would send in the run.

Despite their lead being cut to 1 entering the bottom half of the 7th, the Lady Eagles looked poised to take the match and notch a 2nd victory to end their season. And after Lacson took down the first two batters, it seemed all the more likely that the Blue and White would take the win, needing just one more out to seal it. However, leadoff batter Perales had other plans as she blasted a solo home run deep into right field and over the fence to tie the game and send it to extra innings.

In the extra frame, the Lady Eagles would receive another gift from junior Bea Parma. Parma would knock the ball into center field that would bring home her fellow Miriam College alumnus Sam Baterina to give Ateneo a 1-run lead entering the bottom half of the eigth.

“It feels so good to actually contribute knowing I was limited by my injury. But, I didn’t let that phase me so instead i just put my mind into the game and I just gave it my all,” said Parma of her incredible show of perseverance.

However, the 1-run cushion she provided was not enough for the Lady Eagles. UP would tie the game on an RBI double by Molino at the beginning of the 8th. With two runners on, Ateneo would then load the bases by walking Bongat. With just one out, UP’s Omul was tasked to bunt for the Lady Maroons, and it proved successful as a bad throw to 1st allowed UP to walk off with the 5-4 victory.

Ironically, the Lady Eagles’ lost the game on an unearned run caused by an error — an area that’s plagued them all season, but kept fairly minimal in this game. Hitting, another area of weakness for most of the year, was also rather successful in this game with most of the players in the starting 9 getting at least a hit. The Lady Eagles just seemed to fall short in spite of putting up a much better performance than they have in the past games.

With the loss, the team finished at the bottom of the standings once again with a 1-11 record, while UP’s win put them at 4 wins on the year in 11 contests. Even with one less win than last season, there was still a positive outlook in the locker room regarding the team’s season even immediately after the crushing defeat.

“This season, maganda naman yung pinakita nila. Hanggang sa huli, nakita naman naming lumaban naman sila. Iyun naman ang gusto ng mga coaches eh: yung lumalaban sila kahit sinuman yung lamang or ahead sa score. (This season, they had a good showing. We always see them fight until the end. That’s all the coaches want to see; That the team fights no matter who is up.),” said Coach Dione Macasu

“Totally maganda. Hindi katulad noong last year na halos lahat hindi namin natatapos yung innings. (Totally good. Not like last year where almost all of the games were couldn’t finish all the innings.),” added Coach Cora Soberre

The star of the game, Bea Parma, who will be a senior next season, also looked towards next year with a similar optimism. “I think next year’s going to be a really good year because we’ve been improving so much compared to be. And, this is a new team and there’s nowhere to go but up.”

The Lady Eagles end the UAAP Season 79 Softball tournament with a 1-11 record

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