The Ateneo Lady Eagles’ 7th inning comeback fell short once again, as they dropped their second game in three days, 6-5, to the University of the Philippines (UP) Lady Maroons on Monday, February 6 at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium in Manila.
Down 2 with two runners on base and two outs in the final inning, Clarisse Dacanay hit towards the gap at right field, giving the Lady Eagles an opportunity to tie. However, only one runner scored for Ateneo, as Gabby Macatulad was tagged out at home plate, allowing UP to escape with their second win in a row.
UP opened scoring after Mary Joy Abanes drove the ball to deep left corner for an in-the-park homerun. The Blue and White answered quickly on a sacrifice fly by Kat Villa-Real, after they loaded the bases with no outs. However, the Lady Eagles were not able to capitalize further as UP’s Ella Martinez finished the inning without giving up any more runs. The Lady Maroons retook the lead in the 2nd inning after an RBI Triple by Novido, followed by a sacrifice fly by Martinez which sent Novido home.
Trailing 3-1, the Lady Eagles once again found themselves in a bases loaded, no out position in the bottom of the 4th inning. But the Blue and White were only able to secure one run in the inning, coming on Captain Ira Nevalga’s bases loaded walk that sent Bea Parma home.
Despite being tagged between 1st and 2nd, Clarisse Dela Cruz notched an RBI for UP to extended their lead to two in the top of the 5th.
Yla Trinidad’s double in the bottom of the 5th put a runner at 2nd and 3rd base for Ateneo. A Macatulad sacrifice fly to center followed by an RBI single from Parma tied the score for the Lady Eagles (4-4).
The winning run of the Battle of Katipunan was scored in the top of 7th by the Maroons, after back to back RBI singles from Juliet Omul and Dela Cruz put UP ahead (6-4), heading into the bottom of the 7th.
For the second game in a row, the Lady Eagles found themselves down two, with two runners in scoring position and one out in the bottom of the 7th. A groundout then setup the final heartbreaking sequence that finished the game, with the Diliman-based batters barely squeezing out the victory.
“Communication, yun yung naging pagkukulang. Naging short lang [rin] sa hitting,” Coach Dione Macasu said, as she pointed out the bases loaded opportunities of the Lady Eagles that failed to result into more than one run.
Macasu hopes the girls will bring more concentration to their next match up to make up for communication lapses made in this game.
The Lady Eagles now stand with a 0-2 record in the UAAP Softball tournament.
The Blue and White will look to make up for these tough loses, as they face-off with archrivals De La Salle Lady Archers on Thursday, February 9 at 1PM in the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Editor’s Note: Errors were updated and structure changes within the article were also made.
The Ateneo Lady Eagles lose the Battle of Katipunan to the Lady Maroons in a heartbreaking fashion. #UAAPSoftball
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