A HIGH flyball soared into left-center field between captains Kat Villa-Real and Bea Parma. The left-fielder, just as she had several times this season, completed a difficult catch as she fell to her knees with the ball in her glove, registering an out for the opposing squad.

However, this catch was more significant than any she had made so far in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 80 Softball tournament. With the Lady Eagles ahead 3-2 against the University of the East (UE) Lady Warriors, the play gave Ateneo their first win, helping them escape a winless slate with their first victory in their penultimate game of the year. The pair of captains immediately grabbed each other in a celebratory embrace, knowing that their swan song was not going to end with a goose egg on the win column.

Overall, it was another trying season for the Lady Eagles, who finished in last place at 1-11. Defensive lapses were generally coupled with offensive lulls, causing them to fall behind quickly in most games. While there were a couple of moments where true potential came on display, they would often crumble during moments of opportunity.

Still, for a brief moment as the captains hugged and their teammates charged onto the diamond, the season no longer felt like a lost cause. Ateneo avoided the unique despair of total defeat, which was a feeling all too familiar to the four graduating seniors who played on the last winless Ateneo team back in 2015.

Just three days later, that same quartet donned the Blue and White for the final time in the conclusion of their careers on the college ballpark. After a ceremonial final run around the diamond, a surprise of letters and flowers from teammates greeted the girls at the plate upon their arrival, highlighting a sentimental send-off to conclude four years of service to the Blue and White

Kat Villa-Real – Outfielder, Team Captain

Team Captain Kat Villa-Real arguably had the biggest learning curve of all seniors. The Woodrose product struggled right out of the gates in her rookie season, finding it difficult to make the jump from high school to collegiate-level softball. “I remember how unprepared I was in my rookie year,” Villa-Real recalls. “I would fall behind the team during jogs, I would have the slowest running time, I would barely finish drills without dying.”

But as the years went on, Villa-Real realized the need to work harder in order to make an impact on the field. She worked on her conditioning and speed, maturing into a much better outfielder and base runner to show evident defensive improvements in her senior year as a left-fielder.

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Villa-Real makes a tough catch in foul territory for the second out.

Ateneo 0 UP 3#UAAPSoftball pic.twitter.com/vglmwpPh2i

— Colin Salao (@Colin_TheGUIDON) March 1, 2018

The captain herself finds it hard to believe how much she has grown as an athlete and a leader when looking back on the last four seasons. However, she recognizes that it was precisely those growing pains that pushed her to become a much better player by her senior year. “There were a lot of times this season when I thought to myself, ‘Freshman year Kat wouldn’t do what I’m able to do now,’” she explains.“I think it’s precisely because of my experience as the slow and weak one [that I succeeded].”

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Kat Villa-Real makes an amazing catch in shallow left field to retire the side!

Ateneo 5 DLSU 6#UAAPSoftball pic.twitter.com/0l2YEOq5vf

— Colin Salao (@Colin_TheGUIDON) February 22, 2018

This example of initiative and development serves as the captain’s last legacy for her younger teammates in her final season. While the team was never able to climb out of the cellar throughout her stay, Villa-Real hopes that her career, as well as further encouragement of the team during her time as captain will help inspire Ateneo to rise up in the near future.

As she hangs up her cleats and exits the outfield, Villa-Real hopes to bring this grit and newfound self-confidence into her everyday life. “Even if softball is unlike any other facet of life, especially post-graduation, the lessons in discipline, teamwork, and perseverance I gained from it can also be applied pretty much anywhere,” she says.

Bea Parma – Outfielder, Team Captain

Bea Parma’s journey as a Lady Eagle was no walk in the park, either. In her junior year, she was diagnosed with Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITBS), an injury to the iliotibial band that causes tightness from the hip to shin area, making it difficult to run. Midway through the first round that season, she also suffered a fracture in her finger and was told to sit out as many games as possible.

While sustaining injuries in both the hand and leg areas would likely bench most softball players, the outfielder chose a different course of action and ditched the conventional road to recovery. Parma missed just one game in Season 79 despite the physical setbacks, as she learned to cope with the pain and found ways to both throw and hit using only three fingers.

“I did not want my injuries to get in the way of my performance, but more importantly, I couldn’t let injury get in the way of winning,” Parma said of her heroic effort from last season.

It was this fighting spirit that propelled her to be a great team captain for the Lady Eagles. Despite not being the most vocal leader, Parma developed her ability to lead by example saying, “I realized that the team needed to learn how to keep their head up amidst the challenges they faced, whether it be an injury, a bad play, a painful loss, or whatnot.”

Looking back at her UAAP career, Parma believes that her stint as a Lady Eagle shaped her wholeness as a person in spite of the fact that the wins were few and far between. “The outcome of the game was not really what mattered at the end of the day,” Parma admits, “It was the other things that mattered – the team dynamic, the enjoyment and love of the game itself , [and] the coaches and the people on the stands supporting us,” Parma said.

These lessons and the friends that came along the way will be important for the senior outfielder as she begins medical school later this year. While she graduates from the Ateneo Lady Eagles, she will continue to bleed blue as she moves onto the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health.

Nicki Borromeo – Pitcher/1B

Switch hitter Nicki Borromeo graduates from the Lady Eagles after a grueling, up and down four-year journey. The prized recruit from Miriam College had difficulty balancing her studies, personal life, and softball career, particularly in her first few years. Alongside those hurdles, the litany of losses also demoralized her.

“People think we have gotten used to losing since it happens a lot, but I think the fact that we could never seem to get a win makes it worse,” Borromeo says. “Imagine putting in so much work and giving your sport so much of your time, but you never get back what you give.”

Things got even more difficult during her junior year when Borromeo, whose primary position is as a right-handed pitcher, suffered a right shoulder injury that coincided with the season. “I had to sit out for almost two months and it really demoralized me. I lost confidence in myself and it reached a point wherein I was ready to quit,” shares the oft-injured slugger.

The shoulder injury forced her to focus more on her hitting, which led to her rather successful campaign at the plate in Season 79. The highlight of her year saw Borromeo send a drive to center-field for a 2-RBI double against UE, which pushed the match into extra innings, allowing Ateneo to eventually come out on top in the 8th.

Borromeo’s final year was an inconsistent one, as she saw less time on the mound with rookie Kevyn Lacson gaining hold of the starting role. Losing the primary starting position also led to her being in and out of the batting rotation, affecting her effectiveness when she did see time on the field.

However, at the end of it all, the senior sees mostly positive things about her time as a Lady Eagle, holding on to happy memories playing the sport that she has grown to love. “In my final moments of playing, all I could think of is what made the entire journey worthwhile,” Borromeo shares. “First, it was my love for the sport and how it has become a big part of who I am, and of course, my teammates.”

While still having second thoughts about extending to a fifth year, Borromeo admits she feels like the time is right for her to let go of the sport that has shaped her identity. Moving on, the veteran Lady Eagle looks to bring the passion for softball to the kitchen, exchanging her glove for a mitten as she aspires to study culinary arts upon graduation from Ateneo.

Abby Gutierrez – Outfielder

Retiring her jersey after a lifetime in the ballpark, Abby Gutierrez signs off with contentment and pride, having emerged triumphant in both physical and emotional battles that surpassed the white lines of the diamond. The outfielder has matured tremendously on her journey as an athlete, surviving the ups and downs in a roller coaster of a career that saw her stuck on the sidelines before rising to the peak of her game.

A product of the PAREF Woodrose School softball program, Gutierrez shared the same upbringing on the field as Villa-Real, which heavily influenced her decision to suit up for Ateneo at the college level. “I actually decided to stop softball, but playing for Ateneo was an exception because I knew I would be teammates with many of my teammates and opponents from high school,” she shares. “More importantly, I wasn’t ready to let go of the sport.”

Gutierrez made her debut for the Blue and White in Season 77, earning a position on the outskirts at left or right-field, but the Lady Eagle found her career suddenly and dramatically put on hold just as soon as it had started. A disastrous bid for a flyball during one training resulted in a tragic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear, taking the outfielder out of action just three games into the season.

Benched by injury and limited to the role of spectator and supporter, Gutierrez faced a long and winding road to recovery that eventually forced her to sit out her sophomore year of playing. The stretch of time away from the bat and glove, however, is what the Lady Eagle considers to be her most defining moment in the Ateneo jersey, making the highlight of Gutierrez’ career a hard-fought victory that was scored outside the diamond.

“I was very discouraged at first because I had to take my longest break from the sport and anxious that I wouldn’t be able to play the way I did,” Gutierrez confesses. “But this experience brought out my perseverance to get back and made me realize how much I love the sport.”

After months of grueling therapy and a season on the sidelines, the outfielder made her glorious return to the stadium during her junior year in Season 79, boasting form and confidence that suggested that she had never left the field. Despite having starred in hardly any UAAP games in the Ateneo jersey since her injury, Gutierrez played like a veteran, seasoned not merely by the fire of collegiate competition, but by the mental and physical game beyond the bottom of the ninth.

Closing out the final chapters in her story as a Lady Eagle, the senior looks back on four seasons of precious memories as she embarks on a new path towards becoming a doctor. Grateful for the past and hopeful about the future, Gutierrez bids a sentimental goodbye to the team that was her family for four years and to the sport that made her who she is today.

“Knowing that I was going to play my last season was a bittersweet feeling,” she shares. “But the highlight of me being a Lady Eagle was realizing that I am stronger than I thought.”