THREE-PEAT-SEEKING Ateneo and National University opened their separate campaigns with aplomb in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines baseball and softball championships at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
The Blue Eagles, the varsity league’s baseball kingpins the past two years, and who had a 10-day training stint in Taiwan, made minced meat of Adamson University’s challenge with a 5-3 victory as they served notice of their bid to extend their rule to another year or more.
A big second-inning explosion where they peppered the hapless Falcons’ battery with five of their total 10 hits was all the Eagles needed in disposing off the opposition, which could only manage six connections off the defending champs’ first line of defense.
The Eagles’ initial win more than made up for their sisters, the Lady Eagles’ lopsided 15-5 loss to the NU’s Lady Bulldogs in women’s softball.
The Sampaloc lady batters, the losing finalists lasts year, proved just too classy over their Ateneo counterparts as they made their presence felt right in the opening frame, where they scored three markers on three hits, which the Lady Eagles never threatened.
The strong-armed duo of Shaira Damasing Mia Macapagal provided NU’s stonewall-like defense by limiting the Kalayaan swatters with measly six hits in the six frames they manned the mound.