Makati, Manila halt Marikina, Woodrose

MANILA, Philippines – Unbeaten Makati continued to dominate the field, posting another shutout 12-0 win, this time over Marikina while Manila subdued undermanned Woodrose School, 11-5, at the resumption of the 2015 National Inter-Secondary Girls Softball Championships in Marikina yesterday.

The Makati lasses flashed fierce form to dispose of the hosts at the Barangka Baseball Field and stretch their win run to seven in Bracket A. Already assured of a semis spot, Makati shoots for a sweep against defending champion San Mateo in the final day of elims today.

Over at the Sto. Niño field, Manila leaned on a late charge to defuse Woodrose and hike its record to 7-1 in Bracket B to nail the second semis seat in the week-long tournament sanctioned by the Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines (Asaphil) and sponsored by Cebuana Lhuillier headed by sports patron Jean Henri Lhuillier.

With Trisha Mae Tiozon coming through with a three-run homerun, the Big City girls took a 3-1 lead in the early going but Woodrose struck back with a three-run binge in the fourth frame to wrest the lead.

But Ma. Celyn Ojare and Denden Corbillon stepped up in the sixth inning as Manila exploded with seven runs against Alisha Vergara and Lucia Lorenzo while holding Woodrose, who missed the service of top hurler Kevyn Lacson, to just a run en route to posting the victory and dealing Woodrose its first loss in six games.

“We are entering the crucial phase of the tournament and I’m glad to see our local teams doing well. We can see a lot of potential talents here and we’ll do our best in Asaphil to hone them,” said Lhuillier.

The tournament, aimed at discovering and developing talents who could be trained for future national pool, stakes P25,000 to the champion with the second and third placers receiving P15,000 and P10,000, respectively.

Over in Baguio, University of Mindanao-Davao’s Irene Lumanas beat University of the Philippines’ Cochise Diolata in a pitching duel to power her team to a 1-0 win for a 4-0 mark in the 2015 Inter Collegiate Championships.

In other results, Ateneo de Manila demolished Papua, Indonesia, 10-2, while the Polytechnic University of the Philippines beat Rizal Technological Institute, 4-1.