The Varsitarian

THEIR Season 70 nightmare is finally over.

Learning from the gloomy lessons of a botched UAAP finals campaign, the UST Golden Sox plunged into PRISAA action with a more tightly knit gameplan to post a flawless 5-0 tournament record, including an 11-6 dismissal of reigning baseball champion Davao (Region 11) in the gold-medal match last April 13.

“Every aspect of the game was in-sync,” assistant coach Sherwin Canlas told the Varsitarian. “The pitchers had decent outings, the offense ran smoothly, and the errors were minimized.”

Tournament MVP Israel Ona belted a two-run clincher and sent home four UST runners in a clinical show of firepower which Davao badly handled, on some occasions, down the stretch.

Booking a finals seat was not a problem for the Season 70 bridesmaids as they easily disposed Socsargen (Region 12), 14-4, in the semifinals last April 12.

The España-based batters kicked off their campaign on a winning note, demolishing Northern Mindanao (Region 10), 10-0, last April 9. UST then dealt Davao an 11-6 loss in their first meeting last April 10 before concluding the elimination round with a 15-2 thumping of Cagayan Valley (Region 2) the following day.

Aside from its baseball diadem, UST also reaped individual honors with Argel Kasulhay, Erwin Manuel and Marc Castillo bagging the Best Slugger, Best Hitter and Best In-Fielder awards, respectively.

Meanwhile, head coach Jeffrey Santiago and Canlas were named Best Coaches.

In women’s play, the UST Softbelles duplicated their male counterparts’ fielding exploits, trouncing Davao, 11-4 in their own finals assignment.

The Softbelles wrapped the eliminations with an immaculate 4-0 slate.