Army, Kensei, Zambo batters share lead

SUSTAINING their blistering forms, Philippine Army, Kensei from Brunei and Zamboanga City notched their second straight victories yesterday in the men’s division of the 2012 Cebuana Lhuillier Summer Grandslam National Softball Open.

Army crushed Salazar Institute of Technology-Cebu, 7-2, while Kensei blanked Rizal Technological University, 4-0, at Clark Field in Pampanga. Zamboanga scored a confidence-building 2-1 win over Air Force.

Playing as an import for the Bruneian squad, veteran Blu Boy Apol Rosales hit a couple of home runs as Kensei followed up its 5-3 win over Navy with another solid performance.

Zamboanga leaned on the heroics of Erwin Agustin, whose single to left field with two outs allowed Napal Cruz to score the winning run in the final inning.

“I think we have a good chance of reaching the finals,” said Zamboanga coach Felipe Salcedo.

University of the East also nailed back-to-back wins in the Women’s Open division by blasting Indonesian squad West Java, 7-1. The Lady Warriors of playing-coach Joy Lasquite won their first assignment over RTU, 8-4  last Sunday.

Adamson Alumni finally barged into the win column after a 13-2 drubbing of Papua province of Indonesia, which later bounced back with a 7-3 trouncing of RTU.

In the men’s club competition, Laguna nipped Bulacan, 6-5, and Marikina shut out Pampanga, 8-0.

In the women’s club division, Polytechnic University of the Philippines hacked out a 2-1 win over University of Santo Tomas while Rizal debuted with a 7-3 decision over University of the Cordilleras, 7-3.