UP softbelles stay alive, Ateneo batters enter Finals

University of the Philippines forced a playoff for the remaining UAAP Season 79 softball semifinals berth with a 5-3 win over National University Monday at Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.

The Lady Maroons actually had a chance to make the Final Four in the resumption of their abandoned Feb. 18 game, but the Lady Bulldogs’ 7-0 lead was too much to overcome and ended up as the final score after only six innings.

With a 5-7 record, UP will take on De La Salle at 9 a.m. on Thursday for the right to play defending six-time champion Adamson in the semifinals.

The Lady Archers also blew an opportunity to clinch the last outright Final Four after dropping a 0-9 decision to University of Santo Tomas.

The win, their seventh in 12 contests, gave the Tigresses the No. 3 seed.

The Lady Falcons finished the eliminations as the No. 1 team with a 11-1 slate following a 8-0 dismantling of University of the East.

NU wound up second behind Adamson University at 9-3 and will face UST in the other semis pairing.

Holding the twice-to-beat advantage for finishing 1-2 in the elims, the Lady Falcons and the Lady Bulldogs
need only to win once to secure slots in the best-of-three Finals.

In baseball, Ateneo edged Adamson University, 6-4, to clinch the first championship berth with a 7-1 card.

UST inched closer to making it to the best-of-three title series with a 8-2 rout of UP for a 6-2 record.

Titleholder De La Salle suffered a blow on its aspirations following a 3-5 loss to NU. The Green Batters are now at 4-4 with the Falcons in third place, two games behind the Growling Tigers.