Bruneians, Army batters pull off third straight wins

KENSEI-BRUNEI and the Philippine Army scraped past separate foes yesterday to stay tied for the lead in the Men’s Open division of the Cebuana Lhuillier Summer Grandslam National Softball Open at the Parade Ground inside the Clark Freeport in Pampanga.

Manuel Bacarisas exploited a fielding error by Jonas Ponce and scored the marginal run in Kensei’s 3-2 victory over JK.com Zamboanga, even as Army pounded out a 4-2 triumph over Zamboanga City.

Kensei and Army remained unbeaten in three starts.

The loss was Zamboanga City’s first in four games, while JK.com Zamboanga fell to 2-2.

Air Force pipped Navy, 4-3, and improved to 2-1. Navy remained winless after three outings and is just slightly better than West Java, which has a 0-4 card.

Rizal Technological Institute dealt West Java its fourth defeat in the tournament hosted by the Clark Development Corp. and sponsored by Cebuana Pera Padala, Phiten, Cebuana Lhuillier Bank, Just Jewels, Cebuana Insurance Solutions, Le Soleil de Boracay, TJ Hotdogs, Purefoods Chicken Nuggets, Smokey’s Sausages, Hungry Juan and DOT Region 3.

Adamson Alumni ripped Adamson University, 10-3, in five innings after exploding for five runs in the fifth for a 2-0 card, tying University of the East for the women’s division lead.

After that loss, the Lady Falcons, a team made up of current UAAP players, bounced back with a 4-3 win over Indonesia’s Papua Province to rise to 2-1.

Laguna, meanwhile, swept its two assignments—a 9-2 humbling of Angeles and a 6-1 drubbing of Ateneo Coaches—to climb to 3-0 even as Marikina also remained unscathed at 2-0 after a 4-2 decision of Bulacan in the men’s club division.

Rizal also won two straight games, 8-4 over Antipolo and 5-3 over Polytechnic University of the Philippines for a 3-0 slate in the women’s club bracket. Musong R. Castillo