UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas, banking on the heroics of veteran pitcher Mary Ann Antolihao, completed a sweep of twice-to-beat National University, 2-0, and forced a championship rematch with Adamson University yesterday in the UAAP softball tournament at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.
Antolihao tallied five strikeouts, while CJ Roa had two RBIs in the first inning to help the Tigresses beat the Lady Bulldogs for the second time in the Final Four.
Third-ranked UST also defeated NU, 2-0, in the softball semis opener last Saturday.
The Tigresses will have a chance of ending the Lady Falcons’ six-year reign in the best-of-three championship series at 12 noon on March 21.
Adamson, the No. 1 team in the elims, bested University of the Philippines, 2-1, in the other semifinal pairing.
UST mentor Sandy Barredo hopes that his Tigresses will regain the title the España-based batters last won in 2010 and rebound from last year’s narrow loss to the Lady Falcons.
“Payback time. ‘Yun lang. So, same thing, kapag nakundisyon si Antolihao, it’s a different story. Pero kapag ‘di siya nakundisyon, talo na,” said Barredo.
Antolihao will have an interesting pitching duel with Adamson University’s Rifayca Basa.
In baseball, UST sealed its first championship appearance in six years with a 9-4 victory over Ateneo at the end of the eliminations Sunday.
The Growling Tigers (7-2) will face the Blue Eagles (7-3) in the best-of-three title series at 8 a.m. on March 21 at the same venue.
UST clinched the remaining finals slot in baseball, as La Salle fell short of its back-to-back bid despite a 9-5 win over UP.
The Green Batters, who wound up at 6-4, had a chance to force a playoff for the No. 2 spot, but the Tigers played with a sense of urgency to make a return trip to the Finals.
Meanwhile, Ateneo put an end to National University’s four-year reign in the men’s division with a 3-2 victory Sunday, giving University of Santo Tomas a free ride to the UAAP Season 79 lawn tennis Finals.
The Bulldogs needed a win badly to have a chance of forcing a playoff with the Growling Tigers for the No. 2 slot, but the Blue Eagles played the spoiler’s role to the hilt to end the season on a high note.
NU, which lost several key players from those previous title runs, has four wins and five losses to show.
UST, thus, made it to the best-of-three championship round despite losing to elimination round topnotcher University of the East, 2-3.
The AJ Lim-led Red Warriors (9-1) and the Growling Tigers (6-3) open their titular showdown on Saturday, 8 a.m. at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
The four-peat Lady Bulldogs, meanwhile, remained perfect.
NU earned the twice-to-beat advantage against UST in the women’s Finals with a 4-1 conquest of University of the Philippines.
The 8-0 Lady Bulldogs need only to beat the 6-2 Tigresses on Sunday at 8 a.m. at the same Malate venue to keep the crown.
Winning 23 consecutive ties which dates back from Feb. 2015, the NU lady tennisters hold one of the current longest winning streaks in the UAAP, as it matches Ateneo men’s volleyball’s 23-match run.
NU’s women’s basketball has a 48-game winning streak, going undefeated in three seasons.
