Acuna, Valencia adjudged RP Open softball MVPs

MANILA, Philippines - A pair of Philippine team discards – pitchers Sonny Boy Acuna of Air Force and Gedda Valencia of the Pampanga Legends – have been voted Most Valuable Player in the men’s and women’s divisions, respectively, of the recent Cebuana Lhuillier National Open softball championships. The 36-year-old Acuna, a Philippine Blu Boy from 2001 until he was cut off two years ago, showed he still has the arms by guiding the Airmen to their third National Open diadem last Friday. Valencia, who failed to make the cut in the RP Blu Girls lineup last year, was adjudged the best performer in the distaff side. Both Acuna and Valencia manned the mound for 13 innings each during Friday’s semifinal round and the championship playoffs that were played under heavy rains and gusty winds. The Airmen beat Taguig City, 7-3, in only six innings for the title. For their part, the Legends, a team built around former collegiate players with a noble goal of helping empower women through sports, routed many-time UAAP champion Adamson University, 10-2, also in an abbreviated six-inning encounter. In winning the first MVP of his career, Acuna bested such outstanding performers as comebacking Air Force teammate Marciano “Esme" Sta. Maria, who pitched one of only two no-hit, no-run, no-error games in the tournament. Sta. Maria, the acting Mayor of San Rafael, Bulacan, was named “Best Pitcher." Valencia, on a brief leave from her job in Brunei precisely to reinforce the Legends in their campaign, edged women’s division Cloiene Muyco of Adamson and long-time UST teammate Esmeralda Tayag. Muyco, the only hurler outside of Sta. Maria to do a near-perfect game, went home with the Best Pitcher Award. Other top individual performers in men’s play were JR dela Cerna of Taguig (Best Hitter); Romeo Bumagat of Air Force (Most RBIs); Michael Pagkaliwagan of Air Force (Homerun King); and Emerson Atilano of Rizal Technological University (Most Stolen Bases). Gina Salvador of Ateneo-PAF was the women’s division’s Best Hitter; Karen Aribal of Adamson-Cavite took the Most RBIs and Homerun Queen awards; and Nimpa Baral of Ateneo-PAF netted the Most Stolen Bases plum. - GMANews.TV