UAAP softball: Adamson begins title defense with win against La Salle

Reigning champion Adamson University opened its title retention bid in the 74th UAAP softball tournament with an 8-1 clobbering of De La Salle University Wednesday at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium. Season 73 Most Valuable Player (MVP) and left fielder Luzviminda Embudo, who played for the Philippine Blu Girls team that captured the gold medal in the 26th Indonesia Southeast Asian games, led the Lady Falcons to their first victory. Rizza Bernardino and Nerissa Benjamin, also members of the SEA Games gold-medal winning Blu Girls, provided offensive support by combining for five RBI's (runs batted in). "Laban pa rin kami kahit paano. Kahit apat ang nawala sa starting nine ko," said Lady Falcons coach Ana Santiago, who steered Blu Girls to the SEA Games gold. The Lady Falcons tagged losing pitcher Donna Villegas with eight hits, five in the fourth inning where the reigning champions scored two runs. In other matches, University of the Philippines scored a 6-4 win over University of Santo Tomas while University of the East cruised to a 7-1 triumph against Ateneo de Manila University. The Lady Maroons, the 2007 champion, capitalized on the Tigresses' errors and a four-run third inning in completing the win. Baseball action starts on Thursday with defending champion UST facing La Salle in the opener of a scheduled triple-header at 7:30 a.m. also at the Rizal Memorial diamond. The other two matches pit Ateneo and Adamson at 9 a.m., followed by the UP-NU tussle at 11:30 a.m. — AMD/JVP, GMA News