Ateneo Baseball: It Ain't Over 'til It's Over

http://www.ateneo.edu/index.php?p=120&type=2&sec=27&aid=6372

It Ain’t Over ‘til It’s Over
Ateneo 9 vs. La Salle 8
by rick olivares

It was former New York Yankee great Yogi Berra who remarked the outcome of a baseball game as déjà vu all over again.

For first year coach Emer Barandoc, he didn’t have time to think of Yogisms but he knew that his team could dig themselves out of the hole they were in. After all, they’ve done it before.

In their first round match versus La Salle, Ateneo fell behind by five runs early on before a scorching seventh and eight inning where they hit for the cycle each time out. By the time the dust had settled, the Blue Batters won running away 27-13.

During the past several years, everyone knew that Ateneo could hit. Boy, could they ever. Yet, if there was one thing that was suspect about their game, it was their pitching. And this year, although they had Alex Tolome and Carlo Banzon rotating on the mound, they still weren’t fearsome. Still they could hit.

On this day, Tolome was atrocious as he was having problems with his control and location. By the eighth inning, he had hit (without meaning to) five La Sallians and Barandoc handed the ball to Banzon at the top of the ninth with the team from Taft holding a 7-6 lead.

Unfortunately, the Blue Batter’s other starter got into an early jam as DLSU’s Gico Almendras led the ninth off with a sharply hit line drive that Ateneo third baseman Luke Bernardo missed.

Luckily, Tolome backed him up on the play and he scooped up the ball before it roll farther out for a double. Almendras beat Tolome’s throw by a split second and La Salle o had an opportunity to pad their lead.

The Greenies’ Jeff Ardio next hit a pop fly to the outfield that the Blues’ Matt Reyes easily corralled. But when he saw Almendras straddling the base path between first and second, he rifled the ball to teammate Kirk Long who was at first. But the ball was too high and it sailed past the American who jumped as high as he could to snare it although to no avail.

Almendras took advantage of the error to scoot to second.

The throwing error to first allowed a runner to advance to scoring position.

La Salle’s Chris Imperial, the third batter of the inning hit a comebacker at Banzon who tossed it to Long for the second out of the inning. “one stop,” yelled Barandoc by way of encouragement to his wards.

But Gabriel Baroque got the insurance run for his team when he hit a long shot to the right field wall to bring home Ardio for an 8-6 lead and cries of jubilation.

With the La Salle PEP Squad lustily belting out their cheers, Ateneo captain and catcher Nikko Dizer urged his teammates to not give up: “Steady lang. Kaya pa natin to. Tapak lang.”

Long got the last out of the eighth and Ateneo had one last chance to overhaul the two-run deficit.

The conventional wisdom when hitting is to wait until you get a good pitch to swing at. But for Dizer who led off the ninth, he saw a pitch he could hit and so lifted a fastball down the centerfield gap for a base hit.

Bernardo, the next batter, also swung at the first pitch. Now it was a question of smarts as they needed to manage their at bats and get hits.

The third baseman wasn’t able get his weight on the ball and he too, hit it back to Ardio. Bernardo, not the fastest runner this side of the world, was promptly thrown out at first.

With Dizer on base, it was imperative to advance him without giving up any more outs. Second baseman Paolo Castillo fought off 8 pitches before striking out when he missed a curve ball that suddenly veered inside that at best would have been ball three had he not swung at it.

Two outs Ateneo and Castillo shook his head in dismay as he walked towards the dugout.

As Kirk Long walked to the plate, he kicked his spikes at the dirt and waited for Ardio’s pitch. He was a late addition to the team but his power and athleticism gave the team another valuable weapon. Two pitches later, the part-time basketball player crushed the ball down right field for a triple and an RBI as Dizer scored to bring the score to 8-7.

Given extra life, centerfielder Gab Bagasmad made the most of his opportunity as he too found the gap between second and third to score Long for a tied game 8-all.

Now Ateneo had a chance to win it all and it was the turn of the four-man Blue Babble Battalion unit to cheer their lungs out.

With the tension reaching a fever pitch, Ateneo right fielder Carlo Olivares trotted over to the batter’s box. He had hit well during the course of the season and for a time was even promoted to batting clean up. But today, he was having a miserable game.

“Base hit,” yelled Barandoc. “Get a base hit.”

Three pitches later, Olivares launched Ardio’s mistake (he left it to hang when it should have zagged inside) towards the outfield. The whole inning, the La Sallian outfielders were playing shallow. If they had properly scouted Olivares, then they would have known that he’s a power hitter who oft sends his shots to the outfield.

The ball dropped between the back pedaling center fielder and the left fielder who had gone in to help. Bagasmad knew it was a legit hit the moment the ball went soaring towards the outfield. He got a jump on the ball and easily beat the throw to home plate by several strides.

9-8 Ateneo. And the team piled up on one another on home plate. The team was now at 5-3; good for solo third place.

If they could stay their present course and win both games; if the UP team could inflict on Adamson their first loss of the competition, then there was going to be a Final Four. If not, well… who knows?

But then again, wasn’t it Yogi Berra who said that “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over?”