ANS keeps Sinulog crown

PALARONG Pambansa-bound Abellana National School (ANS) softball squad used a late game surge to beat the Bogo City-based Northern Cebu Colleges (NCC) Softbelles for the 2013 Sinulog Cup Women’s Open Softball title last Saturday at the Labangon Elementary School grounds.

ANS scored three runs at the bottom of the sixth inning for a come-from-behind 11-9 win against NCC to keep the title it won last year against the same team.

Both teams brought an undefeated 2-0 win-loss slate coming into the championship game.

NCC scored a crippling 10-0 third inning regulation win over the Lapu-Lapu City squad in the opening game, while ANS dumped Mactan Enerzone, 9-2.

ANS then survived the resurgent Lapu-Lapu City, 5-3, while NCC had a dominating 6-2 win over Enerzone to arrange the finals showdown.

NCC quickly went to work as it scored the first run of the game at the top of the first inning.

The Bogo City squad then scored four more runs at the top of the third inning before ANS finally got its act together and scored three runs at the bottom of the third to cut the lead to 5-3.

But NCC seemed unstoppable and scored two more runs to take a 7-3 lead in the fourth.

However, ANS finally showed why it is the defending champion, scoring five in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead for the first time, 8-7.

NCC managed to tie the game with a run in the fifth and regained the lead with one more run in the sixth but ANS sealed the title with three more runs.

With the victory, ANS showed it is battle-ready for the Palarong Pambansa in summer.

In the battle for third, Enerzone scored a thrilling 6-5 win over Lapu-Lapu.