Golden Sox’s Rosales credits award haul to team’s growth, success

TomasinoWeb
3 min readApr 22, 2023

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By Joie Frances Timbas

(Photo by Neiro Villaescusa/TomasinoWeb)

The UAAP Season 85 baseball tournament wrapped up with the UST Golden Sox falling one place short of a podium-finish at the fourth spot with a 4–6 win-loss record.

However, it was Golden Sox’s super rookie Justine John Rosales who starred in the individual awards where he was recognized as the season’s Most Valuable Player and Best Slugger (.865), while also tallying the Most Homeruns (three).

Bata palang ako pinapangarap ko na maging MVP sa kahit anong liga. Sa tagal ko ng naglalaro laging kong hinihiling kay Lord na sana ako din makatanggap ng ganitong award,” Rosales told TomasinoWeb.

Pero ngayong season, hindi ko talaga ine-expect na ako ang mapipiling MVP, kasi ang daming players na nagpakita ng potential na maging MVP. Kaya sobrang saya, sobrang nakaka proud,“ the Golden Sox second baseman added.

Meanwhile, a lot of UAAP baseball fans questioned why Rosales got snubbed for the Rookie of the Year accolade despite all his other impressive medals.

“Actually wala naman sa akin ‘yun pero marami din ang nagtatanong na bakit hindi ko nakuha or bakit hindi sa akin napunta ‘yun. Pero sa ngayon sobrang kuntento na ako at sobrang saya ko na sa kung anong mga awards ang binigay sakin,” Rosales said.

Rosales played in multiple international tournaments as a Philippine Softball Men’s National team member, having competed in the SEA Games, Asian Games, and World Cup tournament.

Despite all his individual achievements, the Season 85 MVP acknowledged the Golden Sox’s shortcomings, specifically during their winless first round tilt.

“Masasabi ko na talagang na-short lang kami kasi medyo hindi naging maganda yung naging result ng first round namin. Naging mabagal yung adjustments namin sa game,” Rosales said.

In the second round, the Golden Sox won every match, even against finalists UP Fighting Maroons and S85 champions DLSU Green Batters. They only lost during their last regular season match under the claws of the ADU Soaring Falcons that costed them a bronze-medal finish.

Grabe sobrang laki ng pinagbago ng performance ng bawat isa sa amin pag dating ng second round. Masasabi ko na para kaming gutom na tigre nung second round kasi lahat kami sabik na manalo,” Rosales said on UST’s second-round hot streak.

Buti na lang nung second round maganda ‘yung naging bawi namin at dun na lumabas ang totoong laro ng bawat isa samin. Kaya naman para sakin naging maganda parin yung naging performance namin ngayong Season 85,” he added.

Rosales and the whole team felt proud of their Season 85 outing and thanked the whole Thomasian community and their supporters.

Sobrang nagpapasalamat kami sa Thomasian Community na hindi kami pinabayaan at sa walang sawang pagsuporta sa amin. At sa mga supporters ng team, sana po hindi po kayo mag sawang manood at sumuporta samin palagi,” Rosales said.

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TomasinoWeb
TomasinoWeb

Written by TomasinoWeb

The Premier Digital Media Organization of the University of Santo Tomas

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