Erupting for 16 runs on 17 hits, Taiwan crushed South Africa in a 16-1 decision in Taichung last night to take the opener with relative ease.
Lefty Lin Ying-jeh pitched five innings of shutout ball on a pair of hits before surrendering the only South African run in the game on three hits en route to his first win of the competition. The former Macoto Cobras standout who opted to for a career in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball League (NPB) after a terrific 2004 campaign returned to his homeland and led his team to a big win.
Offensively for the hosts, cleanup man Chen Chin-fong brought the crowd to its feet with a three-run homer in the opening frame to before fellow slugger Hsieh Jia-shien followed with a two-run blast of his own to put Taiwan ahead 5-0 after one inning of play.
Team Taiwan would strike again with a pair of runs in the fifth after three quiet innings, this time on a run-scoring single to the opposite field by Chang Tai-shan and an RBI groundout by Luo Guo-hui to lead it 7-0.
Liao Ying-jeh's one-run single after Lin Chih-sheng led off the inning with a rare triple quickly made it 8-0 in favor of Taiwan before the home team opened fire on its South African counterpart by racking up eight runs the decisive seventh to trigger the no-mercy rule that promptly ended the contest after seven innings of play.
In yesterday's other games it was:
* Italy 11, Spain 1
* USA 7, Panama 0
* South Korea 4, Venezuela 0
* Canada 18, Thailand 0
* Cuba 7, Germany 3
* Japan 15, Mexico 3
* Australia 4, Netherlands 3
Today's games
12pm:
* Italy v USA (Taichung)
* Spain v South Africa (Intercontinental, Taichung)
* South Korea v Thailand (Tianmu, Taipei City)
* Australia v Venezuela (Sinjhuang, Taipei County)
6pm:
* TAIWAN v Japan (Intercontinental)
* Panama v Mexico (Taichung)
* Netherlands v Germany (Tianmu)
* Cuba v Canada (Sinjhuang)
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
Jemimah Rodrigues on Thursday hit an unbeaten 127 as India pulled off a record chase of 339 against Australia to set up a Women’s World Cup final against South Africa. Rodrigues and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who hit 89, put on 167 runs for the third wicket as India won with nine balls and five wickets to spare at DY Patil Stadium, on the outskirts of Mumbai. The hosts finished on a total of 341-5 in reply to Australia’s impressive 338 and ensured there would be a new name on the 50-over trophy tomorrow. Amanjot Kaur hit the winning boundary to trigger wild celebrations
Jannik Sinner on Thursday eased past Francisco Cerundolo 7-5, 6-1 at the Paris Masters to set up a quarter-final clash with Ben Shelton, while reigning champion Alexander Zverev earned a straight-sets win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the third round. A maiden crown in the French capital would return Sinner to No. 1 in the world rankings after current incumbent Carlos Alcaraz suffered a shock early exit at the hands of Britain’s Cameron Norrie. The Italian four-time Grand Slam champion is yet to drop a set in the tournament as he hones in on what would be a fifth title of the
RSS