Ku Pao Home Economics and Commercial High School of Taipei County drew first blood in the title series of the annual High School Baseball Taiwan Championship by downing Kaohsiung County’s Kao Yuan Senior High School 5-2 in Sinjhuang on Saturday evening.
The runners-up from last year — who dropped two straight after taking the first game in the best-of-three title series to lose to Tainan’s Nan Ying Vocational High School — easily topped Kao Yuan with a potent offense that rang up 13 hits off three different pitchers, leaving them one win shy of the championship.
Ku Pao starter Chen Pin-hsueh was relieved by Pan Jeh after tossing two hitless innings because of discomfort in his throwing arm. The three-year letterman more than filled in for Chen by pitching seven strong innings of three-hit ball to guide his team past Kao Yuan.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Other than some initial jitters that allowed Kao Yuan to score their only two runs of the game in the third, Pan was nearly flawless as he retired all but two of the last 20 batters he faced to eliminate any chance of a rally.
Offensively for the victors, cleanup hitter Yang Hong-sheng’s 2-for-3 hitting with a pair of RBIs led the way, while Su Chih-hao drove in a run by belting two hits on the night.
“A win is good, but we won’t really celebrate until we win it all,” Ku Pao head coach Tsai Ming-tang said after the game.
With their backs against the wall, Kao Yuan were sending lefty Chen Sheng-nan to the mound in Game 2 last night in search of the equalizer that would force the series into a decisive final game.
CHUNG DAU 3, NATIONAL TUNG-SHIH 4
Chiayi County’s National Tung-shih Senior High School rallied for four unanswered runs in the final two innings to defeat Yilan County’s Chung Dau Senior High School 4-3 in extra innings on Saturday afternoon to close the year with a third-place finish.
Trailing 0-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth, Huang Liang-hsun led off the improbable comeback with a walk off Chung Dau starter Hsu Tseh-min, who had a four-hitter going before Huang Ying-da and Hong Chen-wei singled and doubled in for three runs.
Even though Hsu managed to strike out the last batter of the inning to end National Tung-shih’s scoring threat, the momentum had already shifted in favor of National Tung-shih, setting the stage for Tsai Chih-yu’s walk-off single off Chung Dau reliever Lin Tzu-han for the game-clinching run.
National Tung-shih reliever Huang Pei-yuan was credited with the win for pitching a scoreless 10th, while Yu Mu-chien from Chung Dau was tagged with the loss for allowing the extra inning.
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
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
‘BLOWN AWAY’: With 12 strikeouts and no walks, Yesavage broke the World Series record of 11 strikeouts set by the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Don Newcombe in 1949 Trey Yesavage on Wednesday night soaked in Dodger Stadium, filled with 52,175 fans about to watch him pitch in the MLB World Series, and thought back to starting his season in front of 327 spectators in the low minor leagues. A sandlot story worthy of a movie studio back lot. “Crazy world,” the wide-eyed Toronto Blue Jays pitcher said. “Hollywood couldn’t have made it this good.” Just 46 days after rocketing to his fifth level of professional baseball this season for his major league debut, Yesavage pitched one of the best games by a rookie in World Series history. He set a Fall Classic
RSS