Overcoming a 0-5 deficit five innings into the contest, Taiwan rallied for six unanswered runs, including a dramatic walk-off single by Su Chih-chieh, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, to top Canada in a 6-5 final in the third game of the 25th IBAF under-18 Baseball World Championship at the Mokdong Baseball Stadium in Seoul, South Korea, last night.
The win kept the Islanders in the title hunt in Group B play as they are tied with Canada, Japan and Panama with an identical 2-1 mark and three games remaining on their schedule in the preliminaries to determine whos will advance to the final round.
Canada came out firing against Taiwan with two quick runs in the opening frame that had many wondering if the defending champs could hold up against the attack.
After Canada doubled its lead in the third with two more runs on RBI swings from Nathan Desouza and Brett Siddal, and made it 5-0 in the top of fifth with a solo blast by Mitchell Triolo, the Taiwanese finally answered against the stellar pitching of Canadian starter Cal Quantrill in the bottom of the fifth with a pair of runs on a clutch two-out single by Sen Yu-pin.
Quantrill would cruise through a scoreless sixth and seventh before leaving with one out and a runner on first in the eighth for his bullpen, which added fuel to the fire by loading up the bags with consecutive walks by reliever Travis Seabrooke, to set the table for what ended up being a three-run rally by Taiwan to tie the game at 5-all.
Taiwan would deny the Canadians’ bid to take the lead with a spectacular tag-out at the plate to the end the top of the ninth, before Lee worked a one-out walk off reliever Dayton Dawe in the bottom of the inning and score two batters later on Su’s game-winning hit.
Tseng Jen-ho was credited with the thrilling win for pitching a scoreless ninth, while the loss was charged against his counterpart Dawe.
Panama 0, Japan 8
Red-hot Japan picked up where they left off in a 2-0 shutout win over Taiwan on Saturday with a dominating 8-0 blanking of Panama at the Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul to up their record to 2-1 through three days of play.
Game-winner Ryuhei Johma was nearly flawless in a three-hit gem over seven innings, before fellow hurler Takahito Otsuka retired the side in order over the final two frames to keep the shutout intact.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set