New Taipei City yesterday defeated Kaohsiung 7-4 in a rain-delayed game at Sinjhuang Stadium to claim the E.Sun Cup, the annual youth baseball competition for the nation’s top high-school teams that also serves as selection for the nation’s U18 squad.
Due to periodic rain showers in northern Taiwan yesterday, a scheduled game to determine third and fourth places could not take place, and officials announced that Tainan and Hsinchu City were joint winners and awarded the bronze medal to both teams.
The championship final was suspended in the late afternoon due to rain, with hosts New Taipei City ahead 2-1 after two frames.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
When play resumed after more than two hours, the hosts piled on three more runs in the third inning.
In the sixth frame, Kaohsiung pushed two men home on two hits, a ground-out and a wild pitch to narrow the gap to 5-3.
However, Kaohsiung would not get any closer, as both sides traded runs in the late innings for the 7-4 result.
New Taipei City starter Wan Chao-ching (萬昭清) was credited with the win after pitching through five innings and yielding two earned runs on six hits, while also hitting two when at bat.
The hosts had ace pitcher Chen Hu (陳琥) pitch the final four innings, preserving the win by only giving up one unearned run on three hits.
It was the second straight E.Sun Cup title for New Taipei City, while Chen was voted Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
“The pitchers for Kaohsiung had control problems, so we took advantage and got one run at a time. We slowly built up our lead and they made errors, so it got more difficult for them to catch up,” New Taipei City head coach Tsai Ming-tang (蔡明堂) said. “Wan and Chen did a good job today, they deserve a lot of praise for this victory.”
On Sunday, New Taipei City were behind 0-2 going into the ninth inning against Tainan when they mounted a dramatic comeback. Rallying on two long hits and two walks in their last turn at bat, New Taipei City scored three runs and seized a 3-2 victory to advance to the final.
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
BOUNCE BACK: Curry scored 46 points in the Warriors’ victory over the Spurs, after ‘everybody stepped up’ following Tuesday’s blowout loss to Oklahoma City Nikola Jokic scoring 50 or more points had never been enough for the Denver Nuggets to win — until now. Jokic on Wednesday night tied the highest-scoring performance in the NBA this season with 55 points, as the Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Clippers 130-116 for their sixth straight victory. The Nuggets were 0-4 in his previous 50-point outbursts. “It’s a good feeling,” the three-time NBA Most Valuable Player said. He equaled Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 55 in a double-overtime game at the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 23. Jokic has been on a roll during Denver’s winning streak. He is the
LIKE FINE WINE: Thirty-eight-year-old Djokovic won his 101st title of his career in Athens, becoming the oldest tournament winner since Ken Roswell, 44, in 1977 Elena Rybakina on Saturday clinched her biggest title since Wimbledon in 2022, defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The world No. 6 put on yet another serving masterclass and was at her returning best as she became the first Kazakh and the first player representing an Asian country to lift the WTA Finals singles trophy. Having gone 3-0 in round-robin play, Rybakina earned a record US$5.235 million and would finish the year ranked No. 5 in the world. “It’s been an incredible week, I honestly didn’t expect any result, and to go so far,
EMPTY STANDS: Maccabi fans were banned from attending by police, who cited violence and hate crimes when the team played Ajax in Amsterdam last season Aston Villa beat Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-0 on Thursday in a Europa League game played amid heightened security measures, with more than 700 police officers deployed to deal with possible protests. Morgan Rogers put through Ian Maatsen in first-half stoppage time for the defender to score from a tight angle and Villa doubled the lead on the hour with Donyell Malen hitting the bottom corner from the penalty spot. It was Villa’s third win from games in the competition. The game at Villa Park had become the center of a political debate after Maccabi fans were banned from attending, as
RSS