Three Taiwanese players yesterday made the Japan Women’s Baseball League (JWBL) after successful tryouts, marking the first time Taiwanese are to play in the league.
Pitcher-infielder Hsieh Yu-ying and outfielder Shen Chia-wen are to play for the Kyoto Flora, while pitcher-outfielder Tseng Chi is to join the Aichi Dione.
“We will do our best to hopefully soon make the starting lineup,” Hsieh told a news briefing in Taipei. “By joining the league, we also hope to encourage others to follow.”
Photo: Lo Chih-peng, Taipei Times
Tseng said the three are aiming to soon become fully integrated into their teams.
“Hopefully, we can blend into the teams as soon as possible,” said Tseng, whose younger brother, Tseng Jen-ho, made his MLB debut in September last year with the Chicago Cubs.
JWBL representative Aya Sugiura said the players were recruited not only on the strength of their baseball skills, but also because of their desire to help other female players in Taiwan.
“In their tryout interviews, all three said they wanted to play pro baseball in Japan, because they hoped to later become coaches and promote women’s baseball in Taiwan,” Sugiura said.
The three players are all graduates of the University of Taipei’s Department of Ball Sports.
Because Taiwan does not have a professional women’s baseball league, most female college players either give up the sport after graduation or play softball instead, department head Lin Chi-chuan said.
The four-team JWBL, which was founded in 2009, offers an opportunity for Taiwanese women to continue their baseball careers and realize their dreams of going pro, he said.
Meanwhile, local baseball commentator Tseng Wen-chen said that the three women are “trailblazers” who are paving the way for others to follow.
“It might be somewhat of an exaggeration, but I think they are like Chen Chin-feng,” he said, referring to the first Taiwanese to enter the MLB with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2002.
The three women are scheduled to join their respective teams next month in preparation for the start of the season in April.
By the time Cameron Menzies finally left the arena on Monday, the blood gushing from the gash on his right hand had trickled down his wrist, part of his forearm and — somehow — up to his face. Smeared in crimson and regret, and already mouthing sheepish apologies to the crowd, he disappeared down the steps, pursued by a stern-looking Matt Porter, the chief executive of Professional Darts Corp (PDC). The physical scars from Menzies’ encounter with the Alexandra Palace drinks table after his 3-2 defeat against Charlie Manby at the Darts World Championship would be gone within a few weeks.
Manchester United on Monday blew the lead three times to miss out on moving up to fifth in the Premier League as AFC Bournemouth would not be beaten in a thrilling 4-4 draw at Old Trafford. United have lost just once in their past 10 games, but Ruben Amorim would be frustrated as more points at home were frittered away despite arguably the best attacking display of his reign in charge. Amad Diallo and Casemiro gave the hosts a halftime lead either side of Antoine Semenyo’s equalizer. Two Bournemouth goals from Evanilson and Marcus Tavernier in seven minutes at the start of the
Italian Luca de Aliprandini described Saturday’s World Cup giant slalom at Val d’Isere as the hardest race of his life, coming two days after his Swiss partner Michelle Gisin suffered a heavy fall in training which required neck surgery. De Aliprandini finished 26th in the men’s event won by Loic Meillard, but the result paled into insignificance with two-time Olympic ski champion Gisin in hospital with injuries to her wrist, knee and cervical spine (neck). “It was Michelle’s wish that I race here. I couldn’t say no to her, but it was the toughest race of my entire life,” an emotional De
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) were ordered on Tuesday by a French labor court to pay their former forward Kylian Mbappe up to 61 million euros (US$71.6 million) in unpaid wages and bonuses. France captain Mbappe, who left PSG in June last year to join Real Madrid, had been claiming more than 260 million euros in total from his former club. PSG in turn had demanded Mbappe pay them 440 million euros. Mbappe, 26, also claimed the Qatari-owned reigning European champions had applied the wrong French legal classification to his contract, but that was rejected by the court. The labor court said
RSS