Huang Shao-fei hit a tiebreaking, bases-loaded triple to help Kaohsiung beat Chitre, Panama, 5-1 on Wednesday to reach the Little League World Series international final. Taiwan faces Japan on Saturday, with the winner moving on to the World Series title game against the US title holders on Sunday.
Kaohsiung and Chitre were 1-1 in the fifth inning when a walk and bunt singles by Chen Yi-chung and Chen Chen-wei loaded the bases with no outs. After a force at home, Huang tripled to the right-field fence to clear the bases, and later scored on a wild pitch for a 5-1 lead.
Panama became the first team to score against Taiwan in the tournament on Javier Garcia’s two-out RBI double in the first.
Huang pitched three scoreless innings of relief for the victory.
■ASIAN ‘AA’
STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA, BANGKOK
Taiwan trounced Japan 3-0 yesterday to clinch the title at this year’s Asian “AA” Baseball Championship being held in Bangkok.
The Taiwanese nine scored three runs at the bottom of the first inning and maintained the lead throughout the game.
Taiwanese manager Hu Jui-cheng attributed his team’s win mainly to its strong defense, especially starting pitcher Lin Hua-ching, who used heaters and breaking balls to almost completely block the offense of the Japanese, allowing only one hit.
Prior to the Japanese shutdown, Taiwan blanked Hong Kong (15-0), Indonesia (21-0), Thailand (16-0) and South Korea 10-4 in previous games of the event that began on Aug. 20.
Japan beat South Korea (5-2), China (6-1), Sri Lanka (8-0) and Hong Kong (10-0) to advance to the final.
Roy W.W. Wu, Taiwan’s representative in Thailand, watched the game and immediately extended a congratulatory message from President Ma Ying-jeou to the team upon their victory.
Many Taiwanese consider baseball to be the “national sport” and this year, the country has done well in several international youth baseball titles, including the IBAF World Junior Baseball Championship in Canada that ended on Aug. 1 and the Junior League Baseball World Series Championship in the US that ended last Saturday.
■CPBL
AFP, TAIPEI
Taiwan’s professional baseball league plans to establish a new team in China to promote exchanges between the two sides, Taiwanese media said yesterday.
Chao Shou-po, head of Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League, was quoted by the Chinese-language China Times newspaper as saying he hoped both Taiwanese and Chinese companies would sponsor the team.
The team will mainly consist of Chinese players and could travel to Taiwan to play in league matches, the report said.
Chao, currently in Beijing for a baseball forum, made the proposal on Wednesday to Wang Yi, director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, according to the report, which said Wang promised his “full assistance.”
Officials at the league declined to comment on the report.
Since splitting from China six decades ago, Taiwan has lost to its giant rival in nearly every sporting arena, but had prided itself for its prowess in baseball.
That confidence has been shattered, with Taiwan’s squad suffering humiliating defeats to China at both the Olympics preliminary round and the World Baseball Classic last year.
Taiwan’s favorite sport has been hit by a string of match-fixing scandals in recent years. Prosecutors in February charged 24 people with gambling and fraud, including players, a Japanese coach, gangsters and bookies.
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