The red-hot Topco Scientific Falcons won the title in the inaugural season of the Popcorn League by topping top-seeded Taiwan Cooperative Bank 18-3 in seven innings in Game 4 of the Championship Series at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium last night to take the best-of-five series by a 3-1 margin.
Brahiam Maldonado’s perfect four-for-four, hitting with a pair of RBIs led a Falcons lineup that teed off against the Bankers pitching on a 23-hit effort to humble the regular-season champs.
Also starring for the victors were Yang Dai-chun and Kan Ming-yen, who ripped out three hits apiece with seven combined RBIs to account for the bulk of their team’s total run production.
Photo courtesy of the CTBA
In a contest that was all Falcons, the Bankers actually took a 1-0 lead in the opening frame, when Kody Kirkland’s sacrifice fly scored the runner from third to give his team what ended up being their only lead on the night.
After falling behind by a run, the Falcon offense quickly came to the rescue as they plated two in the bottom of the same inning, courtesy of a pair of deadly errors by the Bankers’ defense that failed to turn a double play that could have kept the Falcons from scoring in the inning.
That was the extent to which the Bankers were in the game as Topco Scientific would score at least three runs from the third through the sixth, highlighted by a five-run fifth that featured eight straight hits at one point to put the game away long before the final out was recorded.
By the time all was said and done, the best way to stop the Falcon offense was the mercy rule that ended the game after the seventh, with the Falcons leading by well over 10 runs.
“It is awesome to come away with the winner’s trophy after all the hard work we’ve done,” a very pleased Falcons manager Wu Si-hsien said after the game.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
Playing soccer and competing for trophies is the best way that many transplanted Hong Kongers and Macanese have found to stay in touch, and to interact with Taiwanese society, said officials at the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Football Friendship Cup, which was held on April 13. Twelve clubs, mostly of players and coaches originally from Hong Kong and Macau, took part in the tournament in New Taipei City. The event is sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council. Participating teams were from the wider Taipei area, Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other areas. They divided into two