By Jason Pan, in Chinese Taipei
In the final of the AA-level Hua Nan Cup tournament played on May 21, Kaohsiung City team defeated Taitung County with a 10-5 result.
Taitung County had a strong start and scored four early runs, to lead 4-1 going into the 5th inning, as the game took place at Hsinchuang Stadium of New Taipei City.
Then Kaohsiung City started to crank out the hits, while taking advantage of fielding errors by the opposition to pile on eight runs, and went ahead 9-4 after the 6th frame.
Both team got one late run each for the 10-5 outcome, as the Kaohsiung players celebrate capturing the Hua Nan Cup for the southern port city.
Starting second baseman Yu Tang-Ming had three hits and scored three runs, and also took to the mound for relief pitching. Yu tossed five scoreless innings to record the win for Kaohsiung.
For his outstanding efforts in the final and also throughout the competition, Yu was selected as the tournament MVP and also the Best Pitcher Award.
Yu comes from a fine baseball pedigree, as his father Yu Sheng-Ping was a catcher for the Chinatrust Eagles pro team of CPBL in the 1990s.
After accepting the two big awards, Yu said, “My goal is to play professional ball. I want to carry on the baseball tradition of my father.”
Yu’s teammate Huang Shao-Fei, starting first baseman, won the Best Hitter Award (.560 average) and the Highest RBI Award (12 runs batted in).
Kaohsiung City head coach Chen Deh-Chuan praised his team in the postgame interview, “We got good relief pitching and shut down the opposition hitting after their early runs. Our players also successfully executed several hit-and-run and sacrifice bunt plays to sustain our comeback rallies. These are the main factors for our victory today.”
With the final wrapped up, CTBA (Chinese Taipei Baseball Association) and amateur baseball committee made a selection of 20 players (eight from Kaohsiung City team and five from Taitung County) for this year’s AA-level national squad.
The team will undergo training, and participate in the IBAF 15U Baseball World Championship (Aug. 16 to 26) in Chihuahua, Mexico.
