TAICHUNG, Taiwan | Taiwan's first international standard softball complex received its grand opening on 3 July. Taichung City Major Lu Shiow-Yen and Deputy Speaker of the Legislation Tsai Chi-Chang threw a ceremonial pitch to mark a new chapter in softball development in Taichung.
The complex, consisting of an international standard softball field and a practice field, is located at northern Taichung on a former army base. The US $8.35-million project broke ground in July 2020 and was completed at the end of 2022.
“After the completion of construction, we ran numerous testing events to ensure the suitability of the stadium. We also invited the WBSC to make sure that our stadium meets the requirement for international tournaments before we make the inaugural announcement more than six months after the construction,” said Mayor Lu Shiow-yen .
Taichung Sports Bureau director Yu-Jui Lee stated, “This complex has everything we need to host international and domestic games.”
Deputy speaker of the Legislation Tsai, Chi-Chang, is also the Taichung City Softball Committee chairman. He said it was his idea to build an international complex in Taichung, “We never had an international standard softball field in Taiwan, and I hope the inauguration of the complex will contribute to the grassroots development of softball in Taiwan.”
“We will bring international softball tournaments to Taichung and show the world how good we are with softball,” - Taichung City Mayor Lu Shiow-yen.
In addition to being well-known as a baseball city with the Chinese Professional Baseball League franchise CTBC Brothers calling it home, the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium opened for the 2006 Intercontinental Cup and has hosted high-profile international events such as the WBSC Premier12 (’15 & ’19), World Baseball Classic (’13 & ’23), U-23 Baseball World Cup (’22) and U-18 Baseball World Cup (’23), Taichung has seen as many as 16 new softball fields being constructed during the past few years.
The II WBSC U-12 Softball World Cup was held in Taichung City, and the championship team Chinese Taipei also consisted of many players from Taichung City as they won the domestic qualification tournament and the rights to assemble the team to represent Chinese Taipei.
Chinese Taipei softball (women) ranks World No. 3, only behind No. 1 United States and No. 2 Japan.
Chinese Taipei softball national team competed in Group A of the XVII WBSC Women’s Softball World Cup and will participate in the Asian Games in September in Hangzhou, China.
