Palomino World Series: Taiwan vs. Redlands Recap...

PRE GAME PICS

Sat. night's game in the PWS between Taiwan and Redlands was one helluva game - and it was a shame that one team had to lose. Before the start of the game, when I was chatting with the team's interpreter, Andres Liao - I was informed that the kids felt that the team from Redlands was the team to beat in the tourney (having several D-1 players on the team).

The game started late after Puerto Rico won in extra innings to help put them in the championship game against the winner of tonight's game. The SP pitcher for Taiwan, Wei-Yu Lin struggled and Taiwan fell behind quickly 6-1 after 3 innings. However once Coach Tsai decided to go with the team's ace - Chih-Lung Huang, you could feel the momentum shift as the team was able to rally offensively & Huang did his job - shutting down the potent Redlands bats. Taiwan put up 3 runs in the 4th inning, 1 run in the 5th, and 3 runs in the 7th and final inning to rally for a huge win behind a large (at least 200+) and raucous Taiwanese crowd (former NT head coach and 1984 Olympian Chih-Shien Yeh was also at the game with his family). Final Score: Taiwan 8 - Redlands 6. Here's a look at the final scoreboard:

Team Roster:

-Andres informed me that the pitching coach Feng-Yu Weng - was a former star pitcher with the Mercury Tigers

Lineup & Stats:
1)#7 2B Po-Ting Hsiao - 4 PA's: hitless
2)#5 1B Ho Lin - 4 PA's: Single, BB, SB
3)#10 C Chia-Chu Chen - 4 PA's: Double, Triple
4)#9 RF Tsung-Yi Chang - 4 PA's: 3 Singles, 2 RBI's, BB
5)#13 SS Wei-Han Chen - 4 PA's: Single, BB
6)#17 CF Kuo-Lung Lo (Kuo-Hui Lo's lil bro)- 4 PA's: 2 Singles, 2 RBI's
7)#6 DH Yu-Lung Chiang - 4 PA's: 2 Singles, RBI
8)#14 LF Wen-Chieh Lin - 4 PA's: hitless
9)#4 3B Yu-Ju Lee - 3 PA's: Single

SP: #8 Wei-Yu Lin - 2.2 IP, 8 H, 6 R(including a 3 run HR in the 1st), 1 BB, 1 K
RP: #1 Chih-Lung Huang - 4.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K's (9 ground ball outs) - picked up the W for the team

The two biggest names on the team - Chih-Lung Huang and Chia-Chu Chen came up big for the team and lived up to the hype. Chen exhibited the best power in the game for Taiwan - driving one deep to RF while Chih-Lung Huang effectively shut down the opposition's offense in impressive fashion. Huang was the game MVP without a doubt.

The only down side to last night's game is the fact that the team's ace - Chih-Lung Huang had to be used in the game, effectively eliminating him from today's championship game. Coach Tsai will probably have to start lefty De-Jen Chen against Puerto Rico.

MORE PICS

#1 - CL Huang

#10 - CC Chen

#17 - KL Lo

Post Game Celebration

Saluting the Crowd

A big thank you to Andres Liao for his time and 411 as well as Glynda Clark for hooking me up with media credentials! JIAYO!