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Youngstown errors lead Chinese to rout
By Joe Tuscano
WASHINGTON, PA.
Generosity is fine when it comes to the holidays, but it doesn’t work well in the Pony League World Series.
The Youngstown All-Stars surrendered two runs in nearly identical fashion in the first three innings, and another in the fourth that easily could have been avoided.
That started an avalanche of hits and runs that did not stop until Chinese Taipei had a 12-3 victory on Tuesday at Lew Hays Pony Field in Washington Park.
The loss sends Youngstown, the Host Area North champion, against Long Beach, Calif., in a game today at 5:30 p.m. Long Beach advanced by defeating Santo Domingo, D.R., 20-10.
Chinese Taipei, the Asia-Pacific Zone champion, will play today’s winner in the championship game on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
“We spotted them three runs, and you can’t do that and expect to win the game,” Youngstown manager Paul Hammond said. “Our kids fought hard, but they put the bat on the ball better than we did.”
Chinese Taipei had 12 runs on 15 hits; Youngstown scored three runs on nine hits.
Chinese Taipei showed off its strong fundamental play with timely hitting and strong pitching. The Asia-Pacific champion broke open a close game with three runs in the fifth inning, four in the sixth and two in the seventh.
“The first innings we were down because of some [mistakes],” said Chinese Taipei manager Tsung-Shih Chen through an interpreter. “Since that inning, things changed.”
Chinese Taipei, which has won three world series titles in the past 11 years, got its first two runs in eerily similar fashion.
In the first inning, Wei-Haio Chen was hit by a pitch, moved to second on an error, was bunted over to third base and scored on a sacrifice fly by Wie-Chieh Chang.
In the third inning, Chinese Taipei took a 2-0 lead when Wei-Haio Chen was hit by a pitch, moved to third on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly Chen-Yu Sai.
Chinese Taipei made it 3-0 in the fourth inning when Ching Chang smacked a one-out double, moved to third base on a wild pitch and scored on a wild pitch.
“We are always consistent,” said Chen. “[We] expect the hitting to be better. There is room for improvement.”
Youngstown cut Chinese Taipei’s lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the third inning. Chase Thurber singled to right field and moved to second when Hunter Snyder singled to nearly the same spot one out later. When right fielder
Chen-Yu Tsai bobbled the ball for a rare error, Thurber went to third base. Alex Hammond brought Thurber in on an infield single.
But Chinese Taipei roared back, scoring a three in the fifth and four in the sixth. Wei-Hao Chen went 2-for-2 and scored four runs, and No. 2 hitter Chen-Yu Tsai went 2-for-3, scored twice and knocked in two. Wei-Chieh Chang, the cleanup hitter, had three RBI.
Youngstown added two runs in the sixth. Tommy Cannon singled to center and came around to score on a fielder’s choice by Thurber to cut the Chinese Taipei lead to 10-2. Dom Lipari drove in Brandon Chamberlain with single to center field for the second run.
“We want another shot at them,” Hammond said. “There are no weak teams here. We have to play our best games to win.”
This victory was especially satisfying for Chinese Taipei, which mounted an impressive rally to defeat Santo Doming, D.R., 5-4 in the last game. Chinese Taipei scored three times in the final two innings to pull out the victory.