9th 18U Asian Baseball Championship Underway
Wins for Korea, Thailand, Chinese Taipei and Japan on first Day
Sunday, August 28, 2011 Yokohama, Japan
9th 18U (AAA) Asian Baseball Championship started in Kanagawa prefecture. At the Opening Ceremony on the night before, Sho AZEGAMI took an oath on behalf of plays of 8 participating teams and pledged to play under the motto of “Never Give Up”, to support the rebuilding efforts after the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake.”
Group A
Sri Lanka - Korea 0-20 (6)
Hodogaya Stadium: Korea collected 17 hits, 10 walks with 9 stolen bases to in a 0-20 win in 6th inning over Sri Lanka. Ha Ju Suk of Korea, first batter, contributed to the win by 3 hits and 3 stolen basis. Korea’s strong hitting was evident throughout the game including 3-run homers by Ryu Ji Hyuk, 9th batter, in 3rd inning. A in-field hit to first base by Maduranga was the only hit for Sri Lanka. Nevertheless, Sri Lank played really hard in serious manner. Their right fielder Nadun caught a difficult fly ball even crashing hard o right field fence.
Thailand - Philippines 4-7
Yokosuka Stadium: Philippines came back from 0-2 deficit to score 3 runs in 5th inning by extra-base hits of Hashimoto and John Carlo. Timely hits including a 3 base hit of Nelson in the 6th added scores for Philippines, helped by 12 stole bases. Earlier in the game, Thailand scored 2 runs by timely hit of Phoveandkam to centerfield in 4th inning but Ku Aoyama, pitcher, was caught in 5th and 6th inning despite he played good preceding innings. Thailand played good offence with 7 walks and timely sac bunt even though they collected 6 fewer hits, 7, than Thailand.
Group B
Pakistan - Chinese Taipei 0 -33 (5)
Yokosuka Stadium: Chinese Taipei prevailed with a lopsided 33-0 win over Pakistan which was decided by the mercy rule after five innings with 25 hits including 6 home runs. Lead-off batter for Chinese Taipei, Lin Tzu Wei, hit and inside-the-park home run followed by 16 safe hits by 23 batters scoring total of 20 runs in the first inning. Chinese Taipei added scores after the 2nd inning by frequent relying on sacrifice bunts. Li Kang Sheng and 4 other pitchers of Chinese Taipei threw one inning each to keep Pakistan scoreless. Abdulla and other pitchers of Pakistan had to endure a tough game by many defensive errors.
Hong Kong - Japan 0-23 (6)
Hodogaya Stadium: Japan needed just 6 inning to dispatch Hong Kong 0-23, with 19 hits and allowing no-hit to Hong Kong by 4 pitchers. Japan scored 8 runs to 4th inning assisted by 2 timely hits by 9th batter, Usuda and added 11 runs in the 5th with 11 hits by 16 batters, focusing on sharp batting instead of over-swing. Saiuchi of Japan struck out 5 in 3 innings and Matsumoto, Kitakata and Yoshinaga maintained no hitter. Leung Chung Hei pitched with persistence with low balls for 3 and half innings.
