Lin Sheng-fong’s walk-off sacrifice fly scored the game-winner in the bottom of the tenth to lift Ku Pao Home Economics and Commercial High School past Taichung Shi Yuan Senior High School in a 3-2 win at the Taipei County Baseball Stadium in Sinjhuang on Thursday.
The game-deciding swing came after a pair of defensive miscues by Shi Yuan — a passed ball against catcher Cheng Wei-chih and a wild throw to first by shortstop Lin Jing-fu — that allowed the Ku Pao runners to reach first and third with just one out, making all three of Ku Pao’s runs unearned in the game.
“Errors will kill you in a close game like this one,” Shi Yuan coach Huang Wu-hsiung said after the game.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
Both of his pitchers had done their job in holding a potent Ku Pao attack to four combined hits in the game. But the three errors by the Shi Yuan defense proved too much for the offense to overcome.
The Shi Yuan hitters needed little time getting on the board against Ku Pao starter Chang Jung-long with a run on two hits in the top of the first for a quick 1-0 lead only to see its defense squander it away in the bottom of the same inning when second baseman Liao Nian-tseh’s fielding error led to a pair of unearned runs.
Trailing 1-2, Shi Yuan evened things up in the fourth on Liu Yu-wei’s RBI single that knocked out Ku Pao’s Chang.
But that was as close as it got as reliever Pan Jeh promptly shut down the Shi Yuan attack with 5-2/3 innings of two-hit ball to give his team a chance to win in extra-innings.
Chung Dau Senior High School 4, National Taichung Agricultural Senior High School 2
Yilan County’s Chung Dau Senior High School overcame an early deficit to defeat National Taichung Agricultural Senior High School 4-2 in Sinjhuang on Thursday to qualify for the fourth-and-final berth in the semi-finals.
The win not only earned Chung Dau its first ever “Final Four” appearance, but also denied National Taichung Agricultural a chance to reach the Final Four for the third straight year.
Starter Hsu Tseh-min was rock solid with seven strong innings of four-hit ball that earned the senior righty his second win of the week.
Even though reliever Kuo Bo-hen nearly gave up the lead in the eighth by allowing the first two National Taichung Agricultural hitters to reach base safely on consecutive hits and actually allowed a run in the ninth, a spectacular throw by Chung Dau rightfielder Yu Mu-chien gunned down the runner at the plate for the game-ending out.
As for National Taichung Agricultural, which outhit Chung Dau by a 9-8 margin, inability to come up with the timely hits ultimately cost them the game as they batted a miserable 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position to strand a total of eight for the game.
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