Chinese Taipei holds off Palmview
By Joe Tuscano
For the Observer-Reporter
newsrooom@observer-reporter.com
For Palmview, Texas, this old adage could not be more true:
“We have me the enemy and he is us.”
Palmview had countless opportunities to win its Pony League World Series game against Chinese Taipei but bobbled it away in a 4-2 loss Saturday at Lew Hays Poy Field in Washington Park.
The biggest goof came in the seventh and final inning. Palmview put two batters on base when first baseman Wu Chieh Jui misplayed a ground ball hit by Omar Cantu for an error and Edgar Quintanilla walked. Gael Zambrano took two strikes and then all heck broke loose. Quintanilla took a big lead and Chinese Taipei pitcher Chen Hsuan Chi fired over to first base. Quintanilla was called out and the pickoff left Palmview players frustrated.
“Safe, everybody said so,” said Palmview manager Ramiro Leon. “It is what it is. The umpire saw something else. The umpire just said he was out. I asked him, did he see, he said out and that was it. It affected the game but hey that’s baseball.”
“It was a defensive move,” said Chinese Taipei manager Ching Chun Tsai said through an interpreter.” We wanted them to think we were going to throw it to second base.
Palmview, the South Zone champion, trailed 4-2 at the time of the pickoff. Zambrano struck out to end the game.
“That was a tough out but it’s a long tournament and we could see them again,” Leon said.
Palmview pitchers uncorked three wild pitches, two of them allowing runs to score. In the bottom of the sixth, catcher Chen Chin Fu opened the inning by hitting a sharp grounder that Leon stopped but was not able to throw him out. Chen was sacrificed to second, then third before scoring on a wild pitch.
In the fifth inning, a walk, error and wild pitch put Lin Liang Kai on third base. He scored on another wild pitch to give Chinese Taipei a 3-2 lead.
Chinese Taipei took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a single by Wu Chieh Jui and a groundout by Chen Hsuan-Chi.
It stayed that way until the fourth inning when Axel Pulido sent a rocket over the left-field fence that scored Ezra Gonzalez and tied the game 2-2.
“When we were down 2-0, I wouldn’t say I was worried,” Leon said. “I was more frustrated. We were putting the ball in play but the wild pitches hurt us. We have to clean that up. Ultimately, we’ll come back to practice and let them know they can have fun.”
Chinese Taipei had only three hits to go along with four runs. Five pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts of Palmview batters. The Asia-Pacific champions shut out Palmview over the last three innings. But the Chinese Taipei manager feels the team will play better once they get more comfortable with their surroundings.
“For a lot of these kids, this is the first time playing in the U.S.,” said Ching. “They might not feel as free.”