Reported by: Jhuang Huan-Ning at County Hall
Two days ago, on the 22nd, the 2018 National Senior High School Soft Baseball Tournament came to a close. The Kinmen Agricultural and Industrial Vocational Senior High School (KMVS) baseball team beat the traditionally strong team, Qiang Shu High School (QSHS) of Taipei City, 7-4 in the ranking game for 5th and 6th places, demonstrating Kinmen boys’ toughness and their training results, and breaking their 8th place record in the national rankings two years ago.
The KMVS baseball team going to Taiwan for the game was led by Principal Liou Siang-Jin, with head coach Huang Guo-Wei, coaches Jheng Yu-Shen and Syu Yuan-Bo, head manager Lin Li-Jhong, captain Hong Jian-Wei, members Yang Su-Wei, Wang Cheng-Fong, Hong Cheng-Jyun, Hong Ruei-Ze, Jhang Yuan-Jhan, Yang Su-Hong, Cai Yang-En, Syu Wun-Jyun, Lin Sheng-Wei, Huang Fei-Hong, and team managers Jhuang Ya-Jie and He Wei-Jhih.
Head Coach Huang Guo-Wei said that there were only 11 players in the KMVS team for the league matches this year, and 9 of them were in their first year of senior high school. Every player had gone all out and shown the highest morale in the games. Although they lost to Kao-Yuan Vocational High School (KYVS) in the quarter-final, the players were not discouraged. It is commendable that they turned the tables on their opponents from lagging behind to winning two games in a row in the 5th to 8th ranking matches. In the last game against the QSHS team, Left-fielder Syu Wun-Jyun unfortunately collided with Center-fielder Hong Cheng-Jyun and got injured when trying to catch a ball in the outfield, but still did not want to leave the game. The unyielding spirit he displayed was very touching.
The KMVS baseball team drew lots and was set to play against Changhua Senior High School (CHSH) of Changhua County and Taoyuan Yuda High School (YUDA) in preliminary games. On the first match on the 17th against CHSH, KMVS assigned its ace pitcher Yang Su-Wei as the starting pitcher. The first five innings turned out to be a pitcher’s duel which ended up 0:0; unexpectedly in the 6th inning, the opponents luckily batted an infield hit, and with defensive errors, KMVS lost 3 points; fortunately, in the last half inning, continuous walks due to bad pitches by the opponents delivered 4 points to KMVS, which beat CHSH 4:3 in a breathtaking finish and ended its first preliminary match.
Playing against YUDA of Taoyuan City in the second preliminary match, KMVS took advantage of the shaky performance of the opponent’s pitcher and took 6 points in the first inning, laying the ground to win. In addition, with Wang Cheng-Fong assigned as a starting pitcher and Hong Jian-Wei as a relief pitcher to put pressure on its rival, the team eventually ended the game early with 13:4 and advancing to Round 16.
At the Round 16 match, KMVS played against Magong High School (MKSH) from Penghu, which is also a remote island team. KMVS had been defeated by MKSH in early endings in the last two Black Panthers Baseball Cup games. Facing a rival it had never defeated, KMVS was not intimidated. With five hits, bases on balls and proper tactics, it scored 10 points. Thanks to the joint pressure of starting pitcher Wang Cheng-Fong and relief picher Yang Su-Hong, KMVS defeated MKSH with a final score of 10:3, returning to the national top-eight rank.
At the quarter-final match playing against KYVS, the champion team of the year before last and the 7th place in last year’s tournament, KMVS assigned Yang Su-Wei as the starting pitcher. Unexpectedly, unable to pitch in the strike zone, Yang delivered consecutive walks and ended up with 2 points to the opponents in the first inning. Meanwhile, KMVS’s batting was suppressed by the opponents, resulting in a defeat with a final score of 0:6 that enabled them to play only ranking matches for 5th to 8th places.
In the 5th to 8th ranking competitions, the first match was against last year’s national runner-up, Sieh Chih Vocational High School (SCVS) from Chiayi. KMVS assigned Syu Wun-Jyun as starting pitcher. Although 2 points were lost due to walks and defensive errors in the first inning, KMVS showed strong resilience in the 4th inning, catching up with 3 points. However, its rival was no pushover, fighting back in the second-half inning with another 2 points to regain the upper hand. The rest of the game turned out to be a breathtaking tug-of-war. At the first-half of the 7th inning, KMVS took advantage of the opponent’s errors and bases on balls, scoring 2 precious points; at the last half inning, Wang Cheng-Fong was assigned as relief pitcher, effectively suppressing the rival’s batting. In the end, KMVS beat SCVS 5:4, advancing to the 5th and 6th place ranking match.
In the last game competing for the 5th or 6th rankings, KMVS met a traditional strong rival, QSHS from Taipei City. In the first inning, consecutive hits by Hong Cheng-Jyun and Hong Jian-Wei earned 2 points for KMVS; however, unstable pitching by the starting pitcher and defensive errors cost KMVS 3 points in the 3rd inning, lagging behind its opponent. In the second half of the game, KMVS pushed back powerfully with consecutive hits to score in both the 4th and 5th innings, and beat QSHS with a final score of 7:4, winning 5th place in the 2018 National Senior High School Soft Baseball Tournament and renewing the team’s best record.