Chinese Taipei who finished runners-up at the last tournament in Nanjing, China in 2018, have declared to win the 3rd Asian Universities Women Softball Asia Cup 2022 which began today at the Rugby International schools grounds in Pattaya, Thailand, in the absence of defending champion China.
And to underline Chinese Taipei mean business here, they opened their campaign this morning when they defeated Malaysia 11-0 over four innings under the run ahead rule and went on to demolish Hong Kong 18-1 in four innings again under the run ahead rule in their second Group A match in the afternoon.
Chinese Taipei head coach Lin Pei-Chun was modest in their victory over Malaysia.
“Yes, we wanted to start the tournament on a victory note and glad we did, but it was not easy as the score suggests. We had to work hard for this convincing win,” said Lin.
However, she admitted that Chinese Taipei are here to win the tournament.
“This is our goal here in the tournament – to win the tournament. But we are wary of team Japan and Korea who could pose a threat to our ambition.
“But we are prepared for the challenges and will take a game at a time to reach the final.”
Chinese-Taipei scored the convincing win over Malaysia, with their designated player Wo Ting Wei and shortstop Wen Ya Jou, both making two hits each to help Chinese-Taipei win 11-0.
In the second game for the morning session, hosts Thailand made a dramatic return to the game after being down by 5 runs in the first inning itself against Hong Kong, in anail-biting finish.
Thailand saw off Hong Kong 8-6.
Hong Kong despite the great start, could only increase their lead with a run in the 4thinning, while Thailand scored 3 in 3rd inning, 1 in the sixth and 4 in the last inning for their hard earned victory.
The loss was costly for Hong Kong, as they lost their second consecutive game of the day in the aftrenoon, when were white-washed by Chinese Taipei 18-1.
Japan and Korea, the other two teams tipped to make headway in the tournament, got off to easy wins over Singapore (11-0) and India (10-0) respectively.
Japan homered thrice in their victory over Singapore, with shortstop Mio Endo, left fielder Ikue Funasaka and third base Miku Furusho hitting home runs to centre field and left field to end the game in four innings.
There was a glimmer of hope that Singapore would break their duck in the fourth inning as first base Bowie Tan made a two-base hit with one out but the Japanese put out the next two outs in rapid succession.
Korea on the other hand powered to their victory, hitting three home runs as they beatIndia.
Centre fielder Kim Subin, catcher Jung Songhee and designated player Hong Siyeon hit home runs to left field, right field and centre field respectively to help end the game in four innings.
Thailand became the second team to remain unbeaten after Chinese Taipei after first day matches ended this evening, when they beat Malaysia 9-0, to send the latter to their second consecutive defeat.
Japan and Korea followed through in the last matches for the day, when they too remained undefeated with their respective second match victory over India (15-0 – 3innings Run Ahead Rule) and Singapore (8-1 – 4 innings Run Ahead Rule) respectively.
Singapore, India, Hong Kong and Malaysia ended the day with two consecutive losses.
The second day of competition tomorrow will see the team complete their remaining one more Group match, before the top 3 teams from each Group qualify to play in the Super Round.
The Super Round will be held over two days.
The fourth ranked team from each Group will play each other in the Placement Round.
Results from the Opening Round between the 3 teams that advance to the Super round from each Group will carry over and count to determine the 4 teams that will qualify to play in the Final round (Gold and Bronze medal game). The same methodology (of carry over results) applies to the Placement Round.
The top 2 teams after the Super Round will play for the Gold medal, and the 3rd and 4thranked teams after the Super Round will play for the Bronze medal on Sunday.
GROUPING:
Group A: Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand
Group B: Japan, Singapore, India and Korea
DAY 1 RESULTS:
Chinese Taipei 11 Malaysia 0 (4 innings Run Ahead Rule)
Hong Kong 6 Thailand 8
Japan 11 Singapore 0 (4 innings Run Ahead Rule)
Korea 10 India 0 (4 innings Run Ahead Rule)
Hong Kong 1 Chinese Taipei 18 (4 innings Run Ahead Rule)
Malaysia 0 v Thailand 9 (4 innings Run Ahead Rule)
Japan 15 India 0 (4 innings Run Ahead Rule)
Korea 8 Singapore 1 (4 innings Run Ahead Rule)
TOMORROW REMAINING FIXTURES:
8.30am: Chinese Taipei v Thailand
8.30am: Malaysia v Hong Kong
10.30: Japan v Korea
10.30: Singapore v India
Super Round:
12.30pm: A3 v B2
2.30pm: A2 V B1
2.30pm: B3 v A1
Credit Photos : Softball Association of Thailand