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(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos courtesy of Phoenix Cup Organization)
        Venus Stars wins Women's Baseball Tournament in Hong Kong
Nederlands
  LAM TIN, Kwun Tong District, Kowloon / WONG TAI SIN, Wong Tai Sin District, Kowloon (HONG KONG, CHINA) -
Venus Stars from Japan has won the ninth edition of the annual Asia Insurance Phoenix Cup Hong Kong International Women's Baseball Tourmanent.
The event is sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) and is organized by the Hong Kong Baseball Association since 2008.
Twelve teams participated this year, who represented eight countries or regions, being Australia, China, Guam, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and host Hong Kong.
In the Final on Monday (February 22), Venus Stars registered a convincing 15-0 shutout-victory vs. Far East Bloomers to remain unbeaten in the annual tournament.
Both finalists came from Japan, which underscored the strenghth of the country in women baseball.
Venus Stars was compiled with players coming from different teams, who play in the Venus League, the biggest women's baseball league in Japan, plus players from university teams.
Six players on the team played for the Japan National Team that won the World Championship-title in 2014.
The games were played at three fields, but due to rain the schedule had to be adjusted from the second day on.
Most games were played at Sai Tso Wan Baseball Field, which is located in Lam Tin (Kwun Tong District).
Other games were also played at two fields on Lion Rock Park Baseball Field, which is located at Wong Tai Sin (Wong Tai Sin District).
Both the Kwun Tong District and Wong Tai Sin District are officially situated in New Kowloon, which is an area of Kowloon, but legally is part of the New Territories, which is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong.
The others being Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula.
Australia was represented for the fourth time by its Under-18 Development Team.
Later this year, the main women baseball-squad of Australia, which is nickhamed 'Emeralds', will participate again in the seventh Women's Baseball World Cup.
In the previous six World Championships, Australia finished in the top-4 each time.
The squad was fourth in 2004 (held in Canada), 2006 (Taiwan), 2008 (Japan) and 2012 (Canada).
In 2010 (held in Venezuela), Australia won the Silver Medal.
Two years ago, when the event took place in Japan, the squad finished in third place.
This year World Championship will be held September 3-11 at Busan in South Korea.
Japan has won the title in the last four editions, while the USA won the first two titles in 2004 and 2008.
At the tournament in Hong Kong, the twelve teams were divided over four groups, playing a preliminary round on the first day last Friday.
The four groups looked as follows:
Group A: Allies (Hong Kong), Bulsajo (South Korea) and Shanghai Super Girls Baseball Team (China).
Group B: Bravo (Hong Kong), Far East Bloomers (Japan) and Taiwan Sunflower Women's Baseball Team (Taiwan).
Group C: Venus Stars (Japan), Guri-city NineVics Women's Baseball Team (South Korea) and Taipei Vanguard (Taiwan).
Group D: Australia Development Team (Australia), Lady Guahan (Guam) and Singapore Panthers (Singapore).
(February 22)
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Day 1 (Friday)
On the first day, Australia registered two big victories to finish in first place in Group D.
The Aussies recorded a huge 44-0 victory in its first game vs. Singapore Panthers, which was founded in 2013 to promote baseball amongst girls in Singapore and participated in the event for the third time.
Australia scored 30 runs in the first at bat, then added 14 more in the second inning of the 2½ inning game.
Australia collected 37 (!) basehits off of pitcher Jasmine Poh, who went the distance for the Panthers and walked only three batters.
Geraldine Ng accounted for the lone basehit for Singapore.
Grace Zylstra and Madeline Davis both went 6-for-6 in the game.
Zylstra also scored six runs and batted in six.
Davis scored four runs and batted in nine.
Jordan Richardson batted in five runs, while Kelsey Brennan contributed with six RBI's.
In the first inning, the Australian team registered 27 basehits.
Initially, the first batter flied out.
But hereafter, 23 consecutive batters reached base and they all would score!
Abbey Kelly, Grace Zylstra, Jordan Richardson and Madeline Davis all had four basehits in this at bat.
The first three also scored four runs.
Kelly hit three doubles, Richardson hit a 3-run inside-the-park-homerun, Davis hit two 2-run doubles, Kelsey Brennan hit a 3-run triple in her first at bat, then added a 3-run double in her next at bat.
There were ten doubles, one triple and one homerun in this Australian at bat.
In its second game of the day, Australia won 'only' 12-0 vs. Lady Guahan from Guam.
This time, Australia scored five runs in the first inning.
The team collected 11 basehits, while the squad from Guam was held hitless.
Guam closed Day 1 with a 19-0 win against Singapore, scoring 17 runs in the opening at bat.
Singapore again registered only one basehit.
In Group A, Allies (Hong Kong) won 22-0 vs. Shanghai Super Girls, which is the lone women's baseball-team in China.
Allies scored 13 runs in the second inning of this game.
Its second game against Bulsajo (South Korea) was halted due to rain and resumed on Day 2.
The Korean squad won 16-1 against the Chinese team.
The remainder of their game against Allies will decide first and second place in this pool.
In Group B, Far East Bloomers (Japan) and Taiwan Sunflower (Taiwan) both won its first game.
Far East opened with a 11-0 win vs. Bravo (Hong Kong), which then lost 13-8 to Sunflower later in the day.
The game between the teams from Japan and Taiwan was the lone one in the preliminary round that was to be played on Day 2.
In Group C, Venus Stars (Japan) won twice, beating Guri-city NineVics (South Korea) 11-1 and Taipei Vanguard (Taiwan) with a huge 36-0 score.
In this last game, Venus scored 15 runs in both the first and second inning.
The Koreans then won 13-7 vs. Taipei to finish in second place.
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Day 2 (Saturday)
The first day of the tournament ended with rain.
The game between Bravo (Hong Kong) and Taiwan Sunflower (Taiwan) in Pool B then was played almost entirely in the rain.
The next game in Pool A, played by Allies (Hong Kong) and Bulsajo (South Korea), was halted by rain after one inning with Aliies leading 12-1.
As a result of the rain, the fields had become unplayable.
The groundscrew of the organization did an incredible job today, but it took awhile for them to make the fields playable again.
Because of conditions of the weather and the fields, the schedule was adjusted.
Several games were dropped from the schedule and today, only four games were played.
In the new schedule, the teams that finished in third place in their respective pools went on to play for 9th through 12th place.
The numbers two of each pools continued playing for 5th through 8th place and the four pool-winners would play for the tournament's championship-title.
In the original schedule, there was a longer way for teams to reach the final.
It also meant that four teams didn't get into action today.
The day began with the official Opening Ceremony of the event with all participating teams being introduced.
Hereafter, the remainder of the match-up between Allies and Bulsajo was played.
Allies added six more runs and went on to win 18-3 to become the winner n Pool B.
In the next game, Far East Bloomers (Japan) won 6-3 vs. Taiwan Sunflower to conclude the preliminary round in Pool B.
With the win, the Japanese squad ended in first place.
The second day of the tournament ended with the semi-finals for the teams that ended in third place in their pools.
First, Bravo (Hong Kong) won 13-11 in an attractive game against Shanghai Super Girls (China).
Hereafter, Taipei Vanguard won 21-2 vs. Singapore Panthers (Singapore).
By winning, Bravo and Taipei Vanguard were to play against each other for ninth and tenth place on Day 3.
Shanghai Super Girls and Singapore Panthers had to face each other in the game that was to decide 11th and 12th place.
...The players, coaches, umpires and officials pose together during the Opening Ceremony...
(© Photo courtesy of Organizing Committee Phoenix Cup 2016) |
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Day 3 (Sunday)
The third day of the tournament in Hong Kong was very chilly.
Due to the conditions of the playing fields, the games started later than scheduled, but all scheduled games could be played.
Today, the ranking for ninth through twelfth place was decided.
Also, two sets of semi-finals were played.
First, the teams that finished in second place in the preliminary pools met to decide the games for fifth through eighth place.
The day closed with the semi-finals involving the pool-winners that set up the medal-games on Monday.
In today's first game, Taiwan Sunflower (Taiwan) won 15-5 vs. Bulsajo (South Korea) to qualify for the game that will decided fifth and sixth place on the final day of the event.
In that game, the Taiwanese squad will meet Lady Guahan (Guam), which won 14-3 vs. Guri-city NineVics (South Korea).
The two Korean teams were to face each other in the game for seventh and eighth place on Day 4.
Taipei Vanguard (Taiwan) won 12-10 vs. Bravo (Hong Kong) to finish in ninth place.
In the second inning, trailing 4-0, Bravo rallied for six runs to take a 6-4 lead.
The Hong Kong-squad led 9-5 after three innings, but Taipei then scored four runs in the fourth to come alongside.
They then added three more runs in the fifth to re-take lead.
Bravo was able to add only one more run.
Shanghai Super Girls (China) outscored Singapore Panthers 18-5 to claim eleventh place.
Shanghai rallied for seven runs in the third inning and added eight more runs in the fourth.
In the last two games today, the two teams coming from Japan became the finalists of the tournament.
In the first semi-final, Far East Bloomers won a very suspenseful game against Allies (Hong Kong) with a 7-4 score.
Far East led 3-0 in the second inning, but Allies then scored twice and came alongside in the third.
Both teams scored once in the fourth inning on the attractive meeting.
Far East, which was outhit 9-8, then decided the game by scoring three runs in the fifth at bat.
In the second semi-final, Venus Stars convincingly won with an 11-1 score vs. Australia, which had opened the tournament on Friday with two big victories.
Venus led 2-0 after two innings, then Australia scored its first run in the top of the third.
But the Japanese squad then rallied for seven runs in the bottom of the third to decide the game.
The Aussies now had to play against Allies in the bronze medal-game on Day 4 of the event.
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Day 4 (Monday)
The fourth and final day of the International Women's Baseball Tournament in Hong Kong had four games scheduled.
That were the games that would decide first through eighth place.
Lady Guahan vs. Taiwan Sunflower
The day began with the match-up for fifth and sixth place between Lady Guahan (Guam) and Taiwan Sunflower (Taiwan).
The team from Guam opened the score with one run in the first inning, then rallied for five runs in the second at bat en route to a 9-3 victory.
Lady Guahan collected six hits, including two by Sirena Cepeda, who also scored three runs and batted in one.
In the first inning, lead-off hitter Sirena Cepeda reached on an error and scored on a single by Merced Flores to give the Guam-squad an early lead.
In the next at bat, five runs were added.
The rally began with an RBI-double by Sirena Cepeda, then two runs were added on an error.
A single by Meagan Maratita brought in two more runs and lifted the lead to 6-0.
Sunflowers got one run back in the top of the third inning on a basesloaded walk for Wang-ping Lin, but the team then left three runners behind.
In the bottom of the third, Lady Guahan added three more runs.
Tamisha Fejeran singled in a run, then two more runners scored on an error.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the fourth inning, the Taiwanese squad scored twice when a grounder by Ya-lan Chen ended in an error.
Bulsajo vs. Guri-city NineVics
In the next game of the day, the two participating teams from South Korea faced each other in the game for seventh and eighth place.
Bulsajo won 11-1, but decided the game late.
Bulsajo scored twice in the first at bat, then the opponent got one run back in the next inning.
Bulsajo then took some distance scoring two more runs in the third, then decided the game with a 7-run rally in the fourth inning.
Bulsajo collected 11 basehits, NineVics registered only one.
Allies vs. Australia
In the Bronze Medal Game, there was a ot of suspense.
The Australia Development Team trailed after the first inning, then rallied for three runs and went on to win 5-3 vs. Allies (Hong Kong) to finish in third place.
The Australian squad registered six hits, only two more than Allies.
In the top of the first inning, the Hong Kong-squad opened the score with two runs.
Wai-Yee 'Vivien' Cheung then scored the first run on a wild pitch, then a grounder by Tan-Lee 'Danni' Cheung made it 2-0.
Allies participated in all nine Phoenix Cup-tournaments and has several players from the Hong Kong National Team on its roster.
The Aussies got one run back in its first at bat.
Lead-off hitter Grace Zylstra walked, moved on a sacrifice bunt by Chloe Humphreys and a single by Caitlin Gordon, then scored on a basesloaded walk for Jordan Richardson.
Two outs followed, meaning three runners stranded.
In the second inning, Australia rallied for three runs with two outs.
With two runners on base, Abbey Kelly delivered a single, but when an outfield-error followed, all three were able to score.
Both teams scored once in the third inning.
The Australian pitching then hold onto the small lead, despite scoring opportunities for the Hong Kong-team.
In both the fourth anf fifth inning, Allies left runners on second and third base.
Venus Stars vs. Far East Bloomers
In the Final, played between two squads from Japan, Venus Stars showed it was the best team in the tournament.
It not only shutout Far East Bloomers with a15-0 score, but also collected 16 basehits.
Yui Shingu, who also is one of the coaches of the team, went 3-for-4 for Venus Stars and batted in three runs, while Ayako Rokkaku scored three runs.
Far East Bloomers registered only two basehits.
A runscoring double by Yukiko Ishida opened the score in the first at bat.
She later scored herself on a force play-grounder.
...Tournament-champion Venus Stars and runner-up Far East Bloomers...
(© Photo courtesy of Organizing Committee Phoenix Cup 2016) |
Two runs were added in the second inning on a 2-out double by Aikiko Shimura.
Singles by Mimu Nakazono (one-run) and Ayaho Rokkaku (2-run) lifted the lead to 7-0 in the third at bat.
Venus Stars again scored three runs in the fourth inning, this time via singles by Shiori Matsukawa and Yui Shingu.
Venus Stars closed the game with a 5-run rally in the top of the fifth inning.
With two runners on base and no outs, Yukiko Ishida doubled in a run, then Yurika Arisaka followed with a 2-run single.
After a pitching change, the bases got loaded.
A force out at the plate then accounted for the first out, but then Yui Shingu delivered a 2-run single to lift the lead to 15-0.
A double play then ended the inning.
Far East Bloomers reached second base only twice in the game and was retired in order three times.
It marked the first time that Venus Stars won the tournament.
Opponent Far East Bloomers had won the event in 2008, 2009 and 2011.
It was the third consecutive time and sixth overall, that the tournament was won by a team from Japan.
The previous two tournaments were won by Osaka University of Health and Sports Sciences.
In 2012 and 2013, Shilin High School of Commerce from Taiwan won the event and in 2010, the title went to Aussie Hearts from Australia.
Final Standings
1. Venus Stars (Japan) (Champion Award), 2. Far East Bloomers (Japan) (1st Runner-up Award), 3. Australia Development Team (Australia) (2nd Runner-up Award), 4. Allies (Hong Kong) (3rd Runner-up Award), 5. Lady Guahan (Guam) (Merit Award), 6. Taiwan Sunflower (Taiwan) (Merit Award), 7. Bulsajo (South Korea) (Sportsmanship Award), 8. Guri-city NineVics (South Korea) (Best Team Spirit Award), 9. Taipei Vanguard (Taiwan) (Passionate Team Award), 10. Bravo (Hong Kong) (Enthusiastic Team Award), 11. Shanghai Super Girls (China) (Photogenic Team Award), 12. Singapore Panthers (Singapore) (Friendship Award).
Individual Awards
Best Coach: Mitsuharu Hamamoto (Venus Stars)
Best Pitcher: Nana Sasanuma (Venus Stars)
Most Home Runs (2): Yurika Arisaka (Venus Stars)
Most Hits (11): Aikiko Shimura (Venus Stars)
Team Most Valuable Players
Allies: Tsz-Chin Lau
Australia: Grace Zylstra
Bravo: Siu-Ping 'Emily' Fung
Bulsajo: Hyunsam Myung
Far East Bloomers: Nanae Chiba
Guri-city NineVics: Hyeri Park
Lady Guahan: Sirena Cepeda
Shanghai Super Girls: Yue Dai
Singapore Panthers: Jasmine Poh
Taipei Vanguard: Tzu-chun Liao
Taiwan Sunflower: Hsiao-Chi Lee
Venus Stars: Yurika Arisaka
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