【Chinese Baseball League Week-6 Digest】
The Stars Come out in Wuxi

Chinese　Japanese

【Jiangsu Hopestars・Chen Biao】

[May 20th, 2007] All-Star weekend in the 2007 Chinese Baseball League this year takes place in beautiful Wuxi. Before the All-Star game match, the pros took part in several skills competitions, with Guangdong Leopard Ji Ze taking home the fastest baserunning prize, and Hopestar Chen Biao besting the finalists in the homerun hitting contest.

After a quick opening ceremony, the game began at 6. The southern division squad opened behind the efforts of Liu Kai, who had a dominant 16K performance the previous week. He quickly finished off the North with two strikeouts and a pop-out. In the bottom of the first, after the South’s Zhang Yufeng led off with a pop-out, Tang Wei reached first on an error by the shortstop, and cleanup hitter Lin Xiaofan followed with a two-run blast to right-center field, opening the scoring field wide.

In the second, the south switched pitchers to Shanghai’s Zhang Jun, and the North switched to Dragons pitcher Chen Kun. Both pitchers stifled all offensive scoring opportunities. In the third, the north’s number eight hitter Liu Zhicheng started off the rally with a single, Beijing’s Li Lei got on with a walk, and number two spot Xie Peng hit a long shot to the game to score Liu from second.

In the fourth, Zhang Jun settled down and didn’t give up another hit. In the bottom of the fourth, the north turned to young Beijing sidearm pitcher Wu Meng, who had no problem until he faced the South’s Li Xinxiong and Lin Xiaofan, who’s one-two combo punched home another run.

The remaining contest became a pitcher’s duel until the ninth, as both sides put up zeros. The South relied on a strong effort from pitchers from Huang Quan to Zhang Li, and the North from Tianjin’s Zhang Yunfeng. The North waiting until the ninth to mount their rally back. When five-spot Sun Wei got on with a double, Feng Fei followed up with a triple. Liu Jianzhong then solidly connected for a single to left, evening the score at 3 apiece. To finish off their comeback, Liu Zhicheng hit a sacrifice to center, which enabled a runner to come home and north to take the lead.

【MVP Beijing・Li Lei】

In the bottom of the ninth, the North switched pitchers to Tianjin stalwart Lv Jiangang, who masterfully navigated the South offence to produce two strikeouts and a groundout, finalizing a North come from behind victory.

Beijing player Li Lei won player of the game honors, and Zhang Yunfeng and Lin Xiaofan were runners up. Also honored were: Lv Jiangang, Liu Jianzhong, Sun Wei, Liu Zhicheng, Zhang Li, Huang Quan, Tang Wei, and Zhang Yunfeng.

The focus of next week’s games will be in Beijing, as the Tigers host Tianjin in a northern division showdown. Sichuan takes on the Eagles in Shanghai, and the Hopestars will be at Guangzhou taking on the Leopards.