2010 Xiamen Baseball Bash a Raving Success

December 14th, 2010 at 4:35 am by Chaz

Blog, Sports and Recreation

The 2010 Xiamen Baseball Bash was held under fair skies at the beautiful Gulangyu People’s Stadium on December 11th and 12th. Youth teams from Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taiwan travelled to Xiamen to participate against local Xiamen school teams and the host: Xiamen Armadillos. There were two age group brackets, with 6 teams in the 12 and under (Lower School) bracket and 4 teams in the 13 and over (Upper School) bracket.

This was the first international youth baseball tournament ever held in Xiamen and provided the city an idea of what real baseball is all about. Hundreds of people, both longtime fans and curious walk-ups, packed into People’s Stadium and were treated to a show of America’s favorite pastime.

It was truly fantastic to see so many people from different cultures and different places enjoying the game of baseball, and also to give the young players a chance to show-off their talents.

The Lower School bracket winners were the visiting Shanghai Sluggers coached by Ken Holloway, who bested the home town Renmin (Gulangyu) Xiao Xue in a close contest, by a score of 10-8. Third Place was earned by the Shanghai Typhoon, winners over the local Ruijing Xiao Xue by a score of 8-3. In general, the younger kids played great baseball during the weekend, showing sound fundamentals and reflecting the solid coaching they received.


The hosting Xiamen Armadillos also played good baseball and played very competitive games throughout the two days. The Armadillos were led by the strong hitting and solid catching of Clifford Lin, the consistent pitching of Willy Lee and Jasper Lin, and the great all-around play of Johnny Hickel. Justin Chen had the highlight-reel play of the weekend, robbing a Shanghai Slugger of an extra-base hit by making a diving catch of a fly ball in centerfield.

The Upper School bracket winners were the Taiwanese Chiayi Da Ye Guo Zhong, expertly coached by Mr. Wu Qing Sheng. This team showed very impressive baseball skills and put on a real clinic, both in the field, with their pitching and at bat. The final game was between the Chiayi team and the older boys from the Shanghai Sluggers. The final score was 14-3, with the Shanghai team being treated to lights-out pitching and long home run bombs from the Taiwan visitors.

The Upper School Xiamen Armadillos also played well during the two days, beating the Yi Fu Zhong Xue by a score of 6-3 behind the complete game pitching of Ryan James. The Armadillos also played the eventual champion Chiayi team well, losing by a score of 10-4. Other standouts for the Armadillos this weekend included George Youn, with three home runs, Tim Hildebrandt with one of his trademark home run shots and Alex Thompson with his first-ever home run. Solid pitching was also turned in by Jason Byun, Ken Hung, and Jerry Lee.

Article: Jeff James