Taiwan Independence Cup Tournament
By Shiching John Chang
This is history!
Not everyone has a similar experience like us！We can record history in our time,
I am appreciated that what I write down here will be part of history of Taiwanese American. Thanks.
Part 1: group picture of the 38th tournament
2006.
Part 2: The 40th tournament was held on August 30, 2008 at Olathe, Kansas.
Nine teams from
Indiana State University (INDSU)
University of Illinois (UI)
Iowa State University (ISU)
University of Missouri (UM)
Tigons (Tigers & Lions) from Dallas, Texas
Oklahoma City University (OCU)
University of Missouri -Kansas City &
Shin-Fu Company combo ( UMKC/SF)
Taiwanese Association of Kansas City (TAKC
Total eight teams.
University of Wisconsin (UW)cancel the trip at the last minutes.
Tournament started with two divisions:
Division of Taiwanese teams, all players are original from Taiwan. Total 4 teams- UI, INDSU, UM, TIGONS.
Division of International teams, maximum non Taiwanese players limited to 4.
ISU, OCU, UMKC/SF, TAKC.
At the opening ceremony, John Chang, organizer, presented plaque awards to long time umpires: Mattivi, Reilly, and Ruark.
In the past six years, they umpired at least 5 games each tournament day to ensure the smooth flows of this tournament.
TAKC President, Dr. Jim Hseu presented plaque awards to tournament organizers :
John Chang, Ching Lin, Piming Kuo and Chunyen Liu . Dr. Hseu expressed to 125 players and 80 audience the hope of Taiwanese Independence soon and not to wait for 40 years. He also presented awarded to volunteers: Meili Yang, Jean Hung,Jack Lin, Stacey Yuan, Kao Chuan, Jim Hseu, Judy Kuo, Ken Yang, Shuhsien Chang,Bob Yang and KP Yang.
After drawing the tournament order, started at 9 AM sharp, and Mr. Joe Lee, President of Taiwan United Fund, Dr. Bob Yang, President of FAPA HQ, and Dr. Jim Hseu, President of TAKC toss the first pitch at 3 different fields.
Game was set for one hour or six innings limitation. Each team played 3 elimination games, and settled for Division Champions, 2nd place, 3rd place, 4th places and 5th place.
Divisional Champions play for final tournament champions, so as 3rd, 4th, 5th-8th place. In one very short periods, each team played 4 games, and umpires do 5 games. All involved are so intensive and endured all hard works.
Female pitcher of ISU is non Taiwanese player, and she attended this tournament for over 5 years. Female catcher of IU is a Taiwanese girl, she was knocked down, and after treatment by President of Oriental medicine, Dr. Ken Yang, she came back to games. We also appreciated that Dr. Ken Yang provided 300 set of hot dogs and corns for players and audience.
Results:
Taiwanese Teams:
Dallas Tigons 3 won
INDSU 2 won 1 loss
UI. 1 won 2 loss
MU 3 loss
International Teams:
OCU. 3 won
ISU. 2 won 1 loss
TAKC 1 won. 2 loss
UMKC/SF. 3 loss
Finals:
Dallas-Tigons 31 – OCU 6 champion& 2nd
INDSU 12 – ISU 11. 3rd/4th place
TAKC /UI both 5th place
UMKC/SF. 1. – MU 0 7th /8th place
Championship was played between
Dallas-Tigons(all Taiwanese players) and OCU ( has 4 Japanese players).
This is the 2nd years Dallas team won tournament here.
For 3rd/4th place game, INDSU had a good bye hit at the bottom 6th inning to win at 12-11. At the 3rd inning, ISU was behind 2-9, but leading 11-10 after middle of six inning,
ISU won tournament in 1999 and 2003, and some players were driving 4 hours to get to tournament in the morning.
INDSU has joined tournament 3 times, and this year has best record of 3 rd place, and they drove 7 hours to get to tournament!
Tournament was end at 5 pm, and every players received a trophy which engraved:
“ Taiwanese Independence Cup
Championships, or 2nd,3rd,4th or
Sportsmanship
The 40th Softball Tournament 2008”
Remember forever!!!
Source from Shiching John Chang
Posted 11/13/2018
