On the final day of Haarlem Baseball Week round-robin play, Team Italy and Chinese Taipei (both 1-3 before the first pitch) battled for the right to compete in the semifinals.
Against Chinese Taipei on an overcast Wednesday afternoon, the Team Italy lineup card looked like this: Ricardo Paolini, 2B; Lorenzo Morresi, 3B; Nathanael Batista, DH; Jesus Carrera, LF; Filippo Agretti, RF; Samuele Gamberini, 1B; Federico Celli, CF; Giulio Monello, C; Gabriele Angioi, SS and Matteo Bocchi, P.
The Italians would face one of Chinese Taipei’s strongest pitchers, Chieh-Han Huang (0-0, 1.1 IP, BB, K). He held the Kingdom of the Netherlands hitless in one brief relief appearance on July 14th.
Team Italy got on the board early with one run in the top of the first inning. Lorenzo Moressi picked up his third walk of the tourney, advanced to second base on a Nathanael Batista groundout, moved on to third base on a wild pitch and crossed the plate on an RBI single by Jesus Carrera.
Matteo Bocchi showed no signs of fatigue after throwing just four days ago and striking out two in the bottom of the first inning. After a single by Giulio Monello and a walk to Gabriele Angioi in the top of the second inning, Chinese Taipei went to the bullpen and summoned Pin-Hong Chen. The lefty reliever got out of trouble with a Ricardo Paolini groundout.
A single by Nathanael Batista was all the Team Italy offense generated in the top of the third inning. The Azzurri missed a grand opportunity in the top of the fourth inning after a leadoff double by Samuele Gamberini, who advanced to third base on a groundout by Federico Celli. A walk to Giulio Monello put runners on the corners with one out. A failed bunt attempt by Gabriele Angioi resulted in a popup out, which was followed by a fielder’s choice third out by Ricardo Paolini.
After Mattteo Bocchi had retired nine straight batters, the bats woke up for Chinese Taipei in the bottom of the fourth inning and generated two runs. Back-to-back doubles from Jun-Wei Zheng and Mi-Yi Yang were followed by a walk to Yu-Ching Tseng. Then Chinese Taipei called for a hit-and-run with Bo-Rui Huang at bat. The cleanup hitter hit a grounder to third baseman Lorenzo Morresi, who threw late to second base as a result of the runner being in motion. Another run crossed the plate on the play to give Chinese Taipei a 2-1 lead.
The day was done for starter Matteo Bocchi (3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, ER, BB, 3 K) as reliever Maurizio Andretta entered the game and stopped the bleeding with one strikeout.
Team Italy answered in the top of the fifth inning with one run. After Jesus Carrera walked and Filippo Agretti singled, Samuele Gamberini hit an RBI single to tie the contest 2-2. Then Chinese Taipei replaced Pin-Hong Chen with reliever Yu-Ting Lu, who endured a passed ball to put the runners in scoring position but quickly regained his composure with a Federico Celli strikeout to limit the damage.
Chinese Taipei came out firing with consecutive singles from Chun Lai and Wei-Chi Chu in the bottom of the fifth inning but were denied. Lefty Maurizio Andretta fought back with a strikeout of Jun-Wei Zheng and induced an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
Despite issuing a walk to Chih-Yu Chen and surrendering a single to Chun Chiu, Maurizio Andretta looked strong pitching a scoreless bottom of the sixth inning.
Nathanael Batista was robbed of extra bases in the top of the seventh inning when Chinese Taipei right fielder Bo-Rui Huang caught a deep fly ball in the gap. Ricardo Paolini returned the favor by taking away a base hit up the middle from Wei-Chi Chu in the bottom of the seventh inning. An ensuing double from Jun-Wei Zheng anda Mi-Yi Yang walk amounted to nothing for Chinese Taipei.
Samuele Gamberini (2-for-5, double, RBI) reached first base on an infield error and Federico Celli singled to center field before Chinese Taipei brought in Jun-Wei Zhang in the top of the eighth inning. The right-hand reliever was the winning pitcher against Spain on July 13th (6.1 IP, 5 H, R, 2 BB, 6 K). He was able to get out of the jam and keep Team Italy off the board.
Team Italy attempted a valiant comeback in the top of the ninth inning but came up short. After Ricardo Paolini singled and Nathanael Batista walked, a wild pitch allowed the runners to get into scoring position. A productive RBI groundout to first by Jesus Carrera yielded one run. Then Filippo Agretti worked the count for a 10-pitch walk, but it was too little and too late as Chinese Taipei prevailed in the 5-3 victory over the Azzurri.
ITALY-CHINESE TAIPEI BOX SCORE
VIDEO REPLAY
Team Italy returns for the 5th/6th place battle against Spain on Thursday, July 18th at 11:30 am. Chinese Taipei returns for a rematch against the winner of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Japan game (tonight at 7:30 pm) in the semifinals on Thursday, July 18th at 7:30 pm.
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Forza #Italia!
by Roberto Angotti
(Photo of Team Italy's Ricardo Paolini scoring against Chinese Taipei on July 17, 2024 by RL-Mate)
