Lions win third successive pro baseball championship

The two teams were forced to face a final duel following a 3-3 tie in the best of seven championship series in a record 17 innings at the southern Tainan Stadium Saturday.

The Elephants, generally rated as an underdog in Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League, surprised most baseball analysts with unwavering fighting spirit that compelled the Lions into the seventh and last game.

Aiming to end the Lions' winning streak, the Elephants picked its ace pitcher Tsao Chin-hui, who hurls at a speed of 150 km per hour, to start, while the Lions assigned Luther Hackman.

The Lions took an early lead of 1-0 in the second inning and extended the lead to 2-0 upon opening the third inning.

The team, affiliated with the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, further kept the Elephants scoreless with 3-0 at the bottom of the third inning.

A counterattack by the Elephants shaved the Lions' advantage to 3-2 in the fifth inning, but the team was unable to turn the game around against the more experienced and confident Lions.

Coach Lu Wen-sheng said he was proud of the performance of his pride of Lions, generally letting each of them exert their own best presentation.

Chung Ju-shen, the Elephants' coach, also praised his younger players for putting up a good fight despite of the failure in challenging the Lions for the title for the second year in a row.

In spite of the latest loss in the grueling series, Chung said both he and the team have learned more with growing confidence.

He also thanked fans of the Elephants for maintaining their confidence in the team.

The Elephants will start a new training session immediately on Nov. 1 to gear up for the 2010 season after only a one-week break, Chung revealed.

The seven post-season games attracted a total of 96,214 baseball fans, the second highest in Taiwan's pro baseball history and just slightly shy of record crowds of 96,825 registered last year.

The Tainan City Police Department mobilized all members on the force to maintain order and crack down on scalpers.

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