Taiwan Today

The Fifth World Women's Softball Championships were peacefully concluded July 11 - it was peaceful because a politically targeted Chinese Communist team did not appear, although Peking had repeatedly trumpeted its intentions to send a team to Taipei.

New Zealand finally claimed the almost five-foot-tall first place trophy, edging past the ROC team in a 2-0 playoff thriller. The second-place ROC squad had, nevertheless, completed a Cinderella performance, rising to the finest finish ever in its history of championship play. Australia and the United States took third and fourth places, in that order.

The competition was the longest and keenest ever, with the largest number of participants. It lasted for nine days. There were 93 games involving 23 participating teams, setting new records in the history of the championships.

Although the ROC team was finally defeated by New Zealand, the players won their countrymen's admiration for their perseverance and skillful performance, They had played four games in one stretch of 9 hours and 20 minutes. On the day they competed with the New Zealand team for the title, they had already played three full games. The weather was hot- 30°C - and all of them were exhausted.

After the ROC girls had defeated the U.S. team - last year's champions - the spectators were convinced that the home team had risen to championship levels.

Though softball does not have a long history in Taiwan, the ROC team has fared well. It has improved its standing in each of the world softball championships. In the second world championship in Japan, it placed sixth. It garnered fifth in the third world championship held in the United States. In the fourth championship, held in 1978 in El Salvador, the team took a convincing fourth place. This year, of course, it was second.

The softball championships were co-scheduled with the World Cup soccer playoffs in Spain. But, while World Cup soccer reigned in global headlines, the 5th World Women's Softball Championships ruled in Taiwan hearts. As the outside world echoed to the agonies and delights of World Cup victories and defeats, Taipei also delighted in the spirited play, the sometimes antics and the constant friendliness of the finest women softballers the world could offer.

The spunky "soft belles" from 23 capitals suffered the agonizing delays of an unexpected series of tropical rainouts, but then went on to belt out the most successful tourney in the history of the playoffs.

The girls utilized the rainy interludes for trips to museums, temples and other cultural manifestations, and loaded their courtesy buses with bargains from intensive shopping sprees. Taipei newspaper columnists bubbled over with personal tidbits - expressions of awe at the National Palace Museum, hi-spirited strip-tease hi-jinx in hotel corridors after a monsoon soaking, delighted appraisals of department store fashions, an avid interest in Chinese name seals, the difficulties and delights of chopsticks.

News writers selected a Softball Queen - Guatemala's Kattina Castillo - and voted on the tourney's most valuable players. Television color coverage focused on mod-dressed hostesses, flag-waving fans, and the intricate card designs and spell-outs in the stands. During the closing ceremonies, the representatives of the four top teams wept as they accepted the awards, reminding onlookers of beauty contest finales.

But the media also commented in a more serious vein on Peking's failed efforts to keep the games out of Taiwan or to sabotage them. Commentators noted with some derision the contrast between Peking's professions of peaceful intentions toward Taiwan, and its boycott and slightly hysterical attempts to pressure and threaten participating countries. In spite of some successful Chinese Communist intimidations, most notably of Japan, the playoffs were the most successful in history, drawing more participants and publicity than ever before. The innocent sport of softball was clearly the winner.

The1982 championships owe much to the sport’s officials - among them, International Softball Federation President W.W. Kethane and Secretary General Don Porter, along with Ho Ming-chang, chairman of the ROC organizing committee.

Taking part in the games were national teams from: Australia, the Bahamas, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guam, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nauru, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, the Philippines, Singapore, Sweden, the U.SA., Venezuela and the Republic of China.