Pacific Rim Games Promote Friendship

Dec. 1, 2015

LAS VEGAS – Teams from China, Japan and Taiwan faced off against four USA teams in the Third Annual Pacific Rim Championships here during the World Masters Championships.

“Our goal is to promote softball through friendly competition and to expand the sport throughout the region,” said Zhaoli Chen, executive director of the Pacific Rim Slow-Pitch Association.

The friendship games are an annual event held to promote and build slowpitch softball in Pacific Rim Countries and rotates to a different nation each year. Games are played with the Joiful ball, a mushy type ball used in international competition, which is a great equalizer in this competition.

The first games were held in Beijing in 2013, Japan in 2014 and will be in Taiwan in October 2016.

This was the first time the event was hosted on American soil. 

After seeding on Oct.1, the field was pretty even heading into the single-elimination bracket on Oct. 2. Team USA Blue and Team USA Grey eliminated Team Japan and Team China in the first round of games respectively. Team Taiwan squeaked by Team USA White 8-7 with a run in the last inning to advance to the second round.

 The semifinal round pitted Team Taiwan against Team USA Red and Team USA Grey versus Team USA Blue.  In a hard fought game, Team USA Red ousted Team Taiwan 14-10 to advance to the winner take all championship game. Team USA Grey beat Team USA Blue by the slimmest of margins 12-11 to fortify the other spot in the title game.

  The winner take all championship game featured a spirited back and forth battle between two USA teams. Down 16-12 heading into the bottom of the 7th inning, Team USA Grey notched five runs against Team USA Red, including a two-run game winning home run to win 17-16.

  “The final scores, however, were secondary to the friendships forged on the field and in a banquet for the teams after the games concluded,” said Shoji Matsumoto, the Japan delegate. “We are friends through the love of this game and look forward to many more years of friendly competition.”

The Pacific Rim Board of Directors voted to open the association to more countries in the region for 2016 and agreed to invite South Korea and Australia to the 2016 games in Taiwan.