Giants slugger makes splash for Alpine All-Stars

“It was awesome,” Alpine manager Dave Levinson said. “They gave us the on-field passes for batting practice, and we got in there really early so we were directly to the left behind the cage.”

Earlier in the day, the city of Hillsborough honored the Little League World Series champion Chinese Taipei in a morning ceremony at City Hall. Chinese Taipei manager Lai Min-Nan and his players spent two days in the Bay Area on layover between South Williamsport, Pennsylvania and Taiwan, and were honored by the San Francisco Giants at Thursday’s Giants-Cubs game.

After spending two weeks on the East Coast during their LLWS title run — culminating in a 7-0 win over Nevada in the Aug. 24 championship game — the players of Chinese Taipei arrived at Hillsborough City Hall bright and early last Friday at 9 a.m.

“They don’t have any jet lag,” Lai said through an interpreter. “As long as everything is new and fresh to them, they don’t feel tired. Everything to them is new and interesting to them. So, they don’t feel tired. They’re kids.”

Alpine splashdown

It had to be a bit jarring for professional players signing autographs last Friday for Alpine that the Little League team’s star player, Nolan Levinson, is taller than many of Giants’ players. Patrick Bailey, Dominic Smith, and even Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday, each list shorter than the 6-1 Nolan Levinson.

As the Alpine players were filling their souvenir baseballs and hats with signatures, the Giants did send in one 6-4 equalizer.

“Yeah, there was Tristan Beck,” Nolan Levinson said, “who was pretty cool.”

Smith was the player who stole the show, though. While signing autographs and taking a photograph with the team, the 5-11 first baseman — who won a junior division championship in the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities World Series in 2009 — promised Alpine he’d hit a home run for them.

“We were talking to him before the game and he told us he was going to hit a home run for us,” Nolan Levinson said.

Not only did Smith make good on his promise in the Giants’ 15-8 victory over the Orioles, his two-run home run in the fourth inning went soaring past the Alpine section down the right-field line and into McCovey Cove for the 107th splash hit in Oracle Park history.

“When he hit it the kids just exploded,” Dave Levinson said. “They all started laughing.”

Alpine is enjoying the victory tour that comes with proving the best Little League team in Northern California. Sunday, the team will be officially honored in Portola Valley at the Alpine All-Stars Car Parade and Ford Field Celebration.

The parade begins at 10:30 a.m. at the Portola Valley Town Center and will be led by fire engines via the Woodside-Portola Valley Fire Protection Foundation. The parade route will arrive at Ford Field, where all are welcome as the team will be honored by County Supervisor Ray Mueller, free ice cream will be served, and players will sign autographs.

Talking fundamentals with Lin Chin-Tse

Chinese Taipei — also known as Tung-Yuan Little League, who advanced to the LLWS by winning the Asia Region championship — got a thrill of its own at last Thursday’s Giants game. Prior to the Giants’ 4-3 win over the Cubs, the boys got a meet-and-great with pitcher Kai-Wei Teng, a native of Taichung, Taiwan, about two hours southeast of the home of the Taipei City.

During their stay, the Chinese Taipei players also visited the Golden Gate Bridge. Friday morning at Hillsborough City Hall, they were greeted by a siren salute from a Hillsborough Fire Department engine and entertained by the Hillsborough Police Department with a drone demonstration and a tour of the Lenco armored tactical vehicle.

Lin took questions with Hillsborough Councilmember Marie Chuang interpreting. Like Alpine — a team led to the District 52, Section 3 and Nor Cal championships with a pitching staff led by Nolan Levinson — the team from Taiwan was led by a group of hard-throwing arms, exemplified by Lin Chin-Tse, the winning pitcher in the LLWS championship game.

This was Lai’s second trip to Williamsport. He also led the Chinese Taipei team to the LLWS in 2015.

“At the time, I learned that you have to have at least four pitchers who has the capacities of throwing at 70 mph,” Lai said. “So, I learned from the experience that I had. This time around, I had at least four pitchers who can throw at 70 mph at any time. And then I also have a pitcher who is at 82 mph, who has been written much about.”

Chinese Taipei proved it wasn’t afraid to bunt throughout its run through Williamsport, something of a dying art in American baseball. Lai insisted team speed was most critical fundamental of his team.

“The average of the running speeds is critical,” Lai said. “This group in particular, the speed is exceptional. So, I continued to cultivate that.

“For Little League, the distance between the pitcher and the catchers is short,” he said. “So, I have several players that have strong arms and strong potential of good throws. So, the idea is, that they notice this team, the talents of the running speed, it’s just the basic and it’s really something we can build on top of it.”

Councilmember Chuang said Hillsborough has maintained a relationship with Taiwan baseball since 2018. She even led an informal meeting at San Francisco International Airport with the team when they were on layover en route to Williamsport.

“It is just the way of strengthening our friendship and bond between the two countries,” Hillsborough Mayor Sophie Cole said. “We do have a lot of residents who live in Hillsborough who are from Taiwan or that part of the world. And it’s just really wonderful to welcome these athletes when they’re here, and especially when they played so well and they won. ... We’re very honored that they’re here.”