The hit bangs and the stadium responds with enthusiastic cheers. 6 AM, on a sunny day, the husky morning turns to clear, and all players are ready for NTU EMBA’s major sport event of the year: the 11^th NTU EMBA Slow-pitch Softball Game. This event is held from Nov. 1 – 2 at Meiti Field at Dazhi with total 19 teams in the game, including the faculty team from the College of Management. The EMBA slow-pitch softball game has been organized for the last 10 years; it is already a great tradition of EMBA.

The preliminary match is on Nov. 1 with 16 teams from Class 90 to Class 103 competing with each other. This is all-out campaign for them. Preliminary on this day is held at 3 places; all players are dedicated to win the games. Cheering and battle cry on the sides of the fields overwhelm one another. The scoreboard is pounding the hearts of the audience. At dusk the preliminary is about the round up; the players keep their morale high despite their muscle aches. They support and encourage each other; it is paradigm of sportsmanship.

The opening on the second day has the Dean, Ruei-sian Guo addressing to the crowd. As a team member of the faculty team, Dean Guo also wishes all team a happy play-ball. The mental bonding and unity among the players in the tenacious competition on the field are the force that drive the growth and heritage of EMBA slow-pitch softball. The opening show brought by the new students of Class 103 is not to be missed. Rigid executives in suits are now in sportswear with colorful balls held in hands trying hard to heat up the atmosphere on the field. Students reward them with thundering claps. Under the management of captain Professor Zheng-min Zhuang, the faculty team this year has brand new outfit of intimidating red and black. The organizer has especially offered the Best Group Participation Prize as an incentive for students’ friends and families to join the event together. On this day Class 103B has rallied 91 friends and families and won the prize. Equally popular are the game zone and food cart areas provided on site; they give a carnival touch to the event to allow parents and kids to have fun together, and the sight is bustling and dazzling.

After two days of intensive ball game, the red dirt field has been covered by the hardworking footprints of the players and the green grass seems a metaphor to EMBA slow-pitch softball’s ever-lasting life. While some win and some lose in the game, their enthusiastic hearts will never die. Let us keep swinging the bat that represents honor, and we will see each other again at next year’s NTU EMBA slow-pitch softball game.