The West Asia Baseball Cup finale was a roller coaster of emotions for fans, but Palestine’s confidence and fortitude never wavered, during their 5-4 victory in 10 innings over rival Pakistan.

Yunis Halim pitched a complete game and his offense gave him plenty of support in today’s 17-3 victory over Iran in the semifinals sending Palestine to the West Asia Baseball Cup final for the second straight time.

Sunday afternoon’s 11-5 victory against Sri Lanka didn’t start off pretty. A few first inning errors put Palestine in an early 3-0 hole, but their timely hitting and base running helped seal their third win in a row.

By the end of the first inning, it was clear runs wouldn’t be hard to come by for Group A’s top ranked team. From top to bottom, Palestine’s line up produced. Palestine scored at least 1 run every inning. Eight different players drove in runs, four of them drove in at least 3 runs, leading to the 22-7 win.

Brent Powers’ dominant performance put Palestine in the driver seat to begin the West Asia Baseball Cup and allowed the team to save their pitching rotation for the rest of group play. Powers only allowed 2 hits and struck out 15 batters during 9 innings of work.

Palestine’s Baseball & Softball Federation will play against India, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka during group play of the West Asia Baseball Cup in Karaj, Iran. Group B will have three teams—Bangladesh, Pakistan and the host country.

In one month, Palestine’s national baseball team is scheduled to participate in its second West Asia Cup (WAC) in team history, but the atrocities in Gaza and the political climate in the United States have caused uncertainty.

The U15 team is still finalizing its roster for the tournament, but a team of Palestinian youth will represent their land and culture in Taiwan August 17-23rd, according to the Palestine Baseball and Softball Federation president Ahmad Tafesh.

Ahmed Ali-Gharbawi, 13, a member of the U18 Palestine baseball team was killed by Israel.