Taiwan’s Fulin Elementary School missed out on a place in the Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) Championship game after losing Saturday’s International Championship 1-0 to the Caribbean regional representative from Willemstad, Curaçao.

With the LLBWS split into international and U.S. brackets, Fulin was just one game away from breaking a 26-year drought at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, but will now have to settle for a third-place playoff against the United States Championship runners-up Tennessee.

Despite an outstanding 5-inning outing by Lee Fang-mo (???) — who struck out nine and gave up only three hits, one walk, and no earned runs — a solitary run from Curaçao’s Alexander Provacia in the third inning was enough to separate the two sides.

Provacia, who had capitalized on an error from third baseman Wang Yuan-fu (???) and a passed ball from catcher Tseng Yi-che (???) to reach third base, slid home with two outs on the board on the back of a Jaydion Louisa single into center field.

While Fulin kept the game within reach by putting runners in scoring positions multiple times, Curaçao was able to secure the win with some outstanding defensive play, including a diving catch from left fielder Jaythan Cordilia and center fielder Davey-Jay Rijke’s sixth-inning leap to rob Wang of a homer at the wall.

Curaçao’s coach Ringemar Raap said his side’s performance in the field had been no accident. “We’ve been working on defense for the whole year, so what you guys see now is not surprise for us.”

“Curaçao is a very good team, and we have no room for error,” Fulin manager Chang Tzu-chien (???) said in the post-game press conference.

Fulin will face the Southeast representative from Nolensville, Tennessee in the LLBWS’s third-place consolation match at 10 a.m. local time on Sunday.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel