Taiwan’s Fulin Elementary School notched its second win in a row at the Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) on Monday over the Panama region’s representative to move within two wins of the LLBWS title game.
Four days after shutting out Italy 2-0, Taiwan whitewashed the team from Aguadulce Cabezera 7-0 behind a strong outing from starter Liao Yuan-shu (???), who struck out eight, walked none, and scattered four hits over 5 2/3 innings.
The Panama team had been seen as a real threat, having won its regional tournament by outscoring its opponents 30-3 and defeating the Caribbean representative 9-3 in its LLBWS opener.
But Taiwan’s pitchers have excelled throughout, giving up runs in only one of the seven games (a 2-1 loss to South Korea in qualifying) it has played in this year’s regional qualifiers and in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in the LLBWS, and Liao did not disappoint.
They will face another major test on Wednesday against Mexico for a spot in the international championship game. The Mexican team from Matamoros has topped Puerto Rico 6-1 and Canada 10-0 in its LLBWS games so far.
On Monday, with Liao rarely threatened, Taiwan essentially put the game away in the third inning with a four-run rally that was helped by a wild spell by Panama’s pitchers.
With the bases loaded on two walks and an error and nobody out, Tseng Yi-che (???) drove in a run on a groundout.
After another walk loaded the bases again, a wild pitch brought home Shih Yi-hung (???), and Wang Yuan-fu (???) smacked a line drive single to left to drive in another two runs, staking his team to a 4-0 lead.
The Fulin Elementary team padded the margin with another two runs in the fourth that were helped by two more Panama errors and a final run in the sixth.
Lee Fang-mo (???) relieved Liao with two outs in the bottom of the sixth to get the final out.
Fulin Elementary School is playing in a LLBWS for the first time, and its appearance is also the first by a team from Taiwan since 2015.
It is hoping to snap a championship drought for Taiwan that has lasted since 1996, after its teams won 17 Little League World Series titles from 1969 to 1996.
Only one team from Taiwan has won the international bracket to reach the LLBWS title game since 1996 — a team from Taoyuan in 2009.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel