Once his team captured this year’s national Little League title, Li pushed his players harder, refusing to use the school’s dilapidated facilities as an excuse.
He brought in junior and senior high school pitchers to pepper his players with breaking balls to get them ready for the Asia-Pacific regional.
The practice was needed because only two Little League tournaments in Taiwan allow players to throw breaking balls, but no such restrictions exist in international play.
Li also made sure the players got accustomed to playing on a grass infield, a luxury in Taiwan even at the professional level but something they would have to deal with in Williamsport.
Though the team lost in the World Series final, it inspired many.
The wife of coach Chen, Huang Yu-ching, who traveled with the team to Williamsport, wept when she saw the players crouched down on the field after losing the championship game, crying and scooping clay into bottles.
“Because of the boys’ perseverance, we adults dared to have dreams,” she said.
RSS