The Taoyuan City team prevailed over Taitung County 6-5 yesterday to claim the Toto Cup Little League Championship title, while Nantou County overwhelmed Chiayi County 15-0 in the battle for third place at Taipei’s Youth Park baseball field.
With the title win, Taoyuan City earned the right to represent Taiwan at the Asia-Pacific Zone playoffs in the U12 Division, which is to take place in Fukuoka, Japan, in July.
The winner there would go on to play at the Pony Bronco Division World Little League Championship, hosted by the US in August.
Sports officials and coaches have high expectations for the Taoyuan City youngsters, since the Kaohsiung City team last summer won the Pony Bronco Division’s world title.
In yesterday’s Toto Cup final, with the contest tied at one all, Taitung County scored five runs in the sixth inning to lead 6-1.
With bases loaded, lead-off batter Chiu Hsien-chia had the key hit on a triple to drive all three runners in that rally.
Taoyuan City got two runs back in their bottom half of the innings to make it 5-3, then mounted a big comeback in their last turn at-bat in the seventh frame, in Little League game regulations.
Putting runners on consecutive hits, Taoyuan City tied the game with 5-5, when batter Chien Wei-hsing drove in a run on a double for the win.
After the game, Chien said it was his first game-winning hit in organized baseball.
“We knew the opposition pitcher likes to throw strikes, so I gave it a good swing when the ball came in. It feels great to get the hit and I helped my team to take the title,” Chien said.
“In the last inning, I told the players not to give up and we got a couple of lucky hits to claim victory today,” Taoyuan City coach Kan Yi-che said.
In the third-place game, Nantou County shut out Chiayi County on a stellar outing by pitcher Huang Chun-wei, who got six strikeouts through four scoreless innings for the victory.
Head coach Su Mao-sung said he was satisfied with outcome, with third place the best ever showing for a Nantou County team in the U12 division.
“Our team is usually knocked out early, so we were happy to stay in this for so long and play in the playoffs. We have enjoyed battling it out to reach the final four and our kids have done their best in this competition,” Su said.
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