Taiwan’s 17 Little League World Series championships are the most by any country other than the US, who always get a team in the championship because of the way the brackets are set up, but it has been nearly 30 years since a Taiwanese team won the title in 1996.
Ten years ago, current manager Lai Min-nan’s club went 2-2 in the tournament, losing their second game in the double-elimination tournament to Mexico.
Now, Lai is back with Taipei-based Tung-Yuan after defeating South Korea in the Asia-Pacific regional final. This year marks Taiwan’s fourth consecutive and 33rd appearance in tournament history. Tung-Yuan face Mexico today in their first game.
Photo: AP
The Little League World Series first-round bracket matchups were announced not long before the Asia-Pacific regional tournament, something Lai and his team took note of. They wanted to get another chance at the team who ended Taiwan’s chances 10 years ago.
“A famous Taiwanese saying is you always want to do hard work for 10 years for one minute to shine,” Lai said through an interpreter.
Tung-Yuan bring strong pitching to South Williamsport and Lai believes this is one of the best teams to represent Taiwan in recent history.
Unlike last year’s Taiwan club, his team do not seem to have any issues hitting. In the regional tournament, Taiwan outscored opponents 60-1 in the six games they won.
Taiwan also boast five pitchers capable of topping 112kph and Lin Chin-tse throws at 128kph, which looks much faster to the hitter because of how close the mound is to home plate.
There are pitch count rules in little league, requiring a certain amount of days rest depending on how many pitches a player throws.
The Kuei-Shan team from Taoyuan reached the final of the international bracket at the past two tournaments, but were not able to win it all.
Lai hopes for a different result for Tung-Yuan — he wants to bring Taiwan that 18th championship.
“That’s the No. 1 expectation,” he said.
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