Three pitchers combined on Thursday to give Taiwan the first perfect game at the Little League World Series since 2017.
Pitchers Fan Chen-jun, Chiu Tse-wei and Cai Yuan-hao totaled 14 strikeouts in 18 at-bats to prevent Canada from reaching first base, giving the Asia-Pacific representatives a 6-0 victory.
Fan had nine of the 14 strikeouts. Taiwan’s ace was clocked by ESPN to be throwing at more than 80mph (128kph) for his fastball and in the low 70s for his slider.
Photo: AP
“That’s probably the first time I’ve seen guys hitting 80mph, especially at 12 years old,” Canada manager Cole Warken said. “It’s pretty phenomenal to see.”
The perfect game was the eighth in Little League World Series history.
Meanwhile, California came into the tournament looking like contenders on the US side of the draw, but in the third inning the team to beat found themselves down 3-1 to Ohio after some pitching struggles and small ball from Ohio.
Then California’s bats woke up.
Brody Brooks and Louis Lappe hit back-to-back home runs, a two-run shot to center followed by a solo homer to right field, to take the lead at 4-3, which was enough to hold off Ohio when the game was called at the end of the fourth inning after a two-and-a half-hour rain delay.
With the opening victory over the Great Lakes representatives, the team from El Segundo won their fourth straight game dating back to a West regional tournament that included Hawaii, the state that produced the winners of last year’s title and had represented the West every year the tournament was played since 2018.
COVID-19 forced the cancelation of the World Series in 2020.
California has some time off until their next game on Monday, awaiting the winner of yesterday’s matchup between North Dakota and Texas.
The club from New Albany, Ohio, got on the board in the first inning through a walked-in run. In the second inning, Ohio manufactured a couple of runs with help from a walk, an error and a couple of infield RBIs.
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