Taiwan on Sunday clinched the Junior League Baseball World Series title by defeating the US 6-0 in the final game at Taylor’s Heritage Park in Michigan.
Taiwan’s Hsin Ming Junior High School, who represented the Asia-Pacific region, played a shutout game against the US champions Michigan on the back of pitcher Huang Chih-hsu’s strong outing.
Huang, 14, flirted with a perfect game coming into the fifth inning until a lead-off infield hit put an end to his bid.
Photo courtesy of Hsin Ming Junior High School via CNA
Although Huang found himself in jeopardy after yielding another hit, he was able to turn the situation into just one more scoreless inning by letting the third batter ground into a double play and closing the inning with a groundout.
Those were the US team’s only hits in the game.
Meanwhile, the offensive highlight was a two-run homer by Wu Po-cheng in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Following Liu Jen-yu’s single that extended Taiwan’s lead to 2-0, Wu smashed a curveball to deep center field and past the fence to add two more insurance runs.
Taiwan’s victory did not come smoothly due to a 2-1 loss to Puerto Rico on Aug. 13 in the international bracket’s first round of the tournament.
With their back on the ropes, the players from Taoyuan nailed three wins in a row in the elimination bracket — including a 10-0 trouncing in their rematch with Puerto Rico — before they secured a berth in the final with an 8-3 triumph over Latin America.
The title this year is Taiwan’s ninth, five of which have been won by Hsin Ming Junior High School.
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