Taiwan to face Las Vegas team for Little League World Series title

New York, Aug. 23 (CNA) A team from Taipei's Dong Yuan Elementary School won the Little League Baseball World Series' international title Saturday by defeating Aruba 1-0 in the annual baseball tournament held in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

The Taiwan team, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, will face a team from Las Vegas, which beat a team from Fairfield, Connecticut in the U.S. championship 8-2, later Sunday, hoping to win Taiwan's first Little League Baseball World Series title since 1996.

After the 1-0 win, Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said he had asked all of his pitchers to be ready for Saturday's game but that starter Liu Wei-hung (劉韋亨) went longer than expected, tossing 5.1 scoreless innings in the regulation 6-inning game.

Lai said the team will tap ace fireballer Lin Chin-tse (林晉擇), who can throw 80 mph, in Sunday's World Series finale.

The team from Taipei had given up only three runs in its first three games in Williamsport, and Saturday's encounter again put the team's pitching staff in the spotlight.

In an old-fashioned pitchers' duel, in which the two teams combined for seven hits (Taiwan 3, Aruba 4), Taiwan scratched out the only run in the top of the third on a walk, a passed ball, a single, and an error.

Taiwan's Liu Wei-hung (劉韋亨) cruised through the first five innings before leaving the game in the sixth with a runner on second and one out.

Reliever Chen Qi-sheng (陳啟盛) walked the first batter he faced but then clinched the victory with an out on a bunt attempt and a strikeout to keep Taiwan's Little League World Series title dreams alive.

The Little League Baseball World Series is held every summer in Williamsport. Half of the teams come from the United States, with the other half from around the world.

Teams from Taiwan have won 17 titles, second to the U.S., with its last one dating back to 1996 in Williamsport.

Team Taiwan, represented by Guishan Elementary School from Taoyuan, finished second in 2024.