Chinese Taipei handily defeated Venezuela, 4-1, on Saturday in the international championship game to advance to the Little League World Series final on Sunday.
The Asia-Pacific region winners held strong on defense and took advantage of Venezuela’s mistakes to earn the win and a ticket to the LLWS championship game, where Chinese Taipei will face the winner of Saturday’s U.S. championship between Texas and Florida.
Pitcher Lai Cheng-Xi had an incredible game for Chinese Taipei, striking out 12 across 5 1/3 innings. Lai’s dominance made it difficult for Venezuela to get on base throughout the first five innings, and he kept the Latin America region champs scoreless until the final inning.
Luis Yepez, who has been playing great throughout the tournament, started on the mound for Venezuela but struggled early, giving up multiple walks in the first inning. A wild pitch from Yepez gave Chinese Taipei a chance to strike first, with Chiu Wei-Che able to easily score from third.
Although Yepez got back into a groove and struck out the side in the second, he was pulled in favor of José Pérez in the third inning after loading the bases. A walk and a wild pitch from Pérez gave Chinese Taipei two more runs in the third and a 3-0 lead.
Chinese Taipei scored again in the fifth inning after Samuel Carrasquel and Yepez collided in center field while tracking down a fly ball, preventing Carrasquel from catching the ball and ending the inning.
Venezuela fought back in the sixth inning, getting two runners on base and threatening to make a comeback. Lai, who had racked up more than 85 pitches, was swapped out for Chiu. Venezuela scored its first run off a sacrifice hit, but Chinese Taipei got the third and final out to win the game 4-1.
With the win, Chinese Taipei will move on to face the winner of Texas vs. Florida in the Little League World Series final on Sunday. They will attempt to be the first international team to take the World Series title since Japan did it in 2017.
