Taipei, Aug. 28 (CNA) Taiwan recorded its second 10-run mercy-rule victory at the 2023 Little League Baseball (LLB) World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania over a team from Texas in the third-place game Sunday.
One day after its one-hit loss to Curacao in the International Championship game, players from Taoyuan's Guishan Elementary School rebounded at the plate in the third-place game, producing two five-run innings on 10 hits, to roll over Needville Little League in four innings.
The two-way star Fan Chen-jun (范宸竣) had one more highlight reel as he delivered both at the plate and on the mound.
Following two consecutive hits by Wu Yun-hsi (吳昀熹) and Chen Kai-sheng (陳鎧笙) in the bottom of the first, Fan, the third player at the plate, sent a line drive to left field to put his team on the board early.
Fan came to the plate again in the third inning. With runners on second and third bases, the 12-year-old made a big swing on a high breaking ball, sending it to deep center field for a three-run blast and extending the lead to 8-0.
That was the second homer by Fan in the tournament and he was greeted at the home plate by the whole team, saluting the fans who cheered for them.
Fan also hit two runs in Taiwan's 6-0 perfect game against Canada on Aug. 17. No other Taiwanese Little Leaguer has lifted the ball over the fence this year.
Meanwhile, Fan struck out nine hitters and scattered four hits over four innings on 56 pitches en route to his second shutout game at the tournament, pitching at 80 mph (around 128 kph).
He single-handedly handed Japan a no-hitter on Aug. 21.
That speed, according to the tourney's broadcast partner ESPN, requires a Little League batter to react nearly as fast as a Major League Baseball player to handle a 100-mph fastball, given the shorter distance between the mound and the home plate.
Three of the four hits Fan yielded came in the last frame, and there was a moment he seemed likely to surrender his first run in the game, when D.J. Jablonski knocked a hit to center field with two runners on the bases and two outs.
However, Corbin Riddle, who was on second base, misjudged the situation and attempted to dash toward the home plate, before he found the hit was not deep enough and got tagged out by catcher Chen Kai-sheng on his way back to third base.
After the game, Fan said he was glad to win third place, but it would have been better if they could have won the World Championship.
During the LLB world series, Fan racked up four hits in 10 at-bats and led his team with seven RBIs. In his four outings as pitcher, he recorded two wins and one loss, nailed 26 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings pitched while allowing only one earned run and one walk, finishing the tourney with a 0.53 ERA.
His extraordinary two-way performance has drawn comparisons to Shohei Ohtani, the Los Angeles Angels Japanese mega-star, but Fan told CNA he is not that strong and still has much to learn from Ohtani.
Despite hoping to keep playing two-way in the future, Fan said he preferred pitching to batting if he had to pick, because "it is fun to confront the batters."
Lee Cheng-ta (李政達), manager of the Taiwan team, said Fan has great physical talent but is still a "12-year-old kid," who needs to work on his stability. If the young player can learn more details like adjusting his mindset, Lee believes he has a bright future on the diamond.
Lee highly praised the Taiwanese Little Leaguers for doing their best in every single game, saying they learned a lot at the tourney and had a great childhood memory to cherish.
The Taiwan team's outstanding performance on and off the field also earned them the Jack Losch Team Sportsmanship Award on Saturday, as voted by the 20 participating teams, team hosts, volunteers and press members, according to a press statement issued on the official website.
"Since the time this team arrived in Williamsport, they have displayed respect, integrity and appreciation for all the other participating teams, volunteers and staff who make the event possible," the statement wrote, hoping the Taiwanese young players "serve as an inspiration and reminder" for all the tourney's young players each year.
This is the first time a Taiwanese team received the recognition since the award was established in 2004.
