Death by Chocolate
Source: South Williamsport, Pa.
Date/Time: Thursday, August 27, 2009, 4:00pm ET
For the first time since 1996, neither a team from Japan nor a team from
the Caribbean Region will be vying for an International Championship and a
consequent Little League World Series Championship berth. Chinese Taipei’s Kuei-Shan
Little League made sure of that with Thursday’s 5-2 defeat of Curacao’s Pabao
Little League at Howard J. Lamade Stadium.
With the victory, Kuei-Shan earned a spot in the International Championship Game
against the Mexico Region Champions on Saturday. The Asia-Pacific all-stars are
hoping to party like it’s 1996, when a Chinese Taipei team last took the Little
League World Series title. Defeating Curacao was the first lofty step toward
that goal.
“I was expecting it to be a tight game, especially since the Caribbean team has
good speed and very good power swinging as well,” Keui-Shan manager Cheng Ta Lee
said.
The first half of the game proved to be tight when both teams failed to post a
run in the opening three innings, but the second half proved Kuei-Shan’s
superiority. Lee’s team easily ran through the Curacao all-stars, allowing only
two meaningless runs in the final inning of play.
Lefthander Chin Ou cut through the Pabao lineup with a wicked curveball and
varying pitch speeds, keeping Curacao swinging early all night. He had a no-hit
bid working into the sixth inning.
“Two days ago we already decided that Chin Ou would face the Caribbean because
he has a very good breaking ball, and he mixes it up with a pretty good
fastball,” Lee said.
Curacao threatened to come back in the bottom of the fifth when, with only one
out, the Carribbean champs had a man on base with the top of the order slated to
come up. But Keui-Shan turned a 6-4-3 double play to escape the inning without
allowing any runs to Pabao.
“It was a rally killer,” Isabella said. The manager acknowledged Ou’s dominating
performance on the mound as well. “His curveball was the difference in the
game.”
Whenever Ou got tired, his coaches would feed him some M&M chocolates to try and
calm him down and make him happy.
“During the game, the kids started to think it was lucky chocolate, so everybody
just had some,” Lee said.
Tang Fu Cheng must have eaten his chocolates because he scored two runs,
including one on a solo shot in the sixth to make it 5-0. Leadoff man Hung Yuan
Lin also had a good night, locking down the infield with his play at shortstop
and tallying two hits and an RBI in three at-bats.
Still, Lee wants more out of his offense if the team is going to be competitive
in its rematch with Mexico Saturday in the International Championship. Keui-Shan
lost, 3-2, when the teams first met on Tuesday in the final game of Pool D play.
“The batting still isn’t doing a good job,” Lee said. “We’ll give the sign for
bunting or hit-and-run and the players won’t go. So that’s something we’ll
practice and hopefully improve on in the next game.”
The Kuei-Shan Little Leaguers know they’ll likely see Mexico pitcher Marcelo
Martinez again. In Tuesday’s game, Martinez struck out 12 Chinese Taipei batters
in 4.2 innings of no-hit ball.
“Mostly Martinez has a great breaking ball and a great fastball, especially
working them into the strike zone,” Lee said. “I don’t think we’ll be worse than
the last game.”
Saturday’s International Championship Game starts at noon at Lamade Stadium.