Yi-Cheng Liang saved the day for Chinese Taipei as he scored the run which gave the hosts a 3-2 edge to beat the Czech Republic in the gold medal game of the II WBSC U-12 Softball World Cup.
Liang became the hero of the final as he made the opening and closing runs, while Yue-Cen Wu contributed two hits to help Chinese Taipei defend their title. The Czech Republic improved on their previous finish after they placed third in 2019 and the silver medal is their first best result in any WBSC tournament.
The Czech Republic had a determined start in the top of the first inning, hitting aggressively to get their runners in scoring position, but Chinese Taipei’s infield defence managed to contain their offence, until Katerina Slanska and Teresa Valtusova mounted the two-run lead off Sebastian Mckeon and Kristyna Sestakova’s singles, respectively.
Chinese Taipei shook it off and trimmed the Czech lead to one run when Yi-Cheng Liang earned a walk that progressed to home plate after he stole second base and a throwing error to midfield.
As two and a half innings went by scoreless, Chinese Taipei jumped on the board again in the bottom of the fourth inning, when Ya-Hsien Hsieh gradually moved to home with Sheng-Zhi Wu’s single, several walks and wild pitches to level the score at 2-2.
The defence of both sides was deliberate and measured, forcing a scoreless fifth inning and the tiebreak. As Liang was placed on second in the sixth inning, two successive wild pitches from Svecova allowed him to score the title-winning run 3-2.
Earlier in the day, Singapore beat Hong Kong to claim bronze with India finishing fifth.
