Chinese Taipei move to top spot with back-to-back wins in U-12 Softball World Cup

Chinese Taipei claimed top spot in the II WBSC U-12 Softball World Cup standings, following their two wins over Hong Kong and Czech Republic on Thursday at Jin-Long Stadium.

The hosts now hold a 3-0 win-loss record and have secured their place in the semifinals, while the Czech Republic moved down to second place with two wins and one loss, while Hong Kong and Singapore are in joint-third with a 1-2 win-loss card. India are in fifth place with two losses.

Chinese Taipei played back-to-back games and had two heroes to help them complete two wins,14-0 over Hong Kong and 7-2 over the Czech Republic. Li-Cheng Liang bolstered the offence with a three-run home run late in the third inning against Hong Kong, while En-Shi Hsu led the team with two hits and two RBIs to beat the Czechs.

“We played a good first game because of our offence. Probably that went a bit down in the second game because the players became more relaxed after the first game. As a result we made some mistakes and allowed Czech Republic to make two runs,” Chinese Taipei head coach Chi-Tsu Wu said.

“I told my players not to be complacent, but rather respectful of their opponents by doing a better job in tightening their defence. If we didn’t do that then that would have given our pitcher a lot of pressure.”

Meanwhile, Hong Kong and the Czech Republic earned victories earlier in the day. Hong Kong’s day highlighted by the home run made by David Weiss, while the European squad were victorious over Singapore 8-1.

“I don’t usually get a chance to play in a big tournament like this, so I am pretty proud of myself for hitting an inside-the-park homer,” Weiss said.

“We had a great performance in this game because our batting was good and our base-running was aggressive. I am glad we hit our target in this game, and we enjoyed this win too,” Hong Kong coach Franky Tso said.

The Opening Round will conclude with three matchups on Day 3, featuring the duel of Czech Republic and India at 11:00 local time (UTC+8), followed by Singapore and Hong Kong at 13:00 and Chinese Taipei and India at 15:00.

The hosts have earned the first semifinal spot regardless of the outcome of Friday's game against India. In the semifinals, Chinese Taipei will play the winner of Game No. 11 between the fourth- and fifth-ranked teams of the Opening Round.