Little League World Series : Taiwan Routs Tucson, 12-0, for Another Title

To 11- and 12-year-old Taiwanese boys, Little League baseball is more than a game.

It’s a matter of honor, said Lee Ming Chen, manager of the Tainan, Taiwan, team that routed Tucson, 12-0, Saturday to win the Little League World Series and continue Asian domination of the annual tournament.

“Our children have a sense of honor, to get to Williamsport and win again,” Lee said. “This sense of honor encourages them to play better.”

Playing especially better Saturday were pitcher Wu Chun-Liang, who threw a two-hitter and hit a home run, and Chen Ching-Chang, who hit a pair of two-run homers.

“We expected it,” Lee said of his team’s offensive power. “We are very excited, of course. A Taiwanese team hadn’t been to Williamsport in four years.”

Sam Tullous, manager of the team from the east side of Tucson, said he didn’t want his players to feel humiliated.

“I told the kids to hold their heads up and be young men,” he said. “I’m proud of them.”

Taiwanese teams have won 11 of the last 18 World Series, and a Far East representative has won 16 of the 20 Series held since Asian teams were invited in 1967. Taiwanese teams are 37-2 in Series games.

Saturday’s final was more of the same, with about 150 Taiwanese fans waving the national flag and chanting, “Chung-Hua Chia-Yu,” which roughly means “Go, China.” Wu struck out the last three batters, then embraced his catcher, Chiu Wen-Tien.

After accepting the trophy, the Taiwanese team took a victory lap around the field, their flag held aloft.

The 12-0 score was identical to the score of the 1973 title game, the last time Tainan and Tucson had teams in the final.

Wu, who pitched a no-hitter against the Canadian team from Valleyfield, Quebec, in the quarterfinals, pitched three perfect innings before Scott Foster led off the fourth with a clean single to left. Tucson’s other hit was Chad Wilson’s sixth-inning leadoff single.

Wu struck out 14 and walked none. Aside from its two hits, Tucson put just three balls in play, all grounders to shortstop.

The Taiwanese batted around in the first inning, scoring three times, and added two in the second, two in the third and five in the fifth. Tucson committed six errors.

Chen Ho-Wen led off the bottom of the first with a single, and Chen Ching-Chang lined an opposite-field homer over the left-field fence off starter Philip Johnston. Wu, a right-handed batter, followed with a homer to right.

Chen Ching-Chang hit his second homer in the fifth, inside the right-field foul pole with Tsai Shih-Wei on base after a single.

In the second inning, Chen Ho-Wen singled, went to third on two wild pitches and came home on Wu’s grounder to third. Chen Ching-Chang walked, stole second, took third on Wu’s grounder and scored on Yen Hsin-Ho’s single.

Three Tucson errors and another single by Chen Ho-Wen helped two more runs score in the third. Second baseman James Fraccaro misplayed a grounder, letting Chiu Wen-Tien and Chen Ho-Wen score.

By the fifth inning, many in the announced crowd of 32,000 had left, fearing thunderstorms. But the Taiwanese weren’t finished, getting two runs on Chen Ching-Chang’s second homer, one on Wu Yu-Kuan’s single and two more on a throwing error by third baseman Robert Ortiz.

The 40th World Series marked the first appearance by a Taiwanese team in the final since 1982, when Pu-Tzu Town lost to Kirkland, Wash., 6-0. Taiwanese teams won the World Series in 1969, in 1971 through ’74 and in 1977 through ’81.