《TAIPEI TIMES》 Taiwanese students reach World Series semi-finals

/ Staff writer, with CNA, NEW YORK

Taipei’s Fulin Elementary School on Wednesday reached the semi-finals of the 75th Little League Baseball World Series with a 5-1 win over Mexico’s Matamoros in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

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Fulin opened the scoring in the top of the first inning thanks to a Wang Yuan-fu double, which Matamoros matched at the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 1-1.

Fulin did not retrieve the lead until the fourth inning, when Lee Fang-mo reached home plate on a Matamoros error.

They then extended their lead to 3-1 before the end of the frame with runs from Chen Po-chun and Liao Yuan-shu.

Wang’s and Hsiao Chao-hsun’s performances on the mound saw Fulin allow Matamoros only one run over 5-1/3 innings, with the pair notching up a combined nine strikeouts.

Fulin made the score 5-1 in the top of the sixth thanks to runs from Shih Yi-hung and Chen Yu-ting, before Lee closed out the inning and the game.

Fulin on Saturday face the winners of the elimination bracket matchup between Matamoros and the Caribbean regional representative from Willemstad, Curacao, for a place in the final.

Fulin are playing in the World Series for the first time and it is the first appearance by a team from Taiwan since 2015.

They are hoping to snap a championship drought for Taiwan that has lasted since 1996, after its teams won 17 World Series titles from 1969 to 1996.

Only one Taiwanese team has won the international bracket to reach the World Series final since 1996 — a team from Taoyuan in 2009.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES