Chinese Taipei has been to 30 tournaments in South Williamsport, the first being a title run in 1969. Of the 30 appearances in the Little League World Series, Chinese Taipei has won a record 17 championships. International teams make up 37 total world titles.

With a combined one-hitter shutout of Italy in its first game, Fu-Lin is already off on the right foot to try and add to Taiwan’s hardware.

“It’s a combined effort as a team. But looking at what Taiwan has done in the past, it’s about average,” Chinese Taipei manager Chang Tzu-Chien said. “Not one standout, but everyone’s pretty good on the pitching (staff). The defense is also pretty good, that’s why we were able to get here. And (we) hope our offense can pick up during this tournament.”

First baseman Shen Li-Chen fired off a third straight hit for an RBI to start the game and Tseng Yi-Che added an RBI double in the 2-0 win over Bologna.

Chinese Taipei was the Little League World Series runner-up in 1982, 1989 and 2009. The region also has made a record six straight championship appearances and has played two perfect games in 1973 and 1979 respectively.

While Chinese Taipei is off to a solid start in the 2022 tournament, it’s been a long time coming for the regional powerhouse.

“It has been seven years that Taiwan as a team has shown up to Williamsport. That is a pretty long drought for a Taiwan team,” Chang Tzu-Chien said.

The last time Chinese Taipei was represented in the Little League World Series was by Tung Yuan’s club in 2015. Tung Yuan went 2-2 in the tournament and was eventually eliminated by Japan, which went on to be crowned the champion.

Two years ago, a Taiwan representative almost made the cut, but came up short in the Asian-Pacific. But then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, erasing the Little League World Series and barring international clubs from the following year’s tournament as well.

It happened two years ago that Feline, as a Taiwan representative, an elementary school, almost made the cut to represent Taiwan in the Asain-Pacific. We were second, we lost to

“A little bit of comfort, or miscomfort,” Chang Tzu-Chien said on the missed opportunity. “But two years after, everything opens up and we’re really happy.”

Fu-Lin will take on Panama at Volunteer Stadium at 1 p.m. Monday. Aguadulce is coming off a 9-3 win over Willemstad, Curaçao. Gabriel de Gracia became the first Panama player to hit a grand slam in the Little League World Series after doing so in the first inning.