Curacao, Chinese Taipei both hungry for an International title
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With a giant ice pack taped to his right shoulder, Curacao pitcher Jay-Dylnn Wiel leaned toward the microphone that was positioned directly in front of him as a slight smile started to form.
This has been a fun summer for the Caribbean Regional champions and getting to South Williamsport has been a dream for the players. But for Wiel, there was a little extra motivation for him.
"It's the greatest feeling and experience to be here at Williamsport. When we were playing at the Dominican Republic, we said we need to win because we don't want to go to school," Wiel said with a laugh.
While winning keeps Wiel and his teammates from going back to school for a little bit while yet, there's still a larger goal for Curacao to reach. The Caribbean Regional champions may have been joking around and laughing in the postgame press conference, but don't take that to mean they aren't focused.
Curacao has eyes on a championship, there's no doubt about that, and just one more team stands in their way of playing for Little League's biggest crown.
Curacao won a thriller on Thursday against a very solid, tough Mexico team, 2-1, at Lamade Stadium to earn a berth into today's International Championship game against Taipei City of Chinese Taipei, the Asia-Pacific Regional Champions.
"We come out for a W every game. We want to put pressure and attack the teams from different sides and that's our strength," Curacao manager Zaino Everett said after Thursday's win. "Keep throwing strikes, put pressure on them, score runs and win the game."
It's a battle of teams which mirror each other in many respects. Both teams have outstanding pitching and defense, not to mention hitters throughout the lineup who can hit the ball and put it into play.
"As usual, the pitching staff is stable. We are above average on the pitching staff. Defense, very steady and also we leverage the staff and also the defense, and very few errors that we're (allowing us) to get the title (berth) for Taiwan, as well as Asia-Pacific so far," Chinese Taipei manager Chang Tzu-Chien said after a win on Wednesday over Mexico in the winners' bracket. "So we're gonna take not just the competition but this experience going forward using this defense and pitching."
Chinese Taipei enters Saturday's game having two days rest thanks to winning on Wednesday and is a perfect 3-0 in the Series. Curacao, meanwhile, had a tough road to get to the International final. Curacao lost its second game to to Panama, 9-3, after winning an opener against Nicaragua, 2-0. Since that loss to Panama, Curacao has been on a mission. Curacao defeated a solid Italy team, 1-0, beat Canada, 4-2, cruised past Nicaragua, 7-2, and then edged Mexico, 2-1, to get to today's championship game.
Chinese Taipei on the other hand? Three games, one run scored against.
Curacao's defense and pitching has been great throughout the Series' run this summer. Curacao is currently 5-1 and through those six games, Curacao has thrown six different pitchers, three of which have thrown 7 1/3 innings or more, including Wiel, who has thrown 10 2/3 innings thus far, and Davey-Jay Rijke, who has thrown 12 1/3. Combined, those six pitchers have struck out 63 batters and allowed just eight earned runs.
"I was telling them we have a good team. We have great pitching, we have a good defense and we surprise you," Everett said.
Perhaps too for Curacao, it has added strength in the fact its pitchers don't get rattled in big moments or big games. Playing at Lamade Stadium for the first time, Wiel showed no nerves at all against Mexico, forcing a three-up, three-down inning for the first three innings and had a perfect game through 3 2/3 innings. The pitchers are confident and don't get rattled.
"We're very united to each other. United like brothers and every day, they keep talking to others. They keep putting pressure on the other team and have that confidence to keep fighting," Everett said. "We want to put pressure on the other team. Every game we talk about how we can win this. That's why we are here: to win it all."
So is Chinese Taipei though. Historically, Taiwan is one of the strongest countries in Little League World Series history, holding a record 17 World Series crowns all-time. And this year's team is looking to add to that count. The team has plenty of batters who can do damage. Considering Chinese Taipei has only played three games, the team has five players who have two or more hits, including Tseng Yi-Che who leads the team with five hits, Qang Yuan-Fu who has four — including two doubles — and Li Fang-Mo, who has three hits. The Asia-Pacific Regional champions won't hurt you with the deep ball, but can put the ball in play and move runners around. Yi-Che (.455), Yuan-Fu (.500), Fang-Mo (375) and Liao Yuan-Shu (.300) are all batting .300 or better this series.
And, much like Curacao, Chinese Taipei has solid pitching, having throw four batters who have seen at least 2 1/3 innings of work. Combined, those four have struck out 30, 10 of which coming from Yuan-Shu. Not to mention, Chinese Taipei has allowed just 10 hits this entire Series and only one earned run. It also has impressively allowed just one error in its three games as well, coming in Wednesday's win against Mexico.
"On the record, I understand there's an error, but it was caused by the sun's glare and this is normal," Tzu-Chien said. "Anybody could've made that mistake."
Teams have to make at bats count to beat Chinese Taipei, and Curacao knows that coming into the game.
"We really pay attention how to practice, how to train the kids for this tournament in the Asia-Pacific," Tzu-Chien said. "We don't have a big slugger, but we are fundamentally good on defense."
And that's going to make for one exciting International championship between two teams who mirror one another defensively and pitching wise.