Cheng-Ta wants to get back to World Series title game
Trending
It's been a long time since Chinese Taipei manager Lee Cheng-Ta has coached a team to the Little League World Series championship game.
In 2009, Cheng-Ta coached Taoyuan to the championship game, marking the first World Sereis championship appearance for Chinese Taipei since 1996.
Chinese Taipei fell that year to Chula Vista, California and, for Chinese Taipei, that was the last time they appeared in a World Series championship game.
Cheng-Ta is hoping to reverse that trend this year, and he's one win away from getting there.
Chinese Taipei faces Curacao on Saturday at Lamade Stadium for a 12:30 p.m. game with a berth to the World Series championship game on the line.
"2009 made a big impact for my life. It was the most memorable. I never saw so many people at one place and I remember we started 3-1 and were winning, and then it turned around and we were upset (by Chula Vista)," Cheng-Ta recalled. "It's one of my biggest memories, and also a big lesson for me. I want to make sure we are ready and also want the kids to enjoy it. We expect a big crowd and this is something I understand and teach the kids. It's going to be so loud."
And a lot of that noise will be cheering on how dominant Chinese Taipei has been this tournament.
The Asia-Pacific Regional champions have steamrolled their opponents so far. They defeated Canada in their opener 6-0 before a 10-0, four-inning win over perennially strong Japan on Monday, and then defeated Curacao 9-1 thanks to a six-run fifth inning on Wednesday, beating the defending World Series runners-up.
And while it's impressive enough outscoring some of the best teams in the world 25-1 in three games, Cheng-Ta feels that his team still has room to improve.
And if Chinese Taipei can improve further, that's scary for the remaining teams in the field.
"We still have a lot to improve. Yes, we do focus on pitching, but because of the continuous batting order … we wish we could have continuous scoring," Cheng-Ta said. "One thing we remember are these are kids. You never know what's going to happen. That's why I want the kids to have a chance to pitch or play as much as possible."
Cheng-Ta noted that he focuses on his team's pitching which has been as flawless as you could want from a bunch of 11- and 12-year-old kids.
Chinese Taipei has seen five players throw this Series for 16 innings of work, and in those 16 innings pitched, Chinese Taipei has yielded just two hits and one run.
Yes, two hits and one run through 16 innings of work.
That's a huge reason Chinese Taipei is playing in the International Championship game this afternoon.
"We have quite good pitchers. We want our pitchers to get the chance to get into rhythm and get in there," Cheng-Ta said.
And among those dominant pitchers for Chinese Taipei includes Fan Chen-Jun, who threw 6 2/3 innings so far this tournament, including 3 2/3 innings in the team's opener: a perfect game against Canada.
As to who's throwing Saturday? Cheng-Ta had yet to decide.
"We're spending a lot of time watching the games … We have room for batting improvement," Cheng-Ta said. "You've seen all of our pitchers already. We're going to see who is the best pitcher that day. We'll have all our pitchers available, so we'll see who has the bet pitching available that day."
Chinese Taipei is a hitting machine in addition to being masterful on the mound. The team has collected 19 hits, four coming from Wu Yun-Hsi and three from Cheng Kai-Sheng while Hsu Shao-Chieh and Chen-Jun each have two hits.