Wei-Heng threw 4 2/3 innings and never looked tired, striking out an impressive 11 while allowing just three singles and only walking one. His arm was key in Taipei, Chiense Taipei’s 4-0 win at Volunteer Stadium on Monday evening over Santa Cruz, Aruba.

“We had to take advantage of our offense because we did not have good batting in the first two innings, but we were able to get on base and score,” Chinese Taipei manager Lai Min-Nan said. “It’s very important to let the team have that confidence that we can score well even after all that. The first two runs were very important to us.”

It put Aruba into a hole early against a very tough team to rally against.

“We got the kids prepared for all those situations,” Aruba manager Max Arendsz said. “Trying to steal third with the catcher with the ball in his hand, but the guys didn’t come on early enough. They came on after during the later innings. I think the first run was just kind of starting slow. We have to really address that.”

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Caribbean short stop Arnoled Gismar Martha throws on the run to first base for an out in the third inning.

Aruba managed just three hits on Monday, all of which were singles by Arnold Gismar Martha (1 for 2), Emerson Mercado (1 for 2) and Liam Pena Caraballo (1 for 1).

It was an even game in terms of offensive production. Chinese Taipei out-hit Aruba just 4-3, but Chinese Taipei was able to score runs when needed and kept Aruba’s fast players from making plays on the base paths.

“I saw their game (earlier) and studied their strength. They are really fast, so we had to be very active and very defensive,” Min-Nan said of Aruba.

Chinese Taipei’s four hits came from Chen Shi-Hong (1 for 2, double, RBI), Tsai Yu-Ge (1 for 2, run), Chen Qi-Sheng (1 for 2, run) and Lai Yu-Han (1 for 2, two RBIs).

Yu-Han came up big in the fourth inning with a two-RBI single with one out to help widen the lead to 4-0.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Caribbean's Emerson Mercado celebrates at second base after hitting a double in the second inning.

“My number one goal is to make sure I can bring the runner from home in. I didn’t think how far I was going to hit it or how big,” Yu-Han said. “I just wanted to make sure I can hit a line drive and bring as many people home as possible.”

Aruba was able to hold standout Lin Chin-Tse’s bat quiet on Monday. After he hit a towering home run in Chinese Taipei’s opener, Aruba kept him 0 for 3 on Monday, forcing two pop outs and a fly out to right field.

“We got to see him play, most of the home runs he hit were on breaking balls. We didn’t see him hit fast balls, so the plan was lets throw him fast balls outside and see how he stays back and drive him to the opposite side,” Arendsz said. “He was doing opposite back and did that. I’m pretty happy with the performance our pitchers made on him.”

NEVADA 1, SOUTH CAROLINA 0 (7 INN.)

No hits until the seventh inning, no problem.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Asia-Pacific's Chen Qi-Sheng beats the tag at third base from Asia-Pacific third baseman Liam Pena Caraballo on a passed pitch in the fourth inning.

After its team was no-hit by Joe Giulietti and Brady Westbrooks for 6 2/3 innings, Jayden Lee and Cutter Ricafort hit consecutive singles which led Las Vegas, Nevada to a dramatic 1-0, walk-off win against Irmo, South Carolina. Ricafort’s two-strike, two-out, walk-off single scored Griffin Vargas and Nevada earned a spot in Wednesday’s winner bracket final against either Fairfield, Connecticut or Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

“I just wanted to hit the guy in second base in, so we could walk it off and win the game,” Ricafort said. “It felt good. I liked celebrating with my teammates, too. That was fun.”

Giulietti threw six no-hit innings, striking out 12 and retiring the final 17 batters he faced. He also ran his Little League World Series no-hit strike to 9 2/3 innings. But Garrett Gallegos and reliever Luke D’Ambrosio were dominant as well, combining on a five-hitter and striking out 16. Gallegos threw 5 1/3 innings, striking out 12 before D’Ambrosio added 1 2/3 hitless innings and fanned four to earn the win. Those two helped negate, Giulietti’s dominance. The right-hander did not allow a base runner after Brooks Fechser drew a one-out, first inning walk.

The game remained a stalemate through six innings, necessitating the tie-breaker rule in the seventh. South Carolina had a runner on third with one out, but D’Ambrosio again came up big, striking out the next two hitters. South Carolina shortstop Preston Ware made the second of his fabulous plays in the bottom half to retire the lead runner, but Griffin Vargas reached first on the fielder’s choice. Lee singled and then Ricafort went the opposite way, drilling his walk-off single into right field.

Las Vegas is now one win from becoming just the second team from its state to reach the U.S. Championship. South Carolina plays again Tuesday against Hawaii with the winner there reaching the country’s Final Four.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Caribbean second baseman Diliano Raben fields a fly ball for an out in the second inning.

“That was just a great baseball game,” South Carolina manager Dave Bogan said. “The fans got a treat and, unfortunately, somebody had to lose.”

CONNECTICUT 13, SOUTH DAKOTA 1

After being blanked for three innings, Fairfield, Connecticut, erupted offensively and joined an exclusive club while defeating Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 13-1. The Metro champions scored 13 runs and pounded out 11 hits in the last three innings, earning a spot in Wednesday’s winner’s bracket final against Las Vegas, Nevada.

Fairfield is the first Connecticut team since 1989 world champion Trumbull to start 3-0 at the Series. It also tied a Series record when 12 straight batters reached base in the sixth inning as Fairfield scored 10 times and turned what had been a close game into a rout.

“Being 3-0 at the Little League World Series is great. Obviously, we love moving that name tag forward,” Fairfield manager Brian Palazzolo said. “(Being) 3-0 is a good place to be. We’re just taking it game by game right now and we have Mountain on Wednesday.”

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Asia-Pacific's Chen Shi-Hone celebrates after hitting a double with an RBI in the second inning.

Luca Pellegrini threw his second dominant complete game at the Series, throwing a two-hitter, allowing no earned runs and striking out six. Pellegrini is 2-0, surrendering just three hits in 12 innings, while striking out 17.

“The first couple innings we didn’t hit that good, so I was just focused on hitting the zone,” Palazzolo said. “I just settled down and threw strikes.”

South Dakota will play again Tuesday against Washington as it tries to reach the U.S. Final 4. The Midwest champions led 1-0 through three innings, but Tommy D’Amura fanned the flames which soon became an inferno, hitting a two-out RBI triple in the fourth. The go-ahead run scored on an error and Colin Curley’s RBI double made it, 3-1 in the fifth. Fairfield then went off in the sixth, collecting 10 hits and wreaking havoc on the bases. After the first batter was retired that inning, Fairfield started working toward tying that record and all 12 batters reached base in succession. Seven straight did so with hits.

“Charlie (McCullough) got us going,” Palazzolo said. “Batting around is something we’ve done multiple times this year.”

VENEZUELA 4, JAPAN 0

Tokyo, Japan found itself down early against Barquisimeto, Venezuela and couldn’t claw back. Venezuela’s defense just plain wouldn’t allow it.

After falling into a two-run hole in the first inning, Japan wasn’t able to get its offense to string together hits and fell shy against the Latin America Regional champions, 4-0, at Volunteer Stadium in the first game on Monday.

“I told the guys don’t rush,” Japan manager Kiichiro Kubo said about trailing 2-0 earliy. “We can have a chance in the next innings.”

Japan had back-to-back singles in the bottom of the first inning with one out to put two runners on, but Venezuela forced the next two batters out and then strung together three straight 1-2-3 innings from there to keep it scoreless.

Venezuela knew that Japan would be a tough game. Historically, Japan is always a strong competitor when it comes to the Little League World Series. The Latin America Regional champions were glad to jump out to a fast 2-0 lead and relieve some pressure.

“We talked about it before the game. Japan’s a tough team, and we’re so happy that we got ahead and got those two runs so we can put some pressure on Japan,” Venezuela manager Luis Bermudez said.

Venezuela started the game with a single into right by Sebastian Lopez and another single into shallow right by Argenis Villanueva. And with two outs, a hard shot into shallow left allowed Lopez to score and an error brought in Villanueva.

Japan was able to hit the ball, but weren’t able to reach base. While Juan Reyes had nine strikeouts, Japan also had multiple ground outs as Venezuela’s defense was outstanding.

“Their pitcher was so good,” Kubo said. “I told my players we should swing hard with first strike, second strike, but the pitcher was better than our offense.”

Reyes threw a complete game on 77 pitches and allowed just two walks and three singles.

Venezuela added to its lead in the bottom of the third inning. After Andres Reyes Querales reached on a walk, a passed ball moved him to second and a ground out moved him to third. Reyes then came up with an RBI single for a 3-0 lead and Reyes would score with bases loaded on a one-out sacrifice fly to centerfield by Jesus Gomez.

“That sacrifice fly I thought I need to move runners around,” Gomez said.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Asia-Pacific's Chen Shi-Hone dives back to second base as Caribbean second baseman Diliano Raven fields the throw after hitting a double with an RBI in the second inning.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Caribbean third baseman Liam Pena Caraballo is late with the tag as Asia-Pacific's Tsai Yu-Ge safely steals third base as third base umpire Rob Macdonald makes the call on a passed pitch in the first inning.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Caribbean short stop Arnold Gismar Martha throws to first base for an out in the first inning.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Asia-Pacific's Tsai Yu-Ge scores on a passed pitch as Caribbean pitcher Jaydrick Wederfoor defends the plate in the first inning.