Chinese Taipei move to top spot with back-to-back wins in U-12 Softball World Cup
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<p>Chinese Taipei claimed the current top spot in the II WBSC
U-12 Softball World Cup standings, following their two wins over Hong Kong and
Czech Republic, respectively, on Thursday at Jin-Long Stadium.</p>
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<p>The hosts now hold a 3-0 win-record and have secured their place in the semifinal, while the Czech Republic moved down to second place with two wins and one loss, while Hong Kong and Singapore are in joint-third with a 1-2 win-loss card. India are in fifth place with two losses.</p>
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<p>Chinese Taipei played back-to-back games and had two heroes
to help them complete it the 14-0 win over Hong Kong and the 7-2 win over the Czech
Republic. Li-Cheng Liang bolstered the offence with a three-run home run late
in the third inning against Hong Kong, while En-Shi Hsu led the team with two
hits and two RBIs to beat the Czechs.</p>
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<p>“We played a good first game because of our offence.
Probably that went a bit down in the second game because the players became
more relaxed after the first game. As a result we made some mistakes and
allowed Czech Republic to make two runs,” Chinese Taipei head coach Chi-Tsu Wu
said.</p>
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<p>“I told my players not to be complacent, but rather respectful
of their opponents by doing a better job in tightening their defence. If we
didn’t do that then that would have given our pitcher a lot of pressure.”</p>
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<p>Meanwhile, Hong Kong and the Czech Republic earned victories
earlier in the day. The East Asian the day highlighted by the home run made by
David Weiss, while the European squad were victorious over Singapore 8-1.</p>
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<p>“I don’t usually get a chance to play in a big tournament
like this, so I am pretty proud of myself for hitting an inside-the-park homer,”
Weiss said.</p>
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<p>“We had a great performance in this game because our batting
was good and our base-running was aggressive. I am glad we hit our target in
this game, and we enjoyed this win too,” Hong Kong coach Franky Tso said.</p>
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<p>The Opening Round will conclude with the matchups on Day 3, featuring the duel of Czech Republic and India at 11:00 local time (UTC+8), followed by the clash between Singapore and Hong Kong at 13:00 and the encounter of Chinese Taipei and India at 15:00.</p>
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<p>The hosts have earned the first semifinal spot regardless of the outcome of Friday's game against India. In the semifinals, Chinese Taipei will play the winner of Game No. 11 between the fourth- and fifth-ranked teams of the Opening Round.</p>
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