TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Japan handed Team Taiwan its first defeat on Saturday (Nov. 16) in the WBSC Premier12 Championship Group B with a score of 3-1.
Taiwan had beaten South Korea and the Dominican Republic earlier in the week. Interest in Saturday’s confrontation with defending champion Japan was high, with all 33,000 tickets for the event at the Taipei Dome sold out beforehand, per CNA.
Team Taiwan’s Chen Po-ching (陳柏清) started on the mound against pitcher Saiki Hiroto but the first inning ended with Morishita Shota giving his team the lead following a sacrifice fly.
The reigning champions further improved their position with center fielder Tatsumi Ryosuke doubling their score during the third inning and shortstop Genda Sosuke building up their lead to 3:0 in the fourth inning.
Taiwan replaced Chen with Huang En-sih (黃恩賜) to start off the fifth inning. Further changes followed, with Wang Chih-hsuan (王志煊) and Chiang Kuo-hao (江國豪) pitching to launch the sixth inning.
Team Taiwan did not strike back until the second half of the seventh inning, with Dai Pei-fong (戴培峰) finally earning a point for the home team with what the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) described as a “monster shot.”
Taiwan faces Australia on Sunday (Nov. 17) and Cuba on Monday (Nov. 18).

