TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan narrowly defeated Japan in the super round of the U-12 Asian Baseball Championship on Thursday (Nov. 28). 

Unlike their dominating win over China on Wednesday, Taiwan’s players found themselves in a tightly contested match, per TTV News. This time, the two teams were so well matched that an extra inning was required to determine a victor.

Taiwan’s starter Chou Chen-chuan (周震泉) pitched six scoreless innings and allowed only one hit in the sixth inning. Chen recorded 10 strikeouts and two walks. 

Although Taiwan's young players had scoring opportunities in multiple innings, and Japan committed three errors, the crucial hit to drive in runs eluded them.

The regulation six innings ended in a 0–0 tie, forcing the game to be extended to a seventh inning under the tiebreaker rule. At the top of the inning, Taiwan scored one run with a bunt. 

In the bottom of the inning, Taiwan’s relief pitcher, Sung I-Le (松以勒), struck out one batter and fielded brilliantly to prevent Japan from scoring. Sung's performance enabled the team to seal their 1–0 victory and earn Taiwan its second win in the super round.

On Friday, Taiwan will face off with South Korea in the championship game at 1 p.m.