Chinese Taipei played its second game in the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 tournament's super round on Nov. 12. This game against South Korea was a must-win, as qualification for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo hinged on it. Chinese Taipei's players performed brilliantly, with starting pitcher Chang Yi not giving up a single run in the 6.2 innings he pitched and Chen Chun-hsiu hitting a home run that resulted in three points. The final score was 7 to 0.
There were runners on second and third in the bottom of the first. However, pitcher Chang Yi was able to strike out the batter to end the inning and send a message to his teammates that he wasn't going to allow any South Korean batters to reach home. Chinese Taipei had performed poorly in its two previous games against Japan and Mexico, forcing the team to adjust its batting order for its World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 tournament's super round game against South Korea. The adjustments worked.
In the top of the second, Wang Wei-chen singled up the middle, and then Kao Yu-chieh, who was ninth in the batting order, doubled to left center. Wang scored, giving Chinese Taipei its first point.
Hu Chin-long then singled to left field, and Kao scored, increasing the lead to 2 to 0.
In the top of the fourth, Chinese Taipei's batters continued on their hot streak. Wang Sheng-wei singled to center field, giving Chinese Taipei its third point.
However, the team was not done yet. In the seventh inning, a home run sent fans wild.
Chen Chun-hsiu homered to deep left center off of a 147-kilometer pitch from South Korean pitcher Won Jong-hyan. The play resulted in three points, giving Chinese Taipei a commanding 6 to 0 lead. In the top of the ninth, Chinese Taipei added another point, vanquishing South Korea 7 to 0. This was also the first time Chinese Taipei had shut out South Korea in a class A international tournament since professional players were allowed to play in international tournaments in 1998. This was also its largest winning margin ever over South Korea. After the game, Chinese Taipei manager Hong I-chung said the victory was not a fluke.
Everyone thought that South Korea was somewhat arrogant, so they went in with a fighting spirit. They really wanted to beat South Korea. They achieved that today, but like I just said, it wasn't a fluke. The offense and defense both outperformed South Korea. I'm very happy that the players performed so perfectly today.
Starting pitcher Chang Yi's brilliant performance was a pivotal part of the victory. In the first round game against Venezuela, he pitched 102 balls in seven innings, setting a personal best. He pitched 6.2 innings against South Korea without giving up a single run. Hong said he thought about subbing out Chang in the fifth after he had pitched 91 balls, but Chang told him he was feeling fine so he allowed him to continue.
It wasn't that I felt powerful, it was just that I felt like I could continue pitching. I didn't want to end up regretting going off if I could continue.
Chinese Taipei's win against South Korea and the United States' 4-3 victory over Japan threw the super round standings into disarray. Chinese Taipei presently has a 1-2 record and will face the U.S. on Nov. 15 and Australia on Nov. 16. Chinese Taipei will need to finish with a better record than South Korea and Australia in order to qualify in advance for the 2020 Summer Olympics, so these next two games are extremely important if it wants to finish in the top four.