Taiwan and Hawaii are among the top teams headed into the Little League World Series

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Kuei-Shan Little League is ready to make another run through the bracket at the Little League World Series, only this time it’s hoping for a happier ending.

The team from Taoyuan, Taiwan, that came into South Williamsport last year with the hardest-throwing pitcher and left with third place in the tournament is back, again under the leadership of manager Lee Cheng-Ta, but the roster is drastically different.

There are no returning players — none. But that isn’t a worry for Cheng-Ta. “There’s no one ace for the team and everyone is contributing,” Cheng-Ta said through an interpreter.

Wanting to follow in the footsteps of last year’s team, Taiwan has trained hard to make another trip to the tournament that opens Wednesday with four games scheduled, including Taiwan against Canada on the international side of the bracket.

Last year, Taiwan outscored its three opponents 25-1 headed into championship weekend, thanks in large part to pitching ace Fan Chen-Jun. But Taiwan got only one hit in a 2-0 loss to Curacao in the semifinals to end the nation’s hopes of winning its first LLWS title since 1996.

Prior to 2023, Kuei-Shan made it to South Williamsport two other times: in 2009, when the team lost in the title game to California, and in 2012. Cheng-Ta has been part of the team for all of it, yet this current roster is the smartest team he’s ever taught, he said.

“Because of their smartness, they’re able to conquer a lot of weaknesses that their physical strength cannot cover,” he said.

In the Asia-Pacific Region tournament, Kuei-Shan went 5-1. Eight teams competed over a week for a spot in the LLWS tournament.

Kuei-Shan lost to South Korea 13-3 but met the Koreans again in the regional final, where Taiwan won 3-0 at the beginning of July.

“This team is very good defensively, (errors) are very rare,” Cheng-Ta said. “As long as they can uphold that defensive game, they usually come up pretty well.”

Offensively, the team also has put up strong numbers. All of its other region tournament wins were won by at least 10 runs and as much as 20.

There’s no indoor facility in which the Little League team can practice back in Taoyuan, and July weather brings lots of rain, which limited the team’s preparation before traveling to the United States.

The winner of the Taiwan-Canada game will face Australia, which received an opening-round bye. The loser falls to the elimination bracket.

“Because it’s a different team, it’s so difficult to get here,” Cheng-Ta said. “Either win or lose, enjoy the road to Williamsport and hopefully the kids have the best memory in Williamsport.”

The international side also features the second tournament appearance of Cuba, represented by Santa Clara Little League from Villa Clara. In its first appearance last year, Cuba quickly dropped two games and an assistant coach disappeared from the team.

West still best?

A West Region team has won the Little League World Series three times since 2018. No tournament was held during 2020 and only U.S. teams competed in 2021, but the region has still dominated.

In 2018 and 2022, Hawaii brought home the title and last year El Segundo, California, defeated Curaçao to keep the West region above the rest.

Hawaii makes its 16th appearance with Central East Maui Little League from Wailuku representing the West. It’s a different team than the one from Honolulu that’s taken home hardware, but in 2019, it made it all the way to the U.S. final before losing and then falling to Japan in the consolation game.

To get to Pennsylvania this year, CEM went 3-1 in the West Region Tournament. After falling to Southern California 11-3, Friday’s regional final wound up being a rematch, with the Hawaiian team winning this time, 2-1.

“Just to even get a chance to be here and play here, it truly is an honor,” manager Daniel Bolduc said.

On Wednesday, Central East Maui will play Salem Little League from the New England Region.

The secret, Bolduc said, “is just being engaged — doesn’t matter the score, winning, losing, you always got to stay engaged. Just got to always move on in baseball. I think we’ve preached that message to these boys a lot and I feel like they’re really starting to buy into it.”

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Amanda Vogt is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.