Taiwan has won the inaugural IBAF 12U Baseball World Championship. In the title game on Sunday in Taipei they stunned Cuba with a 3-2 win. Tournament MVP Wei-En Tseng pitched a complete game and shortstop Chao-Ching Wan hit the game-winning two-run single in the third to lead Taiwan to the victory. Venezuela finished in third place after a 12-4 victory over Mexico.
The 12U Baseball World Championship was held in three stadiums in Taipei City from July 8 to 17. After the withdrawal by Zimbabwe shortly before the event 13 teams participated. The championship game between Taiwan and Cuba was attended by a sellout crowd of 9,235 people despite a rain delay pushed the game start two hours back.
Two European teams made the trip to Taiwan. Italy won two games the Philippines and Indonesia and nearly tripped Korea in the game for 7th place on Sunday to finish with an impressive 8th place. Lithuania had its nice moments, but went home with six losses and a 13th place. Special rules likes restricted pitch counts were in place to protect the health of the players.
For complete coverage of the IBAF 12U Baseball World Championship visit www.ibaf.org.
Final Standings:
- Taiwan
- Cuba
- Venezuela
- Mexico
- Japan
- Brazil
- Korea
- Italy
- Philippines
- Ecuador
- Hong Kong
- Indonesia
- Lithuania