Chinese Taipei: Premier 12 new champions
Tokyo, Nov 24 (PL) Chinese Taipei defeated Japan 4-0 today at home in the Tokyo Dome and was proclaimed champion of the third edition of the Premier 12, a baseball tournament attended by the world's top-ranked countries.
After losing to the Samurai in the group stage and in the super round, the Taiwanese ran riot and dethroned last year's champion, a team that seemed invincible after reaching this stage undefeated, with a 27-game consecutive winning streak in international events, in addition to being the number one ranked team in the world.
The challengers snatched the crown from the Land of the Rising Sun with a lethal four-run package in the fifth inning against the starter and defeated Shosei Togo.
A solo home run by Chia-Cheng Lin and another by Chieh-Hsien Chen that found two teammates on the pads, were the key connections of the game in front of an adverse fan base that until the last out was waiting for a reaction from their idols.
Yu-Min Lin was in charge of cooling down the Japanese batters during the four episodes he was on the mound and his substitute Yo Chang, the game winner, walked a three-act route without allowing any liberties, so that his troop could start dreaming of the greatest success in its baseball history.
The great victory was sealed by rescuers Kuan-Yu Chen and Kai-Wei Lin, who put the last two rings on the board for their team to climb to the top of the podium and lift the coveted championship trophy.
