Four-run 5th lifts Taiwan past Panama, 5-1, and into Little League WS international final

Four-run 5th puts Taiwan in international final

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Shao-Fei Huang’s tiebreaking bases-loaded triple helped Kaohsiung, Taiwan, beat Chitre, Panama, 5-1 Wednesday night to reach the Little League World Series international final.

Taiwan will face Japan on Saturday, with the winner moving on to the World Series title game Sunday.

The teams were tied 1-1 in the fifth when a walk and bunt singles by Yi-Chung Chen and Chen-Wei Chen loaded the bases with nobody out. After a force at home, Huang tripled to the right-field fence to clear the bases, and later scored on a wild pitch for a 5-1 lead.

Panama became the first team to score against Taiwan in the tournament on Javier Garcia’s two-out RBI double in the first.

Huang pitched three scoreless innings of relief for the victory.