Canada moves on at Little League World Series
Posted August 22, 2011 9:49 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Canada is moving on to the next round at the Little League World Series after upsetting nemesis Taiwan in a must-win game.
Yi-An Pan pitched five innings and added a home run Monday in a 5-3 victory for the team from Langley, B.C. It’s the first time Canada has beaten a team from Taiwan at the tournament in 17 tries.
“Less mistakes today,” said Canadian coach Jason Andrews. “We’ve got two wins so far this tournament, for a Canadian team, that’s the most we’ve had in a while.
“We are starting to get more comfortable with the crowds. The kids seem less nervous. I’m less nervous as coach.”
The victory improved Canada’s record to 2-1 and earned it a spot in the next round, where it will face Japan on Tuesday after the defending champions beat Saudi Arabia 13-4. The loss eliminated Taiwan from the tournament.
Pan allowed two earned runs on nine hits over five innings of work before leading off the top of the sixth with a homer to give Canada a two-run lead. Pan’s homer was Canada’s first of the tournament.
“(Pan) is a gem to coach,” Andrews said. “I call the pitches for the team. He was hitting his spots really well today. We’ve been working with Yi An with getting him to drive the ball and he did a pretty good job of it today.”
Cole Cantelon recorded the final three outs to get the save.
“I was really nervous,” said Cantelon, who went to a 3-1 count on his first batter, but came back to strike him out. “Getting that out really calmed me down.”
Canada opened a 2-0 lead in the first with back-to-back hits that saw both players score after Taiwan’s pitcher threw a wild pitch followed a passed ball.
Canada added another run in the second before the Taiwanese batters capitalized on two wild pitches and a passed ball of their own to tie the game 3-3 in the third.
Connor McCreath’s leadoff hit in the fourth resulted in the go-ahead run thanks to a sacrifice bunt, a Taiwanese error and yet another passed ball.
Taiwan had the chance to tie the game at four in the bottom of the fifth with Chi-Ling Hsu on third base with two out. Hsu attempted to steal home on a passed ball but Ian Burns collected the ball in time to throw to Pan, who tagged Hsu.
That set up Pan’s solo shot in the sixth to cap the scoring at 5-3.
Canada has participated in 52 Little League World Series, including the last 46. Canada’s lone appearance in the title game was in 1965, when a team from Stoney Creek, Ont., lost 3-1 to Windsor Locks, Conn., in the final.
