Chinese-Taipei throws 1st perfect game in Little League World Series since 2017
Aug 17, 2023, 8:02 PM | Updated: 10:54 pm
Taiwan starting pitcher Fan Chen-Jun (17) delivers a pitch against Canada during the first inning of a baseball game at the Little League World Series tournament in South Williamsport, Pa., Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Tom E. Puskar)
(AP Photo/Tom E. Puskar)
Chinese-Taipei combined to throw the first perfect game in the Little League World Series since 2017 in Williamsport, Penn., on Thursday, as it defeated North Regina Little League (Canada), 6-0.
Among the highlights for the Kuei-Shan Little League squad from Taoyuan was an immaculate inning by right-hander Fan Chen-Jun.
An immaculate inning is a three-up, three-down inning featuring three strikeouts on just nine pitches. The feat is usually reserved for superstars like the Texas Rangers’ Max Scherzer, former Arizona Diamondback Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez.
It has only been done 114 times in Major League Baseball history, and the last Diamondback to accomplish the feat was Byung-Hyun Kim in 2002.
Fan Chen-Jun, Immaculate Inning. 😇
T81mph pic.twitter.com/3M6ipSsJn7
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 17, 2023
Meanwhile, he was doing all this while throwing in the low 80’s mph, which, according to former Oakland Athletics pitcher and current broadcaster Dallas Braden, equates to facing a 100 MPH fastball.
Chen-Jun, Chiu Tse-Wei and Cai Yuan-Hao combined for 14 strikeouts.
It wasn’t just on the mound where Chinese-Taipei was finding success.
🚨 DINGER ALERT 🚨
The HR celly at the end for Chinese Taipei 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/Ivab8sCr1S
— ESPN (@espn) August 17, 2023
Chen-Jun also pulled a frozen-rope over the left-field fence to put the Asia-Pacific representative ahead 6-0.
The perfect game was Chinese-Taipei’s third in history — the most ever at the LLWS — and was the eighth in Little League World Series history.
