(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by World Baseball Softball Confederation)
            
Chinese Taipei surprises Japan in Final Premier12; USA wins bronze; Gregorius in All-World Team
Nederlands
  BUNKYŌ / TŌKYŌ (Japan) -
Chinese Taipei recorded a surprise 4-0 shutout-win against Japan on Sunday-evening, November 24 to win third edition of the Premier12.
In the afternoon, the USA defeated Venezuela 6-1 to finish in third place and win bronze.
Japan was the big favorite to win the global event in which the top-twelve countries participate as listed on the ranking of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) per December 31 of the previous year.
Japan was undefeated in Group B (5-0), then added three wins in the Super Round, which included two wins against Chinese Taipei.
In the preliminary round, Japan won 3-1, in the Super Round 9-6 on Saturday-evening in what was the final game of the final-round, which was played in the Tokyo Dome (Tōkyō Dōmu) in Tokyo (Japan).
Chinese Taipei opened the Super Round with a 2-0 loss against Venezuela.
With that, Japan was 8-0 and Chinese Taipei was 5-3 when the Final began.
Although Japan had won its first two games and led the Super Round, it was not yet decided which two teams would face each other in the Final.
On Saturday, the last day of the Super Round, the USA met Venezuela in the afternoon, Japan and Chinese Taipei then would close in the evening.
When Venezuela would have won against the USA, the latter would have been eliminated.
When Chinese Taipei then would have won against Japan, these two teams would have ended up a three-way tie with Venezuela.
The score of the Chinese Taipei against Japan game then would have been decisive for the final ranking.
When the USA and Japan would have won, Japan would have qualified for the Final.
But the USA, Chinese Taipei and Venezuela then would have ended in a tie.
Again, the score of the Chinese Taipei against Japan game then would have been decisive for the final ranking.
...Before the game of the Dominican Republic vs. Japan,...
...Dutch Umpire Edwin Louisa (1B, right) poses with...
...colleagues Sung-Chul Kim (S. Korea, 3B), Chieh (Jay) Hsu...
...(Ch. Taipei, HP) and Rubén Ramos Cruz (Puerto Rico, 2B)...
...and Managers César German Martin and Hirokazu Ibata...
(© Photo: World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC)) |
But everything was decided when the USA won 6-5 against Venezuela.
With this result, both countries were eliminated, while Japan and Chinese Taipei qualified for the Final.
For the Americans, this was its first win in the Super Round, but was not big enough.
The USA still could end up in a tie with Venezuela and Chinese Taipei (in case of a loss), but the run-difference was in favor of the Asian team.
And in case of a win, Chinese Taipei also would have qualified.
Japan won with a 9-6 score to remain undefeated.
And with that, the same teams would meet on Sunday, the Final Day of the Premier12.
The USA would play against Venezuela in the Bronze Medal Game.
And Japan would meet Chinese Taipei in the Championship Final.
In Group B, two Dutch game-officials took part in the games that were played in Taiwan, Umpire Edwin Louisa and Technical Commissioner Jan Kuipers.
Louisa was assigned to four games.
On November 13, Louisa was the 2B Umpire in the game between Chinese Taipei and South Korea in the Taipei Dome.
Two days later, also in the Taipei Dome, Louisa was the 3B Umpire in the Japan vs. South Korea game.
On November 16, Edwin Louisa was behind the plate in Tianmu Stadium in the game between Cuba and Australia.
After day off, Louisa was the 1B Umpire in the game when Japan met the Dominican Republic, also in Tianmu Stadium.
Kuipers was one of the two Technical Commissioners in the game between Chinese Taipei and South Korea.
The next day, Jan Kuipers was a Commissioner for South Korea vs. Cuba game in Tianmu Stadium.
Kuipers also was the Technical Director of the Technical Commission for Group B in Taiwan.
Hereafter, Kuipers had the same position in the Super Round, which was played in Japan.
Ten days ago, on Thursday, November 14, the Netherlands Baseball Team was eliminated for the Super Round after it was handed a big 11-0 shutout, mercy-rule loss by Venezuela.
For the Netherlands, this was the team's fifth and final game in Group A in Mexico.
The Orange-team won two of these games and ended in a tie for ninth place with the Dominican Republic.
Despite being eliminated for the Super Round, the Netherlands did win an award, as Didi Gregorius was named to the All-World Team as short stop.
All other ten players in the tournament's All-Star Team played for a team that finished in the top-four.
...Chinese Taipei is crowned as winner of the Premier12...
(© Photo: World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC)) |
| Final Standings |
| 1. Chinese Taipei | 2. Japan | 3. USA | 4. Venezuela |
| 5. South Korea / Panama | 7. Australia / Mexico |
| 9. Dominican Republic / Netherlands | 11. Cuba / Puerto Rico |
| Individual Awards |
| Award | Player | Team | Stats |
| Most Valuable Player | Chieh-Hsien Chen | Chinese Taipei | |
| Best Pitcher (W-L) | Haruto Inoue | Japan | 3-0 |
| Best Pitcher (ERA) | Rich Hill | USA | 0.00 |
| Best Defensive Player | Chieh-Hsien Chen | Chinese Taipei | |
| Best Hitter | Chieh-Hsien Chen | Chinese Taipei | .632 |
| Most Homeruns | Ryan Ward | USA | 5 |
| Most Runs Scored | Shota Morishita | Japan | 13 |
| Most Runs Batted In | Matt Shaw | USA | 14 |
| Most Stolen Bases | Chandler Simpson | USA | 9 |
...Netherlands short stop Didi Gregorius...
(© Photo: World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC)) |
| All-World Team |
| Position | Player | Team |
| Starting Pitcher | Rich Hill | USA |
| Relief Pitcher | Oddanier Mosqueda Hernandez | Venezuela |
| Catcher | Shogo Sakakura | Japan |
| First Base | Carlos Pérez Alvarez | Venezuela |
| Second Base | Kaito Kozono | Japan |
| Third Base | Matt Shaw | USA |
| Short Stop | Didi Gregorius | Netherlands |
| Outfield | Chandler Simpson | USA |
| Outfield | Chieh-Hsien Chen | Chinese Taipei |
| Outfield | Shota Morishita | Japan |
| Designated Hitter | Ryan Ward | USA |
(November 24)
Related articles Netherlands Team:
Game 1 Kingdom Series: Netherlands Baseball Team opens Kingdom Series with win. (November 1)
Game 2 Kingdom Series: Netherlands Team also wins second game of Kingdom Series. (November 2)
Game 3 Kingdom Series: Netherlands Team closes Kingdom Series with convincing win. (November 3)
Exhibition Game: Netherlands Team wins final exhibition-game. (November 7)
Game 1 Premier12: Netherlands Team comes from behind to win thrilling opener Premier12. (November 9)
Game 2 Premier12: Netherlands Team suffers big mercy-rule loss vs. USA in Game 2 Premier12. (November 10)
Game 3 Premier12: Netherlands Team wins big in slugfest against Puerto Rico in third game Premier12. (November 12)
Game 4 Premier12: Netherlands Team suffers costly loss (after lead) vs. Mexico in fourth game Premier12. (November 13)
Game 5 Premier12: Netherlands eliminated via mercy-rule shutout vs. Venezuela in final game Premier12. (November 14)
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Umpires: HP-Hoon-Kyu Oh (South Korea), 1B-Chikara Tsugawa (Japan),
Bronze Medal Game - Premier12 2024.