Chinese Taipei aiming for first Women's Baseball World Title
After a one-month camp at Chung-Cheng University in southern Taiwan, the Chinese Taipei team had to face Typhoon Gaemi on the way to Thunder Bay, Canada, where the world No. 2 will compete in the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup Finals 2024 presented by CARNEXT. Inclement weather caused a one-night stopover in Tokyo, Japan.
"Our main task during the camp was ensuring everyone was getting ready for the season's most important games," manager Jui-Nan Cheng told the WBSC. "These players have gone to a few tournaments leading up to the World Cup, and I want to ensure they are both physically and mentally ready for the biggest challenge.
"Experience is the most important feature of this team; most of them have been to many international tournaments. Our goal is to win the gold medal," Cheng added.
Chinese Taipei have played in all eight editions of the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup with a best finish of second in the last edition in 2018.
The roster relies on the core of the team who finished second behind hosts Japan in Group B in Miyoshi City last year. Chinese Taipei's 20-player roster counts on 12 players who competed in 2023, including star shortstop Yu-Ying Hsieh, starting pitcher and .500 hitter Chiao-Yun Huang and starting pitcher Yu-Pei Chen.
Ching Huang and Yi-Hsuan Chiu are the main additions to the pitching staff.
"Both Ching Huang and Yi-Hsuan Chiu are still in college and I am pretty sure that the senior teammates will pass valuable experiences to them and help them grow," manager Cheng said.
Ching Huang became the first female baseball player from Taiwan to study and play baseball in Japan. She played the Girls Koshien with the Kochi Chuo High School in 2021. Her baseball career continued at Heisei International University.
Another addition is 40-year-old captain Shi-Mei Shu. Shu, a former softball international player, switched to baseball in 2003. She coached at various levels of youth baseball from 2010 to 2014 and then returned to playing.
The full roster
PITCHERS (8) Chi-Fen Chen, Yu-Hsuan Chen, Yu-Pei Chen, Yi-Hsuan Chiu, Yun-Huang Chiao, Ching Huang, You-Xian Lan, Yu-Chuan Tu
CATCHERS (2) Shih-Yun Lee, Li-Ching Huang
INFIELDERS (5) Wen-Ching Hsieh, Yu-Ying Hsieh, Chia-Yu Lin, Yi-Ting Wang, Ai-Wei Yang
OUTFIELDERS (5) Hsiao-Mei Chen, Pei-Chen Huang, Yen-Tzu Hung, Hui-Mei Li, Shi-Mei Shu
Jui-Nan Cheng staff includes coaches Po-Yu Chen, Lin-Tsai Cheng and Ming-Huei Huang, who managed the team in 2023.