U18 Asian Championship: Taiwan’s Liu Ren-you battles Korea’s hard-throwing lefty

A 156 kph fastball flashed on the stadium’s big screen, but Taiwan left-hander Liu Ren-you’s strongest statement came through five hitless innings against South Korea in the U18 Asian Championship opener.

South Korea won 2-0 behind fellow lefty Ha Hyeon-seung, who struck out 12 and gave up no runs in 5.2 innings. Ha’s sharp breaking pitches frustrated Taiwan’s hitters, while Liu kept South Korea from recording a hit during his five innings.

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This game was important, so I could not relax for a moment. I gave it everything from the start.

Liu said he treated the game as one that demanded complete focus from the first pitch. He described his condition as better than last year and said his confidence and mindset had improved. He also said he stayed focused on his own performance despite defensive issues.

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The coaches asked me. I was actually out of strength, but I really wanted to pitch. For the team, I did not want to force myself when I had no energy, so I handed it over to someone with plenty of stamina.

Until the day before the game, Liu said he did not know much about South Korea’s hitters. He relied on information from Taiwan’s coaching staff, paying particular attention to the first five batters. He noted that the first two were fast runners and that he needed to keep his pitches low against the third hitter, Eom Jun-hyeok.

Taiwan began changing pitchers in the sixth inning. Liu said coaches asked about his condition and he acknowledged that he had run out of strength, even though he wanted to continue. He accepted the decision to hand the game to a pitcher with more stamina. Facing Ha also gave him something to study, Liu said, particularly the angle of the Korean pitcher’s breaking balls.

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Their breaking balls had a very good angle, and our hitters could not adjust quickly. That is something I can learn from in the future.