Chinese Taipei defeated Venezuela 4-1 in the international championship game on Saturday and advanced to the final of the Little League World Series on Sunday.

The Asia-Pacific winners showed strong defense and capitalized on Venezuela’s mistakes to claim the win and a ticket to the LLWS championship game, where Chinese Taipei will face the winner of Saturday’s U.S. Championship between Texas and Florida.

Pitcher Lai Cheng-Xi played an incredible game for Chinese Taipei, striking out 12 players in 5 1/3 innings. Lai’s dominance made it difficult for Venezuela to get on base in the first five innings, and he held the Latin America region champions scoreless until the final inning.

Luis Yepez, who has played excellently throughout the tournament, was on the mound for Venezuela but struggled early on, allowing several walks in the first inning. A wild pitch from Yepez gave Chinese Taipei a chance to strike first, and Chiu Wei-Che was able to score easily from third base.

Although Yepez regained momentum and struck out the team in the second inning, he was replaced by José Pérez in the third inning with the bases loaded. A walk and a wild pitch from Pérez gave Chinese Taipei two more runs in the third inning and a 3-0 lead.

Chinese Taipei scored again in the fifth inning after Samuel Carrasquel and Yepez collided while chasing a fly ball in center field, preventing Carrasquel from catching the ball and ending the inning.

Venezuela struck back in the sixth inning, putting two runners on base and threatening a comeback. Lai, who had thrown more than 85 pitches, was replaced by Chiu. Venezuela scored its first run on a sacrifice hit, but Chinese Taipei got the third and final out and won the game 4-1.

With the win, Chinese Taipei will advance to Sunday’s Little League World Series final against the winner of Texas vs. Florida. They will attempt to become the first international team to win the World Series title since Japan did so in 2017.