Lake Mary walks off Chinese Taipei to win Florida's first-ever Little
League World Series championship Florida teams were previously 0-8 in Little
League World Series title games all-time The boys from Lake Mary, Florida walked it off
against Chinese Taipei in extra innings to win the Little League World Series, 2-1,
in thrilling fashion on Sunday night. A Florida team was 0-8 in LLWS title
games all-time, but Lake Mary had been fighting tooth and nail throughout this
series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, facing four elimination games just to reach
the final against the squad from Taoyuan, Taiwan – a squad that didn't lose any of the five
games they've played since hitting the States. After Lathan Norton finished
his 3.2 innings with a scare, as Taoyuan's Hu Yen-Chun flew out to the
warning track in the top of the eighth inning, he went to second base to begin the
bottom of the eighth in a 1-1 game. The last hitter in Lake Mary's lineup, Hunter
Alexander, came up in a clear bunt scenario, where he was only thinking about
moving Norton over to third base. But Taoyuan, perhaps the team with the
best fundamentals in the tournament, didn't have someone covering first base when
Alexander laid down his bunt to the right side. The ball was thrown away, and Lake Mary celebrated immediately as Norton came around
third base for the winning run. However, despite just winning the whole thing,
the Lake Mary squad was seen giving out hugs and pats on the back to their Taoyuan opponents,
who were distraught about how everything ended. It was the definition of sportsmanship
before it was time to hoist the trophy. What made this victory for Lake Mary more
impressive was the bottom of the sixth inning where they were down 1-0 despite having
numerous runners on base throughout the game. DJ Mieses hit an RBI double and Chase Anderson
came flying around the bases to score, forcing extra innings. Mieses' reaction said it all,
as he was firing up his dugout and the crowd. Lake Mary faced elimination twice in the semifinal on Saturday night against the Southwest
Region representatives from Boerne, Texas, but their fourth and final elimination
game ended with a 10-7 victory. These boys have been resilient,
and they were rewarded with this once-in-a-lifetime victory that
makes state history in the process.