Florida beats Taiwan to claim Little League World Series title

Posted on by knews.uk

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Lathan Norton scored from second base on a bunt at first as Lake Mary, Fla., rallied Sunday to beat Taiwan 2-1 in eight innings and win the Little League World Series championship.

Taiwan held on to a 1-0 lead from the first inning until Florida’s final at-bat. The team from Florida, representing the Southeast region, outscored Taiwan and had a runner on third in three separate innings, but couldn’t come through.

Then, in the bottom of the sixth, Florida got runners on first and second and DeMarcos Mieses, who struck out in his previous two at-bats, delivered. Hitting the gap in shallow left, he gave Chase Anderson enough time to sprint home for the tying run.

In the eighth, Lathan was placed at second to start the inning. Hunter Alexander bunted and the throw to first went into the outfield.

Taiwan drew two straight walks to start the game. After a bunt moved the runners over and a pop out, Hu Yen-Chun hit a fly ball to third, which ricocheted off James Feliciano. Chiu Wei-Che scored easily.

This is the first championship in nine tries for Florida, which also came from behind in its 10-7 semifinal victory over Texas on Saturday and scored five runs in its final at-bat.

Taiwan was a dominant team in the LLWS from 1969, when it won its first championship, to 1996, when it captured its 17th. But it had only made the title game once before, in 2009, a loss to California, before Sunday.

Lee Cheng-Ta managed both that team and this year’s club, the Kuei-Shan Little League of Taoyuan, Taiwan. Last season, he led the same team – with a completely different roster – to a third-place finish.