Lake Mary, Florida officially won the state’s first-ever Little League Baseball World Series on Sunday in thrilling fashion, defeating Chinese Taipei 2-1 in extra innings after a walkoff bunt and error.
Chinese Taipei, also known as Taiwan, kept Lake Mary from scoring any runs until the bottom of the sixth, resulting in the teams entering the final inning tied 1-1.
After neither team was able to secure the victory in the seventh, the two teams went into extra innings to determine the best team in the tournament.
Little League World Series rules dictate that each team will start with a runner on second base in every extra inning, meaning an extra-base hit could be the difference maker for either team.
Lake Mary held Taiwan scoreless in the top of the eighth, giving them a chance to win the game in the bottom of the inning with just one run.
Hunter Alexander then walked up to the plate and laid down a bunt in an attempt to move the runner from second to third base, but an error by Taiwan allowed the runner to make his way to home plate and secure the victory for Lake Mary.
The bunt that was heard around the world 🌎
Here's the historic play that won Florida their first-ever #LLWS title 😱 pic.twitter.com/Ba0HjhRFQC
— Little League (@LittleLeague) August 25, 2024
This victory was the first time a team from Flordia has ever won the Little League World Series in nine appearances. Lake Mary also prevented Taiwan from winning its 18th title and its first since 1996, according to Diamond Scheduler.
Lathan Norton, who missed Saturday’s game with a fever but managed to score the game-winning run against Taiwan, said it was the “greatest feeling ever” to be crowned the champions.
“I still haven’t had time to let it all sink in, but it feels like the most amazing thing ever,” he added, per The Orlando Sentinel.
Florida manager Jonathan Anderson said after the game that he was proud of his team’s ability to bounce back and compete in tough situations, noting that there were multiple times throughout the tournament this had to happen.
“We came here to do something. We came here to do a job, and today we accomplished that job,” he said, as reported by The Orlando Sentinel.
“We took a loss to Texas, we battled all the way back and here we are to talk about how we won this whole thing.”
