The Lake Mary Little League Majors Softball Team (4-1) completed an amazing comeback, bouncing back from 1-0 loss to Tennessee with wins over Georgia (2-0), South Carolina (10-0), North Carolina (6-1 in 7-innings) and Virginia (8-1) to win the Southeast Region Tournament Championship Game Friday morning in Warner Robins, Georgia.
Lake Mary carried over the momentum of a five run seventh inning to eliminate North Carolina on Thursday with a five-run top of the first inning against Virginia on Friday.
There were a series of firsts in the game as it was the first time that Lake Mary Softball has sent a team to the World Series, Addison Bono became the first Majors Softball player to hit a home run over the fence in any of the Regionals nationwide, launching the first pitch she saw on Friday over the 225-foot fence in left-center (as long or longer than a college field) and LMLLM was the first team to qualify for the World Series that will be played at Stallings Stadium at Elm Street Park in Greenville, North Carolina, beginning on August 3.
Lake Mary drew the opening game, where they will face the Northwest Region Champions from Mill Creek Little League of Mill Creek, Washington at 10 a.m.
Other teams in the Purple Bracket of the World Series will be the Mid-Atlantic Region, West Suburban Little League from Johnstown, Pennsylvania; the New England Region champs from Guilford Little League of Guilford, Connecticut; the Southwest Region champs, Tulsa National Little League of Tulsa, Oklahoma; the West Region champs from Westchester-Del Rey Little League of Los Angeles, California.
The Orange Bracket will consist of the Asia-Pacific champs from Tohoku Little League of Iwate, Japan; the Central Region champs from Floyds Knobs Community Club Little League of Floyds Knobs, Indiana; the Europe-Africa Region champs from Prague Little League of Prague, Czechia; the Latin America Region champs from Cantareira Little League of São Paulo, Brazil; the host team from Pitt County Girls Softball Little League of Winterville, North Carolina; and the Canada Region champ that had not been decided as of print time.
The defending Little League World Series Champion Lake Mary 10-11-12 Year Old All-Stars (Majors) improved to 9-0 in the Postseason, repeating as Florida State Champions Sunday morning, posting a 10-0, 5-inning Run Rule victory over the Bayshore All-Stars from the Tampa area.
It was the third consecutive State Championship in this age group for Lake Mary, with only two players returning from last year, which eased its way through the tournament in Eau Gallie, beating Chaires, 19-0, Lake Worth, 9-1, Windermere, 11-1, and Bayshore, 10-0.
The team will be making its third consecutive trip to the Southeast Region Tournament, which will be played July 31-thru-August 5 also in Warner Robins, Georgia.
Just like the softball team, the Lake Mary Majors will play the opening game tomorrow (Thursday) at 10 a.m. against a familiar opponent, the Tennessee state champion Nolensville Little League of Nolensville, Tennessee. The two teams have faced each other four times over the past two years with Tennessee knocking Lake Mary out in 2023 and Lake Mary eliminating Tennessee last year.
Others in the tournament are the Alabama State Champions from Phenix City Youth Baseball Little League of Phenix City; the Georgia State Champions from Cartersville Little League of Cartersville; the North Carolina State Champion from Lake Norman Little League of Huntersville; the South Carolina State Champions from Irmo Little League of Irmo; the Virginia State Champions from Front Royal Little League of Front Royal; and the West Virginia State Champions from Jefferson County Little League of Shenandoah Junction.
