The third generation of the legendary Bono baseball family from Lake Mary is once again doing their best to keep the family name in the national consciousness.
Last year, Landon Bono, the son of Kyle Bono _ who owns Bono Baseball and was a standout in youth baseball, Sanford American Legion Post 53, Lake Mary High School and was just inducted into the UCF Hall of Fame, before playing professionally with the Boston Red Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks _ made it all the way to the T-Mobile Little League Home Run Derby Championship in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, as the only 11-year-old.
Landon, now 12, has repeated as Florida Champion and will head to Kansas City, Missouri, this weekend to take part in the East Regional of the ·T· Mobile Little League Home Run Derby.
This time, he will not be alone, as his cousin, 11-year-old Addison Bono _ the daughter of Ryan Bono, Kyle’s twin brother and co-owner of Bono Baseball, and was a star like his brother in youth baseball, Sanford American Legion Post 53, Lake Mary High School and a 4-year starter at UCF _ will represent Lake Mary Little League Softball and Florida in Kansas City.
The cousins _ the grandchildren of former college pitcher and 40-plus year youth baseball coach, Mike, and the nephew/niece of nationally-known DJ, Lake Brantley High School standout and current director of the Central Florida Suns, Mickey _ and 18 others (nine boys and nine girls) will compete in the T-Mobile Little League Home Run Derby East Regional Finals on Sunday at Kauffman Stadium _ home of the Kansas City Royals _ following the MLB game between the Royals and Chicago Cubs, with hopes of finishing in the Top 4 and advancing to the T-Mobile Little League Home Run Derby Championship in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Both of the Bono’s have been on the road already the week, as Addison is the catcher for the 12-and-Under Lake Mary Little League Softball that became the first LMLLSB team to win a State Championship and is 2-0 at the Southeast Regional in Warner Robins, Georgia, and will be playing in the Winner’s Bracket final today (Wednesday) at 2 p.m.
Landon, meanwhile, and his LMLL 12-under team won the State Championship on Monday in Defuniak Springs, and will be returning to Warner Robins on August 1, looking to advance to the Little League World Series after falling one win short last year. Landon is one of four returning players from 2023.
On Sunday at Friend Confines in Lake Mary for a watch party to cheer on Addison and Landon as they battle it out for their chance to make the HomeRun Derby Finals later this summer in Williamsport, PA.
Friendly Confines will be giving back 15% of proceeds from the event to 12U Baseball Team to help cover expenses as they head to Warner Robbins next week.
The event will be streamed at _ https://littleleaguehomerunderby.com/ _ on your computer or phone. After getting to the website, look for the link to the stream.
12-Under Softball Undefeated
For the first time in the history of Lake Mary Little League Softball, a team won a Florida State Championship to advance to the LLSBWS Southeast Regional in Warner Robbins, Georgia.
The 12-and-Under team under Manager John Destefano and coaches Ryan Bono and Bryan Lester, recently won the District, Sectional and Florida State Championships, and have gotten off to fantastic start in Central Georgia.
In its opening game on Sunday, Lake Mary eased past South Carolina, 8-0, in 5-innings, collecting 11 hits, led by Alana Pagan-luu (3-for-3 with a triple and scored two runs), Ryleigh Huntress (2-for-3, two runs scored, RBI), Emma Ball (2-for-3, run scored) and Lacey Huska (two RBI), while Calista Graham (5-innings, 4 hits, 8 strike outs, 5 walks) and Huntress (1-inning, 1 strike out, 1 walk) combined on the 4-hit shutout.
The locals then remained undefeated on Monday with s heart-stopping 4-3 walk-off victory in seven innings over Virginia.
With the scored tied at 3-3, Taylor DeStefano led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. With one out, Pagan-luu hit a grounder to short and DeStefano easily beat the throw home, to send Lake Mary to the Winner’s Bracket final opposite North Carolina today (Wednesday) at 2 p.m.
A Lake Mary win would put the team in Friday’s 10 a.m. Winner-Take-All Championship Game, while a loss would force the locals to win the Loser’s Bracket final at 10 a.m. on Thursday to get to Friday’s Championship contest.
On Monday, Lake Mary had taken a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Calista Graham led off with a triple and scored on a wild pitch.
Then after giving up three runs in the top of the third inning, came back to tie the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the frame on a 2-run double by Drew Parks.
Lake Mary dodged huge bullet in the sixth inning as after a leadoff triple, a Virginia player tried to score on a grounder to DeStafano, but the shortstop made a perfect throw to Addison Bono, who tagged the runner out before gunning the ball to second and Huska tagged out the batter trying to advance for a double play.
Graham was the winner in the circle, scattering eight hits and allowing no earned runs over the seven innings with seven strike outs and only one walk.
The schedule is available at _ https://www.littleleague.org/world-series/2024/llsws/tournaments/southeast-region/_ and all of the games will be streamed on ESPN+.
Go to _ https://www.facebook.com/LakeMaryLittleLeague/ _ for more information.
