Even though no championships were won, the weekend ended up being a tremendous one for Lake Mary Little League.
The highlight of the weekend came Sunday evening when the Bono cousins _ Landon and Addison _ had local fans on the edge of their seats while watching the East Regional of the ·T· Mobile Little League Home Run Derby at Kauffman Stadium _ home of the Kansas City Royals _ in Kansas City, Missouri.
First up was 12-year-old Landon, who made the finals last year as the only 11-year-old, and this year was the only left-handed batter of the 20 baseball and softball players in the competition.
Squaring off with the other nine State Home Run Champions from the Eastern United States, Landon launched 10 home runs in the first round to place among the Top 6 that advanced to the second round.
He then tacked on 15 more homers in the second round to earn a spot in the Final 4 as well as a guaranteed spot in next month’s Home Run Derby Finals that will be contested during the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Landon then earned spot in the East Championship Round when he blasted 13 bombs and fell just short in the Final Round, falling 17-15. Still that was 53 home runs in 9 minutes.
Things got even more exciting in the Softball half of the event as Addison, fresh off playing in the 12U Southeast Regional in Warner Robins, Georgia, the only 11-year-old in the competition, came out on fire, lifting a leading 16 home runs in the first round, then adding eight more bombs in the second round to take a softball-best 24 home runs into the Final 4.
She then had a third round best 10 home runs, stopped at that point with over 20-seconds still on the clock, and then hit 10 home runs in the Championship Round, only to fall, 11-10. That was 34 home runs in less than 9-minutes.
The T-Mobile Little League Home Run Derby Championship in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, will be held on Thursday, August 22, at 5 p.m. on ESPN.
11U Softball Falls in Semifinals
The undefeated Lake Mary Little League 11U Softball Florida State Champions got off to a great start in the Tournament of State Champions _ Southeast Region _ in Clarksville, Tennessee, on Saturday, sweeping a doubleheader, 3-1, over Hurricane, West Virginia, and 5-3 over McLean, Virginia, in Pool Play and advanced as the Top Seed in Sunday’s Bracket Play.
In Sunday’s Semifinals, the locals fell behind, 3-0, in the top of the first inning to Rowan, North Carolina, and was still down 3-1 after three innings before battling back to tie the game at 4-4 entering the scheduled sixth and final inning.
Lake Mary got in a little trouble as North Carolina loaded the bases with two out, but LMLLS looked like it would get out of the inning, but a ground ball was booted and Rowan scored a pair of runs and held on for a 6-4 victory, ending the season for Lake Mary.
North Carolina would go on to win the tournament by besting McLean, Virginia, a team they had lost to 15-0 in Pool Play, by a 9-4 score.
The Lake Mary 11U squad was managed by John Miller, while the roster was made up of Samantha Bradley, Avery Campbell, Brynn Fieser, Callie Forbell, Acadia Graney, Layla Holton, Cayden Hugh, Hannah Kline, Faith Miller, Brooke Stackpole,, Bianca Vandenberg and Sarah Valencia.
Here are the results:
11U Softball Tournament of State Champions
Southeast Region
Clarksville, Tennessee
Saturday, July 27
Pool Play
Rowan, North Carolina 11, Warner Robins, Georgia 3.
Hurricane, West Virginia 5, Georgia 1.
Lake Mary, Florida 3, West Virginia 1.
McLean, Virginia 15, North Carolina 0.
Florida 5, Virginia 3.
Sunday, July 28
Bracket Play
Quarterfinals
(4) North Carolina 14, (5) Georgia 3.
Semifinals
(4) North Carolina 6, (1) Florida 4.
(2) Virginia 3, West Virginia 2.
Championship
(4) North Carolina 9, Virginia 4.
12U Baseball Headed to Georgia
The now two-time Florida State Champion Lake Mary Little League 12U All-Star Team was treated to an amazing Send Off Celebration on Monday before taking to the road to compete in the Southeast Region Tournament in Warner Robins, Georgia, that begins on Thursday and runs through Tuesday, August 6.
The tournament will use a double elimination format until the Championship Game, which will be a winner-take-all contest.
The first four days of the event will be streamed on ESPN+ and GameChanger, with the Semifinal on Monday and Championship Game on Tuesday being televised by ESPN.
A year ago, Lake Mary was undefeated going to the Championship Game, but fell to Tennessee in the final, 4-1, to fall one win from advancing to the World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
This year’s squads in managed by Jonathan Anderson, with Kyle Bono and Paul Bibaud serving as coaches.
Making up the roster are _ Hunter Alexander, Teraj Alexander, Chase Anderson, Jacob Bibaud, Landon Bono, Luis Calo, Chris Chikodroff, James “JJ” Feliciano, DJ Mieses, Liam Morrisey, athna Norton and Garret Rohozen.
Here is the schedule for the opening day on August 1:
Georgia vs. North Carolina, 10 a.m.
Florida vs. South Carolina, 1 p.m.
Virginia vs. West Virginia, 4 p.m.
Tennessee vs. Alabama, 7 p.m.
Check with _ https://www.facebook.com/LakeMaryLittleLeague/_ or GameChanger for more information.
