WARNER ROBINS, GA. — While ‘curse’ may be a little bit of a strong statement and two situations probably doesn’t qualify as a curse _ a big weight was lifted off the Bono family Tuesday afternoon.
Chase Anderson led off the game with a single up the middle and the Lake Mary Little League 12U All-Stars never looked back, rolling to an 11-0, 4-inning, Run Rule victory over Goodlettsville, Tennessee, in the Championship Game of the Southeast Region at Warner Robins, Georgia.
A year ago, the Lake Mary All-Stars were in this same boat, having gone undefeated and advancing to the Championship Game, where they would face a once-beaten Noblesville, Tennessee, squad.
But the locals had their hearts broken as Tennessee pulled off a 4-1 victory and advanced to the World Series and Lake Mary was eliminated despite losing for the first time all season.
To give that loss even more context, you have to go all the way back to 2001, when the modified-double-elimination format was new, when the Sanford Campbell-Lossing Post 53 American Legion team, led by twin brothers Kyle (an assistant coach for the Lake Mary team and the father of star catcher Landon) and Ryan Bono (whose daughter Addison will be competing in the Softball Home Run Derby at the World Series), were 51-1 and playing in the Championship Game of the Southeast Region against an Albany, Georgia, squad it had beaten, 13-0, in the opening game of the tournament.
Just like in 2023, the locals would lose and not get to the World Series, setting the stage for it possibly happening for the third time.
NOPE.
The Florida Champions, now 13-0 in the Postseason, scored five runs in the top of the first inning, with the big hit being a bases-loaded, 2-run double by DJ Mieses (who was 8-for-9, with three runs scored and eight RBI in the tournament), and then closed the game out by scoring six runs in the top of the fourth inning with the first six batters (a walk and five consecutive singles) reaching base. After a pair of strike outs, winning pitcher JJ Feliciano pushed the Lake Mary to 11-0 with a ringing 2-run double to left center.
Feliciano was outstanding on the hill, allowing just two hits (one coming when he collided with his third baseman on a high chopper and could not throw to first) and two bases on balls, while striking out seven.
The fourth inning has been the big one for Lake Mary as it has scored 15 of its 35 runs in that frame.
But it has been the pitching that has carried the team, as Feliciano, Jacob Bibaud, Liam Morrisey, Luis Calo, Teraj Alexander and Lathan Norton have allowed eight runs, four earned, for a combined 1.09 ERA.
In becoming the first team to qualify for the World Series, the team will represent the Southeast in the 2024 Little League Baseball® World Series, presented by T-Mobile, from August 14-thru-25 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Lake Mary will face the Midwest Champions (Missouri or South Dakota) in Game 4 on Opening Day of the World Series, Wednesday, August 14, at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
Lake Mary will also be represented in the T-Mobile Little League Home Run Derby Championship in Williamsport as cousins Landon and Addison Bono were both Florida Champions and finished second in the 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. The finals will be shown on Thursday, August 22, at 5 p.m. on ESPN.
The Southeast Champions are 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, Lathan Norton and Garret Rohozen.
Here are the results:
Little League Baseball
12U Southeast Region
Warner Robins, Georgia
Thursday, August 1, 2024
Game 1 _ Greenville, North Carolina 8, Watkinsville, Georgia 5.
Game 2 _ Lake Mary, Florida 5, Irmo, South Carolina 3.
Game 3 _ Chesterfield, Virginia 7, Hurricane, West Virginia 4.
Game 4 _ Goodlettsville, Tennessee 19, Rainbow City, Alabama 3, 5-innings.
Friday, August 2, 2024
Game 5 _ Georgia 8, South Carolina 6 (SC eliminated).
Game 6 _ Alabama 12, West Virginia 5 (WV eliminated).
Game 7 _ Florida 11, North Carolina 4.
Game 8 _ Tennessee 11, Virginia 2, 7-innings.
Saturday, August 3, 2024
Game 9 _ Georgia 18, Virginia 0, 3-innings (VA eliminated).
Game 10 _ Alabama 4, North Carolina 1 (NC eliminated).
Sunday, August 4, 2024
Game 11 _ Georgia 17, Alabama 2, 3-innings (AL eliminated).
Game 12 _ Florida 8, Tennessee 1.
Monday, August 5, 2024
Semifinals
Game 13 _ Georgia vs. Tennessee 11, Georgia 6, 7-innings (GA eliminated).
Tuesday, August 6, 2024
Championship
Game 14 _ Florida 11, Tennessee 0, 4-innings (TN eliminated; FL advances to Little League World Series).
