Did anyone else notice that Sunday was August 25? Just four months away from the Christmas Holiday?
The Lake Mary Little League 12U All-Stars gave themselves an early Christmas present (three actually) when they completed an amazing summer run with a walk-off, 2-1, 8-inning, victory over Chinese Taipei to win the 2024 Little League Baseball World Series Championship at Lamade Stadium in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Lake Mary had won the ninth United States Championship for Florida on Saturday, but Sunday was the first World Series Championship for the Sunshine State after going 0-for-8 previously.
Chinese Taipei, the International Champions representing Asia-Pacific, took a 1-0 lead after just five batters in the top of the first inning and that was still he score with two out and runners on first and second in the bottom of the sixth inning.
But has they had done for most of the almost two week event, the Southeast Region and newly-crowned United States Champions, refused give up and got a soft single to left-center field from DJ Mieses to plate Chase Anderson with the tying run and force extra innings.
Playing under tie-breaker rules in the bottom of the eighth inning, Lake Mary, which got to be the home team for the first time in the tournament, placed Lathan Norton on second base to begin the inning and Hunter Alexander, the 12th hitter in the lineup, laid down a perfect bunt along the first base line. The pitcher fielded the ball and not knowing the first baseman had also charged and the second baseman did not cover first, a throw sailed into right field, allowing Norton, who got out of a sick bed to play and was the winning pitcher in relief, was able to come home with the World Series winning run.
Jacob Bibaud started on the mound, and after giving up two walks, a sacrifice bunt, a pop up and an RBI single to the first five batters he faced, allowed just two more hits, both in the fifth inning, and ended up throwing 4-1/3 innings, allowing one earned tun on three hits with a strike out and two walks. Norton, who was in bed with a 102 temperature on Saturday, walked the first batter he faced to load the bases before getting a pop up and a fly out to end the threat and ended up throwing 3-2/3 innings, allowing no runs on two hits with the lone walk and four strike outs. Christopher Chikodroff led the offense, going 3-for-3 with a double.
As mentioned above, this was actually the third championship in four days for the locals, as Landon Bono had won the T-Mobile Little League Home Run Derby on Thursday, netting the Lake Mary Little League a gift of $1,000, and then on Saturday, the Southeast Champs had rallied to beat the Southwest Champions, 10-7, avenging a 4-1 loss to the Boerne, Texas, squad last Monday, to win the 2024 Little League Baseball United States Championship.
In that game, Lake Mary trailed 4-0 after three innings and did not have a hit.
The locals started their comeback in the fourth inning with an RBI single from JJ Feliciano plating Chikodroff and then took the lead in the fifth inning, scoring four runs on an RBI grounder by Liam Morrisey, RBI singles from Teraj Alexander and Chikodroff and an amazing delayed steal of home by Teraj Alexander.
Texas was able to come back with three runs in the fifth to regain the lead, but Lake Mary was not about to fold.
In the top of the sixth, a pair of walks around a Garrett Rohozen double loaded the bases, before a Bibaud RBI single and a Morrisey sacrifice fly tied the game at 7-7. Luis Calo, who would be the winning pitcher in relief, ripped a 2-run double to right center to put Lake Mary ahead to stay and Morrisey, running for Calo, scored on a throwing error.
Calo struck out the first batter he faced in the bottom of the frame, but Texas stayed alive on an error. But Call got a grounder up the middle that Feliciano fielded headed for second and stepped on the bag and fired to first for a game-ending double play to give Florida its ninth United State Championship.
Lake Mary finished the tournament 7-1, winning five consecutive elimination games, and was 22-1 for the summer, winning the Florida District 19 (going 4-0) and State (going 7-0) championships, the Southeast Region Championship (going 4-0), the United States Championship and the World Championship.
The World Series 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.
Little League Home Run Derby
Prior to helping Lake Mary advance to the United States Championship Game at the 2024 Little League Baseball World Series with a 6-3 victory over a team from Henderson, Nevada, on Thursday, 12-year-old Landon Bono proved to be the best in the T-Mobile Little League Home Run Derby, outlasting a field of 8 contenders.
As the only 11-year-old in the field a year ago, Bono finished a homer short of making the finals and had to settle for third place.
The only left-handed hitter in the field was not about to let the happen again this year _ hitting a group high 13 home runs in 90-seconds in the first round; winning a semifinal, 11-10, with 15-seconds still remaining on the clock; then batting first and launching 20 home runs in 2-minutes in the Championship Round, while his opponent could only country with 14.
Landon’s cousin, 11-year-old Addison Bono, did well in the Softball Home Run Derby, finishing in the Top 8 by blasting 10 home runs, but failing to advance to the semifinals.
Victory Parade
It has been announced by the City of Lake Mary and Lake Mary Little League that there will be a Parade to celebrate the 12U Team on Saturday (August 31) at 10 a.m. on 4th Street in Downtown Lake Mary. Everyone is encouraged to attend.
Visit _ https://www.littleleague.org/world-series/2024/llbws/ or https://www.facebook.com/LakeMaryLittleLeague _ for information.
