SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Everything seemed to be going Texas' way.
The Southwest Division champions were leading Florida 4-0 in the third inning of Saturday's Little League World Series U.S. Tournament final. Starting pitcher Julian Hurst had not allowed a hit or a run in a win over a Florida team last Monday.
After that, things got messy. After three lead changes, Florida is heading to the LLWS championship on Sunday. Luis Caro hit a game-winning, two-run double in the sixth inning and Lake Mary, Florida, beat Vaughn, Texas, 10-7 in the semifinals.
“We've been preparing and working hard for this,” coach Jonathan Anderson said. “It's been our summer.”
Florida, representing the Southeast Region, will face Taiwan, a team that beat Venezuela 4-1, on Sunday afternoon. It will be the first time a Florida team has appeared in the finals since 2003, when East Boynton Beach lost 10-1 to Musashibuchi of Japan.
Texas appeared to have the game under control after Doc Mogford smashed a two-run double over Jacob Bibeau's outstretched glove to extend its lead to 4-0.
Florida's comeback began in the next inning when James Feliciano hit a pop fly for a one-run single, and the next inning, Teraj Alexander capped off a four-run rally with a steal of home to give Florida its first lead of the game, 5-4.
“I saw the catcher looking up the hill,” Teraj said, “and I just started walking, and when I thought I had 100 percent chance of catching the ball, I started running.”
After Texas rallied for three runs, Florida came up to bat for the final time in the sixth inning, trailing 7-5.
But Jacob Bibeau hit a grounder through the infield that bounced and allowed James Feliciano to score to cut the lead to 7-6. Garrett Rohrhausen scored on a sacrifice fly by Liam Morrissey to tie the game.
After Lewis hit the winning hit, Liam, who came in as a pinch runner, stole third base and tried to score when the ball fell down the third base line due to an error.
“I pushed them hard and told them the job would get them to the Promised Land and they wouldn't believe me,” Anderson said. “But here we are, the job's not done yet. We've got one more thing left to go, but we're almost there.”
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Avery Hill is a student at Penn State's John Curley Sports Journalism Center.
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AP Sports: https://apnews.com/sports
