Florida players celebrate winning the state's first Little League World Series championship. (Kyle Ross/Reuters)
Taiwan held Florida scoreless over 5 2/3 innings in the Little League World Series final on Sunday.
But Florida trailed until the final out to send the game into extra innings, then pulled off a chaotic walk-off bunt in the eighth to win the game, 2-1.
After six regulation innings, the LLWS offense began the eighth inning with a runner on second base. In the bottom of the eighth, with the score tied at 1-1, Florida's Hunter Alexander bunted as the leadoff batter to advance the runner to third base. However, there was no one covering first base when the ball was thrown, so the winning run was scored the moment it bounced into the outfield.
The win for the team from Lake Mary, a suburb of Orlando, was the first in nine times a Florida team has reached the LLWS finals. Taiwan was denied a chance to play in the LLWS for the 18th time and for the first time since 1996.
Even though Taiwan had entered the finals with a 5-0 record in the LLWS, the loss was hard to bear. After the game, Taiwanese players were in tears on the field. Players from both teams hugged and shook hands before leaving the field.
Taiwan scores first, holds off Florida early
Tawain began scoring in the bottom of the first inning after Florida pitcher Jacob Bibeau walked the leadoff batter early in the game. With two outs, Hu Yen-Chun singled through the left side of the infield to score Chiu Wei-Che and give Taiwan a 1-0 lead.
Taiwan then loaded the bases with two outs after a hit by pitch from Bibeau, but Florida finished the inning with only one run allowed. After that, Florida's offense continued to miss opportunities and went scoreless for most of regulation.
Florida leaves runners behind multiple times
Taiwan's starting pitcher Chou Zhi-kai issued two walks with two outs in the bottom of the first inning, but struck out DeMarco Mises to end the inning without allowing a run.
After a scoreless top of the second inning, Florida was unable to get a hit and had its best chance of scoring early on. Ji Kai walked two batters and was hit by pitch, loading the bases with no outs for Florida. However, he hit a hard ball to third base that induced a double play, but the run was not scored and he struck out to end the inning.
Florida then left runners on first and second with one out in the third inning, and a runner on third in the fourth inning.
Taiwan misses chance to score with bases loaded
In the fifth inning, it was Florida's turn to get out of a tight spot. After Taiwan's runners advanced to second and third with one out, LaSan Norton took the mound to replace Bibeau. Norton then walked the first batter he faced to load the bases, but Norton induced consecutive flyouts to left field to end the inning and bring Florida to within 1-0.
Florida couldn't capitalize in the bottom of the inning, as Wei Choi took over for Ji Kai and eventually struck out Hunter Alexander to end the inning with a Florida runner on second base.
With no runs scored in the top of the sixth, Florida had a chance to tie the game and send it into extra innings when Chase Anderson reached base on a hit by pitch from leadoff hitter Wai Choi, sending the tying runner to first.
Wei-Che then walked with two outs, putting runners on first and second, setting up Mises' late-inning performance. Mises hit a deep shot to left field for 2-0, allowing Anderson to score from second. Taiwan then got their third out in the sixth inning, sending the game into extra innings.
Taiwan had a chance to take the lead in the top of the seventh, but relief pitcher Lathan Norton ended the inning with a pop-up fly, leaving Taiwan runners on first and second.
Florida had a chance to win at No. 7.
Florida then missed another chance to score in the bottom of the seventh. With a runner on first and two outs, Christopher Chichodoroff hit a fair liner that rolled into the left field corner. Luis Caro had a chance to score from first, but Florida manager Jonathan Anderson blocked him at third base.
The third baseman dropped the cutoff throw, but Caro had already returned to third after rounding home. Taiwan then got an inning-ending strikeout, sending the game into the eighth inning, where the offensive team would start the inning with a runner on second.
Taiwan failed to score in the top of the inning, allowing Florida to pull out a walk-off win in the bottom half.
Taiwan had won 17 LLWS championships before Sunday, the most by an international team, but had not won since 1996. Japan has since led the way among international teams, with eight LLWS wins since Taiwan's last win, and 11 total wins.
Florida ended a winless streak in eight consecutive finals appearances, the longest for a U.S. team, by winning five straight games in the finals after losing its third tournament game and then winning five straight games in the finals, including Sunday's victory.
