The Lake Mary, Fla., boys won the Little League World Series on Sunday night in extra innings against Chinese Taipei, 2-1.
The Florida team was 0-8 all-time in LLWS title games, but Lake Mary fought hard throughout the series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and played four elimination games to reach the finals against a team from Taoyuan, Taiwan, that hadn't lost in five straight games since coming to the United States.
Lathan Norton finished 3.2 innings and advanced to second base early in the bottom of the eighth with the score tied at 1-1 after Taoyuan pitcher Hu Yen-jun hit a fly ball onto the warning track in the top of the eighth.
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The Southeast Region celebrates after their match against the Asia-Pacific Region at Lamade Stadium. (Kyle Ross – USA TODAY Sports)
The final batter in Lake Mary's lineup, Hunter Alexander, came to bat with an obvious intention to bunt, but his only thought was to get Norton to third base.
But Taoyuan, arguably the most fundamentally strong team in the tournament, had no player to cover first base when Alexander bunted to right.
The ball was pitched and Lake Mary was soon celebrating as Norton rounded third base to score the winning run.
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Southeast Region pitcher Jacob Bibeau (12) reacts to infielder DeMarcos Mises (25) during the bottom of the first inning in a game against Asia Pacific at Lamade Stadium. (Kyle Ross – USA TODAY Sports)
But despite winning the game, the Lake Mary team could be seen giving hugs and slapping their backs to their Peach Orchard opponents who were distraught over it all — true sportsmanship before hoisting the trophy.
What made Lake Mary's victory even more impressive was the bottom of the sixth inning when they were down 1-0 despite having multiple runners on base throughout the game.
DJ Mises hit an RBI double and Chase Anderson ripped around the bases to score and send the game into extra innings. Mises' reaction said it all, eliciting excitement from the dugout and crowd.
Lake Mary faced elimination twice in Saturday night's semifinals against the Southwest Regional representative from Bourne, Texas, but its fourth and final elimination game ended with a 10-7 victory.
The Southeast Region celebrates after their match against the Asia-Pacific Region at Lamade Stadium. (Kyle Ross – USA TODAY Sports)
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The boys persevered and in the process were rewarded with a once in a lifetime victory that will go down in state history.
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Scott Thompson is a sports reporter for Fox News Digital.
