Lathan Norton scored from second base on an overthrow at first as Lake Mary, Florida, rallied Sunday to beat Taiwan 2-1 in eight innings and claim the Little League World Series championship.
Taiwan clung to a 1-0 from the first inning until Florida’s last at-bat. The team from Florida, representing the Southeast region, outhit Taiwan and had a runner on third in three separate innings, but couldn’t get a run across.
Then, in the bottom of the sixth, Florida got runners on first and second and DeMarcos Mieses, who struck out in his previous two at-bats, delivered. Hitting the gap in shallow left, he gave Chase Anderson enough time to sprint home and tie the game.
In the eighth, Lathan was placed on second to start the inning. Hunter Alexander bunted and the throw to first went into the outfield.
Taiwan drew two straight walks to start the game. After a bunt moved the runners over and a pop out, Hu Yen-Chun hit a ball toward third, which ricocheted off James Feliciano. Chiu Wei-Che scored easily.
This is the first championship in nine tries for Florida, which also came from behind in their 10-7 semi-final win over Texas on Saturday, scoring five runs in their final at-bat.
Taiwan were a dominant team at the LLWS from 1969, when they won their first championship, to 1996, when it claimed its 17th. But it had only made the title game once since, in 2009, a loss to California, before Sunday. Lee Cheng-Ta managed both that team and this year’s club, Kuei-Shan Little League from Taoyuan, Taiwan. Last season, he led the same team – with a completely different roster – to a third-place finish.