Lathan Norton scored from second base on an overthrow at first base to spark Lake Mary, Florida, to stage a comeback on Sunday by beating Taiwan 2-1 in eight innings and claiming the Little League World Series championship.
Taiwan held on to a 1-0 lead from the first inning until Florida’s final at-bat. The Florida team, representing the Southeast region, had more hits than Taiwan and had a runner on third base in three separate innings, but was unable to score a run.
Then, in the bottom of the sixth, Florida got runners on first and second, and DeMarcos Mieses, who had been retired in his previous two at-bats, delivered. He drove the leadoff into shallow left, giving 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 got two consecutive hits to start the game. After a bunt pulled the runners across the line and a pop out, Hu Yen-Chun hit a ball to third that deflected off James Feliciano. Chiu Wei-Che scored easily.
This is the first championship in nine tries for Florida, which also came from behind in its 10-7 semifinal win over Texas on Saturday, scoring five runs in its final at-bat.
Taiwan was a dominant team at the LLWS from 1969, when they won their first championship, to 1996, when they claimed their 17th. But they had reached the title game only once since, in 2009, a loss to California, before Sunday. Lee Cheng-Ta was manager of both that team and this year’s club, Kuei-Shan Little League of Taoyuan, Taiwan. He led the same team – with a completely different roster – to a third-place finish last season.