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Lathan Norton was sick and didn’t play on Saturday at the Little League World Series. But on Sunday he scored the winning run in the championship.
Lathan raced home from second base on an overthrow at first as Lake Mary, Florida, rallied to beat Taiwan 2-1 in eight innings and claim the title.
Florida entered the championship game as a +225 dog against Taiwan Sunday after beating Texas on Saturday.
The Southwest region champ was ahead 4-0 over Florida in the third inning in the U.S. bracket title game at the Little League World Series. Starting pitcher Julian Hurst hadn’t given up a hit, much less a run, and had beaten the team from Florida last Monday.
Then things got crazy. Three lead changes later, Florida is headed to LLWS championship on Sunday. Luis Calo hit a go-ahead two-run double in the sixth inning as Lake Mary, Florida, beat Boerne, Texas, 10-7 in a semifinal matchup.
Florida would advance to meet Taiwan in the championship game.
“We’ve prepared for this, we’ve worked for this,” manager Jonathan Anderson said. “It’s been our summer.”
“It was the greatest feeling ever,” said Lathan, who had a fever of 102 on Saturday but recovered before the championship. “I still haven’t had time to let it all sink in, but it feels like the most amazing thing ever.”
Taiwan clung to a 1-0 lead from the first inning until Florida’s last at-bat. The Southeast region representatives 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 by rule on second base to start the inning. Hunter Alexander bunted and the throw to first went into the outfield. Florida players poured out of the dugout while the Taiwan players crumpled.
“I was just thinking, ‘Stay fair, stay fair,’” Hunter said. “After that ball goes past me, I say, ‘Let’s go!’”
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. But it was Taiwan’s only run.
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.
“We came here to do something. We came here to do a job, and today we accomplished that job,” Florida manager Jonathan Anderson said. “We took a loss to Texas, we battled all the way back and here we are to talk about how we won this whole thing.”
Once again, the Little League World Series proved to be a juggernaut in terms of betting, according to Gambling911.com traffic data.
