Winning teams know it’s all about small ball.
That was exactly the case in the Little League World Series Championship this week as a team from Florida took home a 2-1 win over Chinese Taipei in extra innings. What makes the victory even more incredible is that Florida never led at any point in the game until the last play.
Videos by VICE
The wild ending started with the Lake Mary Little League All Stars’ Hunter Alexander dropping down a perfect bunt. The Chinese Taipei pitcher fieled it cleanly and hurled it over to first base—except as everyone who has ever played baseball before knows, things get wacky when it comes to bunting.
The defense was caught off guard. As the first baseman also ran in, the second baseman never went over to cover the bag, resulting in a massive overthrow to first base, with the ball sailing to the outfield.
The winning run from second base brought in the first-ever LLWS championship by a Florida team. The Sunshine State had been 0-8 in the final game before Sunday.
Lathan Norton was the runner who crossed home plate with the winning run. He told the Associated Press after the game that “it was the greatest feeling ever.” Adding to the story is the fact that Norton was sick the previous day and missed the prior game. Talk about a storybook ending!
As for Chinese Taipei, the squad had been 5-0 before the defeat. Understandably, the team was crushed after the surprise ending. In the LLWS history, no international team has won more titles than them, with 17 total. The elusive 18th win will have to wait another year, at least.
