Lake Mary, Fla., recovers to beat Taiwan 2-1 in 8 innings to win the Little League Baseball World Series title

South Williamsport, Pennsylvania — Lethan Norton was sick and did not play Saturday at the World Junior Championships. But he scored the winning goal in the tournament on Sunday.

Lethan scored from second base after dropping the ball at first base as Lake Mary, Fla., rallied to beat Taiwan 2-1 in eight innings and claim the title.

“It was the greatest feeling ever,” said Lathan, who had a temperature of 102 degrees on Saturday but recovered before the tournament. “I didn’t have time to process everything that happened, but it felt like the most amazing thing ever.”

Taiwan held on to a 1-0 lead from the first inning until Florida’s last attempt. The Southeast representatives outhit Taiwan and had a runner on third base in three separate innings, but were unable to get a single run.

Then in the sixth inning, Florida got players on first and second base, and DeMarcus Messis, who had been out of the game on his previous two hits, was the one to do it. He managed to break through the gap in shallow left field, giving Chase Anderson just enough time to run home and tie the score.

In the eighth inning, Lathan was placed on second base by rule to start the inning. Hunter Alexander hit the ball to first base and the throw went to the outfield. Florida players came off the bench while Taiwan players collapsed.

“I was just thinking, ‘Stay fair, stay fair,’ and after the ball went past me, I said, ‘Let’s go!’” Hunter said.

Taiwan got two straight outs early in the game. After a soft ball got the runners moving, Ho Yin-chun hit a ball to third base, which bounced off James Feliciano. Chiu Wei-chi easily scored. But that was Taiwan’s only point.

It’s the first championship in nine tries for Florida, which also rallied from a 10-7 semifinal deficit over Texas on Saturday, scoring five runs in its last attempt.

“We came here to do something,” Florida coach Jonathan Anderson said. “We came here to do a job, and today we got that job done. We lost to Texas, we fought all the way back, and here we are to talk about how we won this whole thing.”

Taiwan was the dominant team in the Taiwanese minor league championship from 1969, when it won its first championship, until 1996, when it won its 17th. But it had only reached the final once since 2009, when it lost to California, before Sunday. Lee Cheng-ta managed that team and this year’s club, the Kui Shan minor league from Taoyuan, Taiwan. Last season, he led the same team — with a completely different lineup — to third place.

Taiwan’s coaches, who represent the Asia-Pacific region, refused to attend the post-match press conference.

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Amanda Vogt is a student at the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Pennsylvania State University.

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