SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Everything seemed to be going Texas’ way.
The Southwest region champ was ahead 4-0 over Florida in the third inning Saturday 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.
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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.
“We’ve prepared for this, we’ve worked for this,” manager Jonathan Anderson said. “It’s been our summer.”
Florida, the Southeast region representative, will take on Taiwan, a 4-1 winner over Venezuela, on Sunday afternoon. It will be the first appearance by a Florida team in the title game since 2003, when East Boynton Beach fell to Musashi-Fuchi of Japan, 10-1.
Texas seemed in control after Doc Mogford hit a two-run double past the outstretched glove of Jacob Bibaud, which made it 4-0.
Florida’s comeback started an inning later, when James Feliciano got a pop-up to drop for an RBI single. An inning after that, Teraj Alexander capped a four-run rally when he stole home, giving Florida its first lead of the game, 5-4.
“I saw the catcher was looking into the hill,” Teraj said. “I just started creeping. Then once I thought I had it, like 100%, I just took off.”
After Texas rallied for three runs, Florida came into its final at-bat in the sixth inning down 7-5.
But Jacob Bibaud hit a ground ball that bounced through the infield, bringing in James Feliciano and cutting the lead to 7-6. A sacrifice fly from Liam Morrisey brought in Garrett Rohozen to tie the game.
After Luis smacked his go-ahead hit, Liam — in as a courtesy runner — stole third and went to score when an error left the ball loose down the third base line.
“I know I pushed them hard, and I know I told them that that work would get them to the promised land. And I’m sure they didn’t believe me,” Anderson said. “But here we are, boys, here we are. Job’s not done. We got one more. But boy, are we close.”
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Avery Hill is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports