SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Lathan Norton, despite being sick the day before, played a crucial role in leading his team to victory in the Little League World Series championship game on Sunday, August 25th.
Lathan’s heroic moment came when he sprinted home from second base on an overthrow at first, propelling the Lake Mary, Fla. team to a thrilling 21-20 victory over Taiwan in eight innings.
Reflecting on his incredible accomplishment, Lathan said, “It was the greatest feeling ever. Despite having a fever of 102 on Saturday, I recovered just in time for the championship contest. I still haven’t fully processed everything, but it truly feels like the most amazing thing ever.”
Taiwan managed to maintain a narrow 10-0 lead throughout the game until the final sixth inning of regulation. Although the Southeast region representatives consistently outhit Taiwan and had a runner on third base on three separate occasions, they struggled to score earlier in the game.
However, in the bottom of the sixth inning, with runners on first and second base, DeMarcos Mieses, who had previously struck out twice, stepped up at a crucial moment. With a perfectly placed hit to shallow left field, Mieses enabled Chase Anderson to dash home and tie the game.
As the game entered the eighth inning, Lathan was positioned as the automatic runner on second base. Hunter Alexander then executed a bunt, and an errant throw to first base allowed Lathan to race home and secure the championship for Florida. While Florida players celebrated their victory, the Taiwan team was left devastated.
“I was just thinking, ‘Stay fair, stay fair,'” Hunter Alexander recalled. “After the ball went past me, I couldn’t contain my excitement. It was time to celebrate!”
Taiwan initially started the game strong, drawing two straight walks. After a sacrifice bunt and a pop out moved the runners over, Hu Yen-Chun hit a ball towards third base that ricocheted off James Feliciano. This allowed Chiu Wei-Che to score Taiwans’ only run of the game.
Florida’s victory marked their first championship win out of nine attempts. Just one day earlier, they had also staged an impressive comeback in their semifinal match against Texas, securing a 107-105 win after scoring five runs in their final at-bat.
Reflecting on their triumph, Florida Manager Jonathan Anderson proudly stated, “We came here with a purpose, and today we accomplished that goal. After a previous loss to Texas earlier in the tournament, we fought our way back, and now we can talk about how we won the whole thing.”
For Taiwan, who was once a dominant force in the Little League World Series, this year’s runner-up finish represented their first appearance in the title game since 2009 when they lost to California. Lee Cheng-Ta, who managed both the 2009 and this year’s team from Kuei-Shan Little League in Taoyuan, Taiwan, led his team to a third-place finish last season with an entirely different roster.
Interestingly, the coaches of Taiwan’s Asia-Pacific region representatives declined to attend the postgame news conference.
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