Little League World Series comes down to Florida and Taiwan

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.

Then things got crazy. Three lead changes later, Florida is headed to LLWS championship 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.”

Taiwan 4, Venezuela 1

Taiwan couldn’t get much going at the plate on Saturday. But the way starter Lai Cheng-Xi was pitching, it didn’t matter.

Lai struck out 12 batters and allowed just three hits in 5 1/3 innings as the Asia-Pacific representative beat Venezuela to advance to the Little League World Series championship.

“He’s the ace pitcher for the team and he shows leadership,” manager Lee Cheng-Ta said through an interpreter. “He’s calm and he works hard, so every time we’ve had an important game he’s always the one to be carrying the responsibility.”

Taiwan also managed only three hits but collected eight walks and scored twice on wild pitches.

Taiwan will face Florida in the title game Sunday. In its 32nd LLWS appearance, Taiwan has a chance to win it all for the first time since 1996 — though it has claimed the tournament title 17 times, more than any other international team, including a run of five straight from 1977-81.

Kuei-Shan Little League from Taoyuan, Taiwan, made it to the semifinal on the international side of the bracket in 2023 but ultimately settled for third place. Cheng-Ta brought the team back to South Williamsport but with an entirely different roster.

José Perez took the mound for Venezuela with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the third. Yu Chia-Jai walked on five pitches and put his arms up in joy looking toward his dugout as Chen Bo-Wei walked home. The play made the score only 2-0, but it felt like a turning point with Lai in control.

“I was telling the kids to be aggressive in batting, but the kids are trained enough to know what is going to be a ball or strike so if you see a ball, you know, don’t just chase for it,” Cheng-Ta said.

As Lai racked up strikeouts, Venezuela struggled to consistently find the strike zone. Wild pitches proved costly from the start. In the first inning, a pitch from starter Luis Yepez reached the backstop, allowing Chiu Wei-Che to safely slide home and put Taiwan on the board.

Venezuela opened its first at-bat with a single to left by Luis, and a sacrifice bunt moved him to second. But Lai ended the Latin America threat by striking out the next two batters.

In the fifth, Taiwan picked up another run when Luis and Samuel Carrasquel collided in shallow center trying to catch a fly ball for the inning’s final out. Chen, who singled to left in the previous at-bat, had plenty of time to run home and increase the lead to four.

Venezuela finally mounted a threat in the sixth, putting runners on second and third when Abraham Lucena doubled to right. A groundout got one run home but Simon Vicheria grounded back to Chiu, who had moved to relief pitcher, to end the game.

“We’re going to celebrate for a few minutes, maybe an hour,” Cheng-Ta said. “Afterwards tonight, we’re going to focus on what’s for tomorrow.”