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Taiwan held Florida off the scoreboard for 5 2/3 innings of Sunday’s Little League World Series championship game.
But Florida sent the game into extra innings with its final out and then secured a 2-1 victory in the eighth with a chaotic walk-off bunt.
Beginning in the eighth inning, after six innings of regulation, LLWS offenses begin the inning with a runner on second base. With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth, Florida’s Hunter Alexander laid down a leadoff bunt in an attempt to advance the runner to third. But no one covered first base on the throw, allowing the winning run to score as the ball bounced into the outfield.
The win by the team from the Orlando suburb of Lake Mary is the first of nine appearances in an LLWS final by teams from Florida. It denied Taiwan its 18th LLWS and what would have been its first since 1996.
It was a painful defeat for Taiwan, which entered the final with a 5-0 record in the LLWS. Taiwanese players cried on the field after the match. Players from both teams hugged and shook hands before leaving the field.
Taiwan wins first and crushes Florida early
Taiwan started scoring in the first inning after Florida pitcher Jacob Bibaud issued a walk to start the game. Hu Yen-Chun drove in Chiu Wei-Che with a two-out single that went through the left side of the infield to give Taiwan a 1-0 lead.
Taiwan loaded the bases with two outs on a pitch from Bibaud, but Florida emerged from the inning allowing just one run. From there, a series of missed opportunities by Florida’s offense kept it off the scoreboard for most of regulation.
Florida repeatedly leaves runners stranded
Taiwan starting pitcher Ciou Zhi-Kai issued two walks with two outs in the bottom of the first inning, but struck out DeMarco Mieses to end the inning scoreless.
After a scoreless top of the second inning, Florida faced its best chance to score early in the inning without getting a hit. Zhi-Kai gave up two walks and a hit by pitch to load Florida’s bases with no outs. But he induced a double play on a hard-hit ball to third base that did not produce a run and exited the inning with a strikeout.
Florida then stranded runners on first and second base with one out in the third inning. It stranded a runner on third base in the fourth inning.
Taiwan misses chance to score with bases loaded
In the fifth inning, Florida had to get out of a jam. Lathan Norton replaced Bibaud on the mound after a double put Taiwan’s runners on second and third with one out. Norton then walked the first batter he faced to load the bases. But he induced back-to-back flyouts to left field to end the inning and keep Florida at a 1-0 deficit.
Florida failed to capitalize on the bottom of the inning. Wei-Che replaced Zhi-Kai on the mound and eventually struck out Hunter Alexander to end the inning and leave a Florida runner on second base.
A scoreless top of the sixth gave Florida a chance to tie the game and send it to extra innings. Chase Anderson reached base on Wei-Che’s leadoff pitch to put the tying run on first base.
Wei-Che then issued a two-out walk to put runners on first and second, setting up Mieses for some late-inning heroics.
With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Mieses finally scored Florida’s first run. He hit a 2-0 pitch from Wei-Che into shallow left field that allowed Anderson to score from second base. Taiwan then secured the third out of the sixth to send the game into extra innings.
Taiwan had a chance to take the lead in the top of the seventh inning, but reliever Lathan Norton came out of the inning with an inning-ending flyout that left Taiwan’s runners stranded at first and second.
Florida had a chance to win in seventh place
Florida then missed another scoring chance in the bottom of the seventh. With a runner on first and two outs, Christopher Chikodroff lined a ball into the left-field corner. Luis Calo had a chance to score from first base, but Florida manager Jonathan Anderson stopped him at third base.
The third baseman missed the cutoff throw, but Calo had already returned to third after initially running toward home plate. Taiwan then got an inning-ending strikeout and sent the game into the eighth, where offenses begin the inning with a runner on second base.
Taiwan failed to score in the top of the inning, setting up Florida’s win in the bottom half.
Taiwan’s 17 LLWS titles through Sunday were the most for an international team, but they haven’t won a championship since 1996. Japan has since become the dominant international program with eight LLWS titles since Taiwan’s last, for a total of 11.
Florida snapped a streak of eight consecutive trips to the title game without a win, the longest ever for an American team. It struggled through the losers’ bracket to get there after losing its third game of the tournament. From there, it played five straight elimination games, including Sunday’s championship.
