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 on Monday. 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 10-1 to Musashi-Fuchi of Japan.
Florida's comeback started an inning later, when James Feliciano got a popup 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 at 5-4.
"I saw the catcher was looking into the hill," Alexander said. "I just started creeping. Then once I thought I had it, like 100 percent, 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 Bibaud hit a ground ball that bounced through the infield, bringing in Feliciano and cutting the lead to 7-6. A sacrifice fly from Liam Morrisey brought in Garrett Rohozen to tie the score.
After Calo smacked his go-ahead hit, Morrisey -- 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."
Championship weekend for the Little League World Series is underway in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Now, after two big semifinal games, the World Series final is set: Chinese Taipei will face off with Florida to determine who will take home the Little League title.
Chinese Taipei capped off a stellar run in the international tournament, taking care of business against Venezuela, while Florida completed the comeback and got a thrilling 10-7 win over Texas to win the United States championship.
In the first matchup of the day, Chinese Taipei handily defeated Venezuela to advance to Sunday's final.
The Asia-Pacific region winners held strong on defense and took advantage of Venezuela's mistakes to earn the win and a ticket to the LLWS championship game.
Pitcher Lai Cheng-Xi had an incredible game for Chinese Taipei, striking out 12 across 5 1/3 innings. Lai's dominance made it difficult for Venezuela to get on base throughout the first five innings, and he kept the Latin America region champs scoreless until the final inning.
Luis Yepez, who has been playing great throughout the tournament, started off on the mound for Venezuela but struggled early, allowing walks in the first inning. A wild pitch from Yepez gave Chinese Taipei a chance to strike first, with Chiu Wei-Che able to easily score from third.
Although Yepez got back into a groove and struck out three in the second, he was pulled in favor of José Pérez in the third inning after loading the bases. A walk and a wild pitch from Pérez gave Chinese Taipei two more runs in the third and a 3-0 lead.
Chinese Taipei scored again in the fifth inning after Samuel Carrasquel and Yepez collided in center field on the way to catch a pop fly, preventing Carrasquel from catching the ball and ending the inning.
Venezuela fought back in the sixth inning, getting two runners on base and threatening to make a comeback. Lai, who had racked up more than 85 pitches, was swapped out for Chiu. Venezuela scored off a sacrifice before Chinese Taipei got the third and final out to win the game 4-1.
With the win, the team from Taoyuan City, Taiwan will attempt to take the World Series title on Sunday. If they win, they will become the first international team to win the world title since Japan did it in 2017.
The second matchup of the day was a thriller, as Florida got a huge 10-7 comeback win over Texas. The team from Lake Mary, Florida (representing the Southeast region) and the team from Boerne, Texas (representing the Southwest) competed in the United States championship, with Florida coming out on top.
Early on, Florida struggled to get anything going on offense, as Texas pitcher Julian Hurst kept Florida hitless through three innings. Although Florida was able to escape the first inning with both teams still scoreless, Texas was able to get a few baserunners on and scored twice to take an early lead. Then, in the third inning, Doc Mogford hit a two-run double with two outs to give Texas a 4-0 lead.
Florida came alive in the fourth inning, getting its first hits and earning the team's first run to bring the score to 4-1. However, Texas was able to hold the score and close out the inning with Florida runners still on base. Florida then went three-up, three-down to finish out the fourth inning.
DeMarcos Mieses opened a big fifth inning for Florida with a stand-up double, starting off the comeback and eventually scoring to bring things to 4-2. A pitching change didn't slow Florida down: Teraj Alexander hit a big RBI double to bring Florida within one run.
Florida's Christopher Chikodroff then hit a big single to tie the game, and Alexander stole home while Newson's back was turned to give Florida a 5-4 lead before Texas could close out the inning, suddenly behind.
But that didn't last long: Texas loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth, getting another run to tie it at 5-5 with two outs, before wild pitch gave allowed Texas to score and take a 6-5 lead. Texas then earned another run to take a two-run lead before Florida ended the inning.
The Southwest champs had a chance to close out the game at the top of the sixth, but Florida didn't go quietly, quickly loading the bases and teeing things up for an RBI single from Jacob Bibaud. Liam Morrisey hit his second sacrifice RBI of the game to tie things up at 7-7, and a two-run RBI from Luis Calo and another steal gave Florida a 10-7 lead before the inning ended.
Texas had one more shot, but Florida pulled off the strikeout and the double play to complete the comeback and take the win.
The Lake Mary team, the new United States champions, will now face Chinese Taipei in the final.
