Lake Mary Little League nabs regional championship
After clinching the regional championship, the Lake Mary Little League All-Star team returned home on Wednesday afternoon to a warm welcome at the Lake Mary Sports Complex.
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Lake Mary, Florida played its second game at the 2024 Little League World Series Friday against South Hill Little League from Puyallup, Washington.
The Lake Mary Little League team, representing the Southeast Region, added another victory to its LLWS schedule, beating the Northwest Region representative 6-1 in convincing fashion. Following a 2-1 win over Sioux Falls, South Dakota on Wednesday, Jonathan Anderson’s team is now 2-0 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. They will now advance in the winners bracket to play on Monday, while South Hill loser faces an elimination game Sunday.
Lake Mary got all it needed in the win in the second and third innings, jumping out to a 3-0 lead before South Hill got its one and only run of the day in the bottom of the third.
Watch Lake Mary in the 2024 LLWS live on Fubo (free trial)
Here’s all the scores, highlights and updates from the victory:
Florida vs Washington in 2024 LLWS: Live score updates, highlights
Norton was brilliant in the last inning, striking out two and allowing for an easy grounder to first to end the game with a 6-1 score and advance to 2-0 in Williamsport.
Feliciano adds an insurance run for Florida in the top of the sixth with a one-out solo home run just over the outstretched glove of Brown and the centerfield wall to give his team a 6-1 lead.
Two outs later, Florida needs only three outs to advance to 2-0 at the LLWS.
South Hill makes quick work of Lake Mary in the top of the fifth with a 1-2-3 inning. A half-inning later, Norton returns the favor as neither team threatens in the fifth.
Morrisey walks three to load the bases and bring the potential game-tying run up to bat. His night is done after one inning pitched. Lathan Norton’s in for Morrisey to get him out of the jam. Four pitches later, Norton strikes out Aaiden Brown to strand three runners to neutralize the threat heading into the fifth inning.
Some nifty base running adds two more runs for Lake Mary: Landon Bono, who walked to start the inning, advances to second on a passed ball and then reaches third after Morrisey reaches first base on a fielding error by the third baseman. Then, as the South Hill catcher attempted to pick Morrisey off at second, Bono managed to steal home to add a run.
Two batters later, DeMarcos Mieres hits a floater in no-man’s land to score Morrisey. Calo is called out at second on the play to end the inning, but the damage is done: Lake Mary now holds a sizable 5-1 lead.
Blair’s day is done after Lake Mary steals another run to make it 4-1. He finishes with 3 2/3 innings of work. Now up on the mound: Connor Morey.
Immediately Anderson’s decision backfires, as William Hemenway scores on a passed ball from third. That’s all South Hill can muster in the third, though it does cut into Lake Mary’s lead to make it 3-1.
Calo seems to be on a strict pitch limit, as Jonathan Anderson comes replaces him on the mound with Morrisey. He finishes pitching 2 2/3 innings and no runs allowed, though he is responsible for the runners on the corners. Morrisey will be tasked with getting Lake Mary out of the inning with no damage allowed. He’ll face Rawly Jennings to start.
Lake Mary adds another run to its lead due to some pitching woes from Blair. He hits Lathan Norton to put a runner on, then Norton steals second and advances to third on a passed ball. Hunter Alexander hits a slow roller to shortstop, but South Hill defender can’t field it cleanly, allowing Alexander to reach and Norton to score and make it 2-0.
Alexander then advances to third after South Hill is called for obstruction, allowing him to score from third on a sac fly to right field. That’s a two-run inning for Lake Mary to take a 3-0 lead.
What looked like a good opportunity for South Hill to tie or take the lead instead turns into a scoreless inning. One runner reaches on an error while another reaches via a walk. But a strong defensive effort keeps runners off the board as the second inning ends with Lake Marry still nursing a 1-0 lead.
Lake Mary has a perfectly executed top of the second to get on the board first. It starts with a single by Garrett Rohozen through the 5-6 hole. Jacob Bibaud then singles to right-center field to advance Rohozen to third, followed by a sacrifice fly by Liam Morrisey to score Rohozen from third. Lake Mary puts another runner on but can’t muster another run as it takes a 1-0 lead in the second.
Luis Calo is the starter for Lake Mary on Friday. He notably had a sacrifice fly in Lake Mary’s two-run fifth inning vs. Sioux Falls on Wednesday in the 2-1 victory. He gives up one hit and strikes out Easton Stolmeier to end the inning in a 0-0 tie.
Lake Mary is the designated away team and starts the game in the batter’s box. It’s three up, three down as South Hill Little League’s Brayden Blair is perfect through a half-inning.
This section will be updated.
The Lake Mary Little League team is led by DJ Mieses, who had two home runs and batted .889 in the Southeast regional tournament. JJ Feliciano had 11 strikeouts over 5⅔ innings in Florida’s first LLWS game, a 2-1 win over Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
- Game 4: Lake Mary, Florida (Southeast) beats Sioux Falls, South Dakota (Midwest) 2-1
- Game 12: Puyallup, Washington (Northwest) vs. Lake Mary, Florida (Southeast), 7 p.m. Friday, August 16 on ESPN
- Game 16: Salem, New Hampshire (New England) vs. Staten Island, New York (Metro), 3 p.m. Saturday, August 17 on ESPN
- Game 19: Game 16 winner vs. Game 12 loser, 1 p.m. Sunday, August 18 on ABC
- Game 22: Henderson, Nevada (Mountain) vs. Wailuku, Hawaii (West), 3 p.m. Monday, August 19 on ESPN
- Game 24: Game 12 winner vs. Boerne, Texas (Southwest), 7 p.m. Monday, August 19 on ESPN
- Game 26: Game 22 loser vs. Game 19 winner, 3 p.m. Tuesday, August 20 on ESPN
- Game 30: Game 22 winner vs. Game 24 winner, 3 p.m. Wednesday, August 21 on ESPN
Lake Mary is making its first trip to the Little League World Series. They are the 24th Florida team to make the trip to Williamsport, and while eight teams from the Sunshine State have been runners-up, no Florida team has won the championship.
- 1 p.m.: Barquisimeto, Venezuela (Latin America) beats Tamaulipas, Mexico (Mexico) 10-0
- 3 p.m.: Wailuku, Hawaii (West) beats Hinsdale, Illinois (Great Lakes) 5-0
- 5 p.m.: Sydney, New South Wales (Australia) vs. Taoyuan City, Chinese Taipei (Asia-Pacific)
- 7 p.m.: Puyallup, Washington (Northwest) vs. Lake Mary, Florida (Southeast)
- When: 7 p.m. ET Friday, August 16
- Where: Lamade Stadium, Williamsport, Pennsylvania
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