What an ending. What a Little League World Series. I watched more Little League World Series games this year than I care to admit. Honestly, I probably watched 80% of the games start to finish. I umpired in Little League Baseball for 10 years of my life. Not the actual “Little League” organization. I always umpired in USSSA & Nation’s Baseball. Honestly, I don’t even know where Little League is played. I’ve been confused my whole life as to where these “Little League” teams come from. But whatever. Basically, it’s all the same. This year’s Little League World Series was as good as any.
Going into the tournament, I thought the team from Lake Mary, Florida, who are from the Southeast region, had no chance. They were obviously a good team. But I didn’t think they had the firepower to do it. They lost to Texas early in the double-elimination tournament. They didn’t beat a single team. They had several one-point games. The only time they scored 10 points was in the U.S. championship game when they beat Vegas 10-7.
Meanwhile, other teams like Chinese Taipei, who they just beat in the LLBWS Championship, won games 8-0, 11-0, 10-2, etc. At no point did I think Florida had what it takes to win. Even when they made it to the championship, I was afraid Chinese Taipei would outscore them in 4 innings.
But there was something magical about Florida. They had to play 8 games to win the Little League World Series. For comparison, Chinese Taipei played 6. Texas, who they beat in the U.S. championship, played 4 games in total. But that’s how double elimination works. If you lose early, you have to take the hard route.
Florida had serious magic, though. They had characters on their team. You can’t talk about this Florida team without mentioning their team hype man, Teraj Alexander.
The great man was ELECTRICAL the entire tournament. You’d think a unit like Teraj wouldn’t be a threat on the bases. But damn, you’d be wrong. In the U.S. Championship game, the kid just wouldn’t stop running.
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He knows that they don’t pay attention to him because he’s a big boy. And he’s smart enough to use that to his advantage. I think that’s great. That’s awesome.
Sure, he got a little greedy later in the game and got ripped off in 3rd place, but you have to commend the effort.
But the kid seemed to be the heart and soul of the team. He made me laugh from start to finish.
Also, I have to mention Florida’s coach. The man was passionate. I can’t hate him for being passionate. As someone who worked as a Little League umpire for years, I know exactly what kind of coach he is. He cares about his kids more than anything. If there are calls that go against him, he lets the umpire know. He is every umpire’s worst nightmare. But he never broke the rules in this tournament. He held his own throughout the entire LLWS. But I couldn’t help but wonder throughout the tournament…if he wasn’t live on ESPN…if those umpires (who don’t get paid a dime for what is one of the biggest crimes in the history of sports) turned on his kid on a pitch 3 feet into the other batters box…I just can’t help but think that he would have killed several umpires throughout the entire LLWS if there wasn’t a camera on him. Unfortunately, I can’t find any good videos of the guy. Because Little League protects its image like a nuclear code. But anyone who saw the tournament knows exactly what I mean.
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Overall, a great tournament. I swear to God, Chinese Taipei was the best defensive team of 12-year-olds I’ve ever seen. I know that sounds stupid considering how the game ended. The moment I tweeted that, they lost the game because of their defense.
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(And to anyone who thinks they could have made this play at home…you’re just wrong. There’s no way the ball got past the runner.)
So congratulations to Lake Mary, Florida. You deserve it. Cheers to JJ Feliciano, who was their ace and best player all tournament. Cheers to Landon Bono, who won the LLWS Home Run Derby, is a phenomenal catcher and was one of their most consistent hitters all tournament. And cheers to first baseman DeMarcos Mieses, one of Florida’s two big guys, who was a force to be reckoned with all tournament.
Honestly, that was one of the better LLWS I’ve ever seen. And if there’s any Little Leaguers reading this, for heaven’s sake listen to Rico Bosco. Pay your damn refs. I don’t know what you’re trying to prove by saying they’re volunteers. I don’t know if you find it endearing when refs make bad calls. But you have a huge contract with ESPN. You owe it to the kids to make sure they have qualified refs.
