“We’re already the champs. The Lord put it in his book. We’re just going to finish the story. Right here, right now” – A coach said these words to his team as they were trailing the Little League World Series championship game on Sunday before they pulled off a stunning come-from-behind victory and won in extra innings.
Lake Mary, representing the Southeast, won the 2024 Little League World Series on Sunday evening in extra innings against a juggernaut team from Chinese Taipei.
Although Lake Mary had more than twice as many hits as their opponents heading into the final inning in regulation, the team trailed by one run with two outs.
Minutes before the last batter stepped to the plate in that inning, coach Jonathan Anderson shared a few words with his team about the moment at hand.
“Oh what a story it’s going to be, boys,” said Anderson. “One of the first days that we got here, I came down here. A man prayed over me. He saw my dad later and he said ‘It’s already been written.'”
Anderson went on to tell his team that they had already won and that they were just going to finish God’s story.
“We’re already the champs. The Lord put it in his book. We’re just going to finish the story. Right here, right now. Stay calm. Stay composed. Stay within yourself,” said Anderson, before offering a final reassurance.
“Understand, it’s already been written. It’s already ours’, we just have to finish it here. We just have to play this inning. Understand? Here we go. It’s our summer. It’s our game. We’re going to come out on top,” said Anderson.
With two outs, Lake Mary tied the game and sent even nearly pulled off the win in regulation. In extra innings, the team had multiple chances and nearly pulled off the victory again.
In the eighth inning, both teams were given a starting runner on second.
Lake Mary effectively shut down their opponents before taking the plate in the bottom of the inning.
The first batter that took the plate, which was the last in the order for Lake Mary, bunted. The ball was fielded by Chinese Taipei and the pitcher threw over to an empty first base. The runner from second scored, ensuring Florida’s first Little League World Series championship.
The game is the first to go into extra innings since 2007.
Held in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the 11-day, double-elimination tournament featured featured 10 regional champions from the United States and 10 international champions from around the world.
Lake Mary’s journey in the Little League World Series began with a 2-1 victory over South Dakota on Wednesday, August 14. Two days later, Lake Mary defeated Puyallup, Washington 6-1.
On Monday, August 19, Lake Mary experienced its only loss of the tournament, falling 4-1 to Boerne, Texas. However, since it takes two losses for a team to be eliminated from the Little League World Series, Lake Mary remained in contention for a championship.
Lake Mary bounced back on Tuesday, August 20, with a 6-1 win against Staten Island, New York. The following day, Lake Mary edged out Wailuku, Hawaii by a score of 4-3, earning a spot in the U.S. semi-finals.
On Thursday, Lake Mary beat Henderson, Nevada and on Saturday, the team beat Boerne, Texas, the only team it had lost to, en route to winning the U.S. Championship.