A crowd of El Segundo residents who packed a local park erupted when Louis Lappe hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the final inning on Sunday, Aug. 27. The 12-year-old’s dramatic homer lifted the seaside city’s headline-making team over Curacao to snag the Little League World Series’ international championship in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, as the world watched on live TV.
The 6-5 victory sent the hundreds of well-wishers at George Brett Field into a frenzy as they rooted for their team more than 2,600 miles away.
“It gave me chills,” said resident Lisa Dornblaser, following the victory.
“They won the right way, with their heads up,” said another resident, Trevor Koppel. “They represented the town and the country very well.”
There were plenty of nail-biting moments throughout the six-inning game on Sunday, none more tense than when Curacao tied the game 5-5 with a grand slam home run in the top of the fifth inning. But Lappe — the team’s 6-foot-1 star post-season player known as “The Natural” — has risen to the occasion throughout the World Series.
El Segundo City Councilmember Ryan Baldino said “you could not have scripted a better ending to that game.”
“I knew that (batting) order is strong,” Baldino said. “Our kids have played so well and I’m just happy right now. I don’t think I slept in a week. So happy for these boys.”
Chris Pimentel, also an El Segundo councilmember, said the players and coaches have all worked “really hard to have success.”
“Also, part of baseball is being able to bounce back and be resilient, they have all those things,” Pimentel said. The El Segundo team did precisely that, going on an undefeated streak after losing early in the double-elimination tournament.
El Segundo defeated a team from Needville, Texas, 6-1, on Saturday to win the U.S. crown. The same team of Texans handed El Segundo its only loss in the World Series.
The win advanced the El Segundans to…
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