Hollywood’s hometown Little League team has just completed a dream season.
The El Segundo 12U All Stars defied the odds and went all the way to victory this year’s series, held Aug. 16-27 in South Williamsport, Penn. The team battled back Sunday afternoon from a four-run deficit to beat Curacao 6-5 after a made-for-the-screen walk-off home run delivered by Louis Lappe, one of the team’s star players who emerged over the championship series.
“Now I can get emotional because now the mission’s over,” team manager Danny Boehle told ESPN after the game. “We started three years ago and we finally made it. That was our mission.”
On Lappe’s walk-off home run, Boehle said, “When I knew [Louis] was coming up, I was shocked that they pitched to him, but again, in baseball, you can’t put the winning run on first base… I’m so proud of him.”
The Little League World Series is always popular late-summer programming for ESPN, but this time around the entertainment industry has paid more attention because of the local-heroes factor. Representing the West division, the scrappy El Segundo team prevailed over more experienced competitors to go all the way. Last year, Hawaii won the championship game 13-3 over Curacao.
El Segundo team manager Danny Boehle also gained a media profile during the series with his many enthusiastic media appearances after his team’s wins.
The city of El Segundo is set to welcome the team home from Pennsylvania on Monday with a parade. The last time a team from California won the junior Fall Classic came with Huntington Beach’s victory in 2011. The team from Chula Vista prevailed in 2009, according to KTLA.