The Little League World Series is in full swing heading into the semifinals, and a Florida squad finds themselves still battling with eight teams remaining.
The Lake Mary All-Stars (4-1) are heading to the U.S. semifinal after winning a thriller over Hawaii 4-3 in an elimination game on Wednesday evening.
Lake Mary is located in the heart of Florida, just north of Orlando.
Lake Mary found themselves in scoring position early in the first inning after J.J. Feliciano swiped second base after a wild pitch and made his way to third base on an error.
Feliciano scored on a ground out to first base off the bat of Garrett Rohozen.
In a bases-loaded top of the second inning, Luis Calo knocked a single back up the middle to make it a 2-0 game.
Moments later, Hunter Alexander slashed one to left field scoring Teraj Alexander to extend Florida's lead 3-0.
Rohozen kept his day going with a solo shot in the third inning, stretching the lead 4-0.
Hawaii answered the call in the bottom of the fourth inning after Gauge Pacheco doubled, scoring Kolten Magno to cut the lead to 4-1.
Brextyn Kamaha'o Hong hit one at the shortstop, Feliciano, which caused an error — allowing Jet Pontes to score to make it 4-2.
Matthew Yang kept it rolling for Hawaii with a line drive to left field scoring Pacheco, making it a 4-3 contest.
Lake Mary's Luis Calo struck out two consecutive batters to end the fourth inning after finding himself in a bases-loaded jam.
Calo put the game to rest, securing the victory for Florida in the bottom of the sixth to hold off Hawaii.
Florida has now advanced to the U.S. semifinals, where they are set to play Paseo Verde Little League out of the Mountain Region at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
Revisit Lake Mary's journey through Williamsport
Florida began their journey on Aug. 14 against the Midwest Region with a 2-1 victory, setting the table for their magical run.
On Aug. 16, Lake Mary convinced everyone they were there to compete with a dominating 6-1 win over the Northwest Region.
The Little League World Series is double elimination, so the Florida squad wasn't worried after dropping a game to the Southwest Region 4-1 on Aug. 19.
Florida bounced back, finding themselves in a similar situation on Aug. 20 with another 6-1 win over the Metro Region, taking down a Long Island, New York squad.
Now, after the win over Hawaii, Lake Mary is looking to capture the state's first-ever championship.
Florida has made 24 appearances in the LLWs, taking runner-up eight times and third place twice.
In total, Florida is 38-31 over its history of the LLWS making their first appearance in 1948.
Lake Mary must win two games to make it to the Championship, and if they find themselves capturing a victory there — they will make history.