Little League World Series: El Segundo wins U.S. title, faces Curaçao in final

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — It has always been a team effort for the El Segundo All-Stars on their journey to the Little League World Series. On Saturday, Brody Brooks and Louis Lappe stepped up when needed most.

Brooks continued his torrid hitting and Lappe shut down Texas and cracked a three-run home run in a 6-1 victory in the United States championship game Saturday, setting up a final showdown with Curaçao.

El Segundo has triumphed in four must-win games in five days, being put on the brink of elimination after losing 3-1 to Texas on Monday.

“We’re battle tested,” El Segundo manager Danny Boehle said. “We are a very hard team to play against on both sides of the ball.”

The world will be watching Sunday as the team of 11- and 12-year-olds from a small town in the South Bay take on Curaçao. The kids from El Segundo now represent something bigger than a quaint beachside city in Southern California.

Now, they represent the United States.

“El Segundo is just a wonderful little town and they have never seen something like this,” Boehle said. “We’re such a big sports town. It is a dream come true for us, for our families, and for the whole town of El Segundo. After today, it’s for the United States of America. That’s pretty cool.”

Immediately after Monday’s loss to Texas, Boehle predicted a rematch against the squad from Needville, which he affectionately calls “needles.”

“First time we played Texas, I thought we played well. We hit the ball right at them,” said Boehle, whose team collected eight hits and made just one error Saturday. “This game was a little different. We hit the ball well. We didn’t make very many mistakes.”

In the rematch, El Segundo jumped out right away. For the third consecutive game, Brooks led off with a hit, only this time it cleared the left-field fence for a quick 1-0 lead.

“I’ve always loved being the leadoff (hitter) because I can set the tone,” said Brooks, who is 11 for 14 in six games. “When I do, it’s mostly about confidence. I had confidence going up there that Louis or Jaxon (Kalish) could get hits after me and pick me up.”

For the second consecutive game, El Segundo received help from the bottom of the order. Quinn Boehle recorded his second hit in two days. Colby Lee walked and scored twice.

In the third inning, Lee and Brooks, who reached base on a standup double, came across on Lappe’s two-run double for a 3-0 lead.

“At the bottom of the order, the job is to get to the big guys like Louis and Brody,” Lee said. “I was able to do that well in this game. Some of my teammates have done that well in previous games. The bottom of the order’s job is to do that so we can get bonus runs.”

It appeared El Segundo was headed for another big inning in the fourth when Lucas Keldorf and Max Baker opened with consecutive singles. Declan McRoberts walked to load the bases. Just as trouble started to brew for Texas, pitcher DJ Jablonski reared back and recorded three consecutive strikeouts to end the inning.

Jablonski was responsible for Needville’s only offense, leading off with a double off Lappe in the fifth inning and later scoring on a passed ball. Boehle eventually called for a mound visit and stuck with his starter. Boehle was rewarded as Lappe recorded two strikeouts and a fly out to left to strand a runner and keep El Segundo in front by two runs.

Lappe extended El Segundo’s lead to 6-1 with a three-run blast to right in the bottom of the fifth.

“That home run kind of silenced them,” Lappe said. “It was just like the killer. After that, it was ours for the taking.”

Lappe reached his pitch-count limit after 5 1/3 innings and had to exit. Brooks came in to get a strikeout and a fly ball to center for the final two outs, the save and a trip to the finale

Boehle celebrated the accomplishment, but quickly shrugged away the satisfaction as he refocused his eyes on the main goal.

“This was our mission three years ago,” Boehle said. “I saw the talent. I saw what was coming up. It’s great we’re the U.S. champs, but our goal is to win the Series.”

Curaçao will be playing in its second consecutive championship game after defeating Taiwan 2-0 earlier Saturday. The victory came just three days after Taiwan had defeated the Caribbean club 9-1, part of a 25-1 scoring margin in three games before coming up short in the international title game.