SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Everything seemed to be going Texas’ way.

The Southwest regional champions led Florida 4-0 in the third inning of the U.S. bracket title game in the Little League World Series on Saturday. Starting pitcher Julian Hurst had not allowed a hit, let alone a run, and had defeated the Florida team the previous Monday.

Then things got crazy. Three lead changes later, Florida heads to the LLWS championship on Sunday. Luis Calo hit a go-ahead two-run double in the sixth inning as Lake Mary, Florida, defeated Boerne, Texas, 10-7 in a semifinal.

“We’ve been preparing for this, we’ve been working for this,” manager Jonathan Anderson said. “It was our summer.”

Florida, representing the Southeast region, will face Taiwan, a 4-1 winner over Venezuela, on Sunday afternoon. It will be the first time a Florida team has appeared in the final since 2003, when East Boynton Beach lost 10-1 to Musashi-Fuchi of Japan.

Texas appeared to have the game under control after Doc Mogford hit a two-run double past the outstretched glove of Jacob Bibaud to make it 4-0.

Florida’s comeback began an inning later, when James Feliciano got a pop-up to drop for an RBI single. An inning after that, Teraj Alexander capped a four-run rally when he stole home, giving Florida its first lead of the game, 5-4.

“I saw the catcher looking at the mound,” Teraj said. “I just started sneaking. When I thought I had it, 100 percent, I just took off.”

After Texas scored three runs, Florida entered its final at bat in the sixth inning, trailing 7-5.

But Jacob Bibaud hit a ground ball that bounced through the infield to bring in James Feliciano and cut the lead to 7-6. A sacrifice fly by Liam Morrisey brought in Garrett Rohozen to tie the score.

After Luis hit his go-ahead hit, Liam, who had been inserted as a courtesy runner, stole third base and went on to score when an error caused the ball to go loose down the third base line.

“I know I pushed them hard, and I know I told them that that job would take them to the promised land. And I know for sure they didn’t believe me,” Anderson said. “But here we are, guys, here we are. The job ain’t done yet. We got one more. But man, we’re almost there.”

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Avery Hill is a student at the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.

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AP sport: https://apnews.com/sports