My favorite baseball player is 5’2″, he has a great swing and an even better character.

He still has a few things to work on before he gets his first contract, but if I do the math in my head, that will take at least another eight years.

So yeah, I’ll take DeMarcos Mieses as he is now.

Laughing, balling, comforting and winning.

That goes for Garrett Rohozen and JJ Feliciano and the rest of the Lake Mary Little League All-Stars. This group of 11- and 12-year-olds just completed one of the most miraculous runs through the Little League World Series, becoming the first team from Florida to win the title after defeating Chinese Taipei 2-1 in extra innings early Sunday night.

That’s the headline of course, but that’s not the best part.

What was truly memorable — what will stay with me long after the score and all the other details — was the joy and camaraderie of this team from a small suburb between Orlando and Daytona. Their journey, covered extensively on ESPN and ABC this past week, was a sweet reminder of the innocence of youth.

And when they won in a walkoff on Sunday after an error in the eighth inning, they took the field in the expected celebration. But then the worst happened. As the cameras followed them around the field, several Lake Mary players stopped to hug the young Taipei players who had fallen to their knees in grief.

The moment was pure. The lesson was timeless.

This wasn’t the chest-thumping and declarations of superiority that we sadly expect from too many athletes, entertainers and politicians. These were kids leading with their hearts and showing the rest of us what that looks like.

No ego, no cunning, no quid pro quo. Just two groups of young people from opposite sides of the world sharing something meaningful.

Think about that the next time you read a tweet ridiculing a teenager with a learning disability.

That the Lake Mary players had such a deep well of passion should have been clear long ago. This team lost 4-1 to a team from Texas on Monday and had to maneuver through the losers bracket in the double-elimination tournament. That meant five consecutive win-or-go-home games in six days.

On Saturday they played Texas again in the American championship and trailed 7-5 going into the final inning before rallying for five runs.

And that was all just a foretaste of what would happen on Sunday.

Lake Mary trailed 1-0 in the first inning and ended up leaving 12 runners on base in seven innings. The Florida team was down to its last out in the sixth inning with runners on first and second when Mieses, the team’s youngest player, who had just turned 11, hit a liner to left field to drive in the tying run.

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Florida had runners on third base when the final outs were made in both the sixth and seventh innings.

Once the game reaches the eighth inning, Little League rules require a runner to start the inning at second base. When Taipei failed to score in the eighth inning, Lake Mary was able to play for one run in the final inning. Hunter Alexander, who was 1-for-15 in the tournament, hit a bunt to move Lathan Norton to third.

The Taipei pitcher caught the bunt cleanly and turned to shoot for first base. However, the first baseman had also come in for the bunt and the second baseman did not cover the ball, so the throw sailed into right field and Norton came around to score the winning run.

Lake Mary became the ninth Florida team to reach the championship game since the Little League World Series began in 1947. The previous eight teams, including three from Tampa and one from St. Petersburg, all fell short in the finals.

Notable Bay Area players who played in the tournament in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, include Vance Lovelace (1975), Gary Sheffield (1980), Derek Bell (1980-81) and Rays manager Kevin Cash (1989).

And now, after all the near misses, Florida has its first Little League World Series champion.

“I told them the story is being written now. Let’s finish the story, we’re in the final chapter,” Lake Mary manager Jonathan Anderson told reporters at a postgame press conference. “And, oh, what an ending to a story it is. Holy cow, these last two games on Saturday and Sunday have got to be the best two games you’ve ever seen. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness.”

John Romano can be reached at [email protected]Follow @romano_tbtimes.

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