After El Segundo gave up a four-run lead on a Curacao grand slam, it was 5-5 in the bottom of the sixth inning. It was still anyone’s game. Except this game was on the biggest stage in amateur baseball: the Little League Baseball World Series championship.
“No pressure, just get on base and let your teammates do the rest,” then 12-year-old Louis Lappe recalled thinking as he walked to the plate. “It doesn’t matter how you get on. Just get on.”
The first pitch was an outside curveball, the second was right down the middle. Then, the pitcher missed his spot and Lappe took advantage. A loud clunk and the crowd roared as the ball sailed above the field and over the fence for a walk-off home run to seal the championship win.
“We weren’t nervous because we had learned how to face adversity,” El Segundo manager Danny Boehle said of the moment. “These kids don’t have that bone in their body. They were made for that moment. They weren’t nervous at all, they knew we could come back.”
Read more: Louis Lappe’s walk-off home run lifts El Segundo to Little League World Series title
In their first trip to the final, El Segundo Little League All-Stars made history last August by edging Curacao 6-5 in the Little League World Series championship game in Williamsport, Pa. El Segundo had to win five consecutive elimination games to become the first team from California to secure the world title since Huntington Beach Ocean View in 2011.
Nearly a year later, Little League is more popular than ever in El Segundo and the star of the championship team is still getting adjusted to the impact of the team’s unlikely run to a world championship
Lappe’s walk-off homer was a moment every young baseball player dreams of — hitting a game-winning home run — and makes someone a hometown hero.
“They knew they were the best in the world, but I think it will really hit them like it has the adults later in life when they have kids and understand family and understand how big this really is,” Boehle said. “It means so much more to not only the families and El Segundo, or even California. … You hit the whole world.”
Lappe’s parents, Ted Lappe and Kathryn Narahara, had similar feelings while sitting alongside the families of their son’s teammates during the championship game.
“It was the experience itself and the relationships that grew on this journey,” Narahara said. “… The boys got to meet kids from all over the world and that experience will always mean something special to them. I don’t think they will fully comprehend their achievement until they’re much older, but we have a different perspective of enjoying the little things. It was very emotional and joyful.”
The night of their win, the El Segundo players didn’t even try to sleep. There was so much excitement, they stayed up talking in their dorms, recounting the highs and lows of the game until they finally fell asleep in the early hours of the morning.
They were welcomed home by fans at LAX and during a parade down Main Street in El Segundo.
“Being from California, champions are big here,” Boehle said, “Just look at the Dodgers or Lakers … they call it the city of champions. Being from California and being from this tiny town in Southern California, everyone was behind us.”
Boehle said the most special moment came when the team was recognized in front of 60,000 fans at the USC-Stanford football game at the Coliseum in September. After the second quarter, a video was shown of Lappe’s walk-off home run and the team’s victory celebration, triggering a standing ovation.
“That’s the most emotional I got because you realize you’re touching fans that don’t even realize who you are, but because you’re from L.A. and because you’re a champion and because you represented California, they were all-in,” Boehle said. “That to me was pretty special.”
The win also meant a lot for the city, which has a history of success in baseball from the high school level to producing current MLB players such as the St. Louis Cardinals’ Lars Nootbaar, whom every kid in El Segundo looks up to, according to Ted Lappe. Since El Segundo Little League started in 1954, this was the first team in its district and section to make it to state and win it all.
Read more: Opinion: Why El Segundo, home of the 2023 Little League World Series champs, has winning ways
“That to me was one of the greatest parts of winning this thing was people who had no idea [Brett Field, named for Hall of Famer George Brett] existed in their town, but they knew what we just accomplished meant so much to this town,” Boehle said. “You’ll probably never see it again. It’s usually one special group of kids, special coaches, special families and the town realized that.”
The impact of the championship is reflected in registration for Little League in El Segundo, which has grown significantly since the World Series win. Last year, El Segundo Little League had roughly 420 players with 39 teams, while this year it had 450 players across 42 teams, according to Jamin Griffiths, El Segundo Little League president. Griffiths estimates that this year is the highest numbers the league has ever had, with the last decade usually having between 370 and 400 participants.
Lappe’s celebrity status continued after the team’s homecoming. It’s mostly confined to El Segundo in the form of kids walking up to say hi or following him around at Little League games, but every once in a while he’ll get recognized elsewhere.
“He is going to be an icon the rest of his life in this town, ” Boehle said. “Everyone knows who he is. Everyone is asking about him — high school, colleges … that’s who he is, he’s humble. Whether he is a celebrity or not that’s not going to stop his work ethic or stop him from being who he is. When you are on that stage, there’s nothing bigger on TV in that week of August. Everyone is watching. What he did will go down in history.”
Despite his fame and historic play, Lappe doesn’t want to just be remembered for that moment. It’s a good memory, but he hopes to have a long baseball career. He is playing for the Braves Baseball Academy this season, but he is mostly just enjoying his summer like any other kid: riding bikes and meeting friends at In-N-Out.
Soon he will take a break as his travel ball season closes.
Lappe’s parents have made sure he stays grounded through all the attention — chores and school work are still part of his routine. He loves baseball, but it’s not his whole life. Soccer and basketball are fun, too. He will go down in El Segundo baseball history, but he’s also still just Lou.
“He has been good about staying true to himself,” Ted Lappe said. “The attention afterwards was fast and furious and fun to experience but nothing’s going to be completely the same. Still, not too much has changed besides the fact that an achievement was accomplished. He’s still the same kid that has loved baseball since he was 5 years old.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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