EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (KABC) — The Little League World Series champions are scheduled Monday to return to El Segundo where they will be driven in a caravan on Main Street “like rock stars.”
The caravan will begin at 3:30 p.m. at Imperial Highway and head south to El Segundo Boulevard, according to a post on the El Segundo Little League’s Facebook page.
The public is asked to “bring signs, wear ESLL clothing or colors, balloons, kids, pets, cheers, whatever!! Show your ESLL and All-Stars pride,” the league posted.
There will be a parade honoring the team on Main Street Sept. 10, the league announced Saturday.
El Segundo won the championship in dramatic fashion Sunday after Louis Lappe hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the sixth and final inning, beating the team from the Willemstad, Curacao-based Pabao Little League, 6-5, in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
“I was just looking for a good pitch,” Lappe told ABC after hitting his Series-leading fifth home run in seven games. “My mentality was just get the next guy up and if we kept doing that, we would have won either way, but I’ll take the homer.”
Their peers back home described watching the game from Southern California.
“One Louis hit the ball… as soon as it hit the bat I knew it was out. I knew El Segundo won and I knew El Segundo would go crazy… It was awesome. We were excited for them,” said Cade Maechling, a former Little League player.
Now, they’re ready to welcome them back home to celebrate the victory.
Max Adlam, another former Little Leaguer, was happy to see his friends win.
“I’ve been friends with all of them since elementary school… I’ve been teammates with literally every single one of them before. It felt awesome,” he said.
In the 69-year existence of the El Segundo Little League, they never made it out of regionals. So to take it to the tournament was an enormous accomplishment.
El Segundo had to overcome several challenges to win it all. The team dealt with a stomach bug early on in the tournament and then had to win five games in a row to bring the world title home.
Steve Lubs, a teacher at El Segundo Middle School, says he either taught or coached a majority of the players on the team.
“It’s so much fun to see them in a different realm,” Lubs said. “The reality is everybody was around them during that time – the entire community… It was kind of inspiring for me, honestly. I’m really proud of them.”
On social media, the team garnered words of congratulations form major league teams in Los Angeles, like the Dodgers, the L.A. Kings and the Rams.
Apart from the caravan, the Dodgers have also invited the team to celebrate the historic win at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom also gave a shoutout to the all-stars in a statement that said “this team gave us some unforgettable moments, and created memories for themselves and their loved ones that will last a lifetime.”
The other Los Angeles County teams to win the Little League World Series were the all-star teams from the Granada Hills National Little League in 1963 and the Long Beach Little League in 1992 and 1993.
City News Service contributed to this report.