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Photos: El Segundo Little League champions return home to cheers, confetti

A cheering crowd surrounds black SUVs holding boys in baseball caps. A motorcycle officer polices the crowd.
Fans turned out for the champion Little Leaguers of El Segundo on Monday.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
By Christian MartinezStaff Writer 
Photography by 
Allen J. Schaben

The El Segundo Little League All-Stars, newly crowned world champions, were welcomed home Monday with a parade that lined Main Street and hundreds of jubilant people looking on.

The team won the title against Curaçao on Sunday in dramatic fashion — a walk-off home run by Louis Lappe. The game was a back-and-forth affair that saw El Segundo give up a four-run lead to Curaçao on a grand slam home run.

The team had looked like a long shot to win the title after falling into the elimination bracket after a loss to Needville, Texas, last week. But the team avenged the loss Saturday, defeating the Texas squad to move on to the title game.

On Monday, the players returned to Southern California after the tournament in Pennsylvania, giving high-fives to fans as confetti rained from the sky.

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People stand in a line along a city street, clapping and holding homemade signs.
Well-wishers line the parade route on Main Street in El Segundo on Monday.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
El Segundo Little League All Stars Manager Danny Boehle gets congratulated by a fan.
El Segundo Little League All-Stars Manager Danny Boehle is congratulated by a fan as he and the team celebrate with a large crowd of El Segundo community members lining Main Street.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
A man with a graying beard and baseball cap reaches out of a car window to clasp hands with a boy among a crowd.
Tim Abrams, assistant coach of the El Segundo Little League team, greets well-wishers.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Cheering adults and children hold signs that say "Champs" and "Proud of you."
Monday’s parade followed Sunday’s win by El Segundo Little League at the tournament in Pennsylvania.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
El Segundo Little League All Stars players Quinn Boehle, left, and Lennon Salazar celebrate
Players Quinn Boehle, left, and Lennon Salazar bask in the adulation of the crowd and the confetti.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
A boy in a baseball cap gives a passerby a high-five from a car window.
Colby Lee, left, and Louis Lappe get high-fives from fans. Lappe hit the game-winning walk-off home run on Sunday.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Hundreds of El Segundo community members line Main Street.
Hundreds of El Segundo community members line Main Street with signs and cheers as the El Segundo Little League All-Stars arrive home to celebrate winning the Little League World Series.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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Christian Martinez

Christian Martinez is a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times. He previously wrote for the USA Today network of newspapers including the Ventura County Star, where he covered the Thomas and Woolsey wildfires and the Borderline mass shooting, the Spectrum & Daily News in Utah and the Lansing State Journal in Michigan. He was born and raised in Southern California and attended Saint Mary’s College of California.

Allen J. Schaben

Los Angeles Times staff photographer Allen J. Schaben is an award-winning journalist capturing a wide range of images over the past 34 years. Before joining The Times, he honed his craft at the Detroit Free Press, Dallas Morning News, Wichita Eagle and Connecticut Post. Schaben earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1993.

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