Baseball
Little League World Series: Curacao defeats California

By Dan Lewerenz
The Associated Press

ELSA / GETTY IMAGES Curacao's Jurickson Profar, left, is congratulated by Willie Rifaela, center, and other teammates after a two-run homer yesterday.

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SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Carlos Pineda struck out 11 and Jurickson Profar hit a two-run homer as Willemstad, Curacao, took an early lead and held on for a 5-2 victory over Thousand Oaks, Calif., in the Little League World Series championship game last night.

California scored both of its runs in the top of the sixth, and had runners on first and third with two outs. James Brady hit the ball to first baseman Christopher Garia, who won a race to the base to record the final out.

It was the first Little League title for the tiny island in the Netherlands Antilles, and the first for any team from the Caribbean.

In the consolation game, Richmond, Texas, beat Guadalupe, Mexico, 5-0. Randal Grichuk's second hit in that game for Texas tied the record for hits in a series with 12.

Curacao (6-0) never trailed, going up 1-0 in the bottom of the first on Jonathan Schoop's RBI single. Facing a 1-1 count, Profar homered to left field — his first home run of the series — to make it 3-0 before a crowd of 34,550.

Lacking a blistering fastball, Pineda (2-0) mixed up his fastball, a breaking ball and the occasional curveball to keep California (5-1) off balance. Pineda struck out seven straight from the first inning through the third.

It was almost a complete collapse for a California team that many had expected to dominate. Thousand Oaks committed two errors in its first five games, but had three errors by the end of the third inning of the title game.

Curacao broke the game open in the third on a strange RBI double by Quincey van Blarcum. Cody Thomson slid to make the play in right field, but the ball bounced over his body. Charlton Martis scored easily, while Willie Rifaela and van Blarcum continued around the bases.

The runners appeared to be jammed when Rifaela held up at third and van Blarcum was caught halfway between second and third. But when Rifaela went home, the throw to the plate was off the mark, allowing Rifaela to score, making it 5-0.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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