SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Carlos Pineda looked shaky when he started with three consecutive balls and then hit California's leadoff batter. But he got a lot better in a hurry.
Pineda struck out 11 and Jurickson Profar hit a two-run homer as Pabao Little League of Willemstad, Curacao, took an early lead and held on for a 5-2 victory over Conejo Valley of Thousand Oaks, Calif., in the World Series title game Sunday night.
Teams from Curacao reached the international final game the previous three years, but lost each time to a team from Japan.
It was the first Little League championship for the tiny island in the Netherlands Antilles, and the first for any team from the Caribbean.
Curacao (6-0) never trailed, going up 1-0 in the bottom of the first on Schoop's run-scoring single. Facing a 1-1 count, Profar homered to leftfield - his first home run of the series - to make it 3-0.
"I did all the things good I wanted to do - hitting, defense," Profar said through an interpreter.
After that, Pineda (2-0) kept his team out of trouble.
Pineda used fastballs, breaking balls and an occasional curve to keep California (5-1) off balance. After a rough start, he struck out seven straight from the first inning through the third.
It was almost a complete collapse for a California team that had committed just two errors in five games, but had three errors by the end of the third inning of the title game. On Saturday night, California shut out a Texas team that averaged more than 10 runs a game.
California scored both its runs Sunday in the top of the sixth, and had runners on first and third with two outs. James Brady grounded to first baseman Christopher Garia, who won a race to the bag for the final out.
California's coaches refused to attend the postgame news conference.
In the consolation game, Richmond, Texas, beat Mexico 5-0. Randal Grichuk's second hit of the game for Texas tied the record for hits in a series with 12. Hsieh Chin-Hsiung of Taiwan had 12 in 1996.
