How Curaçao cool won out to take Little League World Series title

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, PA — During a visit here to greet fans and sign autographs, newly minted Baseball Hall of Famer Andruw Jones spoke of his island mentality. You saw it in the way he played. He was extremely talented, but also very relaxed.

He clearly loved what he was doing on a baseball field, and it showed. At times, even in the most intense game situations, he seemed content, like he was feeling the sea breeze of his native Curaçao.

We saw Curaçao cool on display Sunday, Aug. 30, in the Little League World Series championship. Twelve-year-olds from the South Caribbean island showed it in their 11-2 win over (Henderson) Nevada.

“They keep breathing correctly and there’s a song they are singing in the dugout and the coach tells them to do their best and that’s what calms them at little,” Curaçao’s Juriënsly De Windt relayed through team interpreter Norval Faneyte.

De Windt doubled to right-center field, clearing the bases to put the game away with a six-run lead. De Windt, who also started at pitcher and worked three innings, had the country’s small by hearty hometown cheering section singing, too.

The Curaçao Region from Willemstad celebrates winning the 2026 Little League Baseball World Series Championship against the Mountain Region from Henderson, Nevada at Lamade Stadium on Aug. 30, 2026 in Williamsport, Pa.

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The Curaçao Region from Willemstad celebrates winning the 2026 Little League Baseball World Series Championship against the Mountain Region from Henderson, Nevada at Lamade Stadium on Aug. 30, 2026 in Williamsport, Pa.

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Curaçao went 6-0 over the tournament, making lots of fans along the way. Perhaps some youth baseball followers paid attention to how it did it, too.

“He went into the shop and he saw that people from the states were buying our stuff and people told him that we got a great team – he signed a lot of baseballs, too,” Curaçao manager Railison Gijsbertha said through Faneyte. “He was happy with that and thinks it was a great moment, a great thing to see, that people were chanting for us.”

The proud islanders won their second Little League World Series title, following the 2004 one that had future major leaguers Jurickson Profar and Jonathan Schoop on it. The current players soaked up the experience on the field, making play after play to keep Nevada at bay.

The contributions for the good of the team were everywhere. De Windt fielded a bunt and made a nice play to first and first baseman V-dien Ignacio Lindo angled for an over-the-shoulder catch and to end the second and third innings.

Nevada’s players pushed hard until the end, getting runners on base every inning but one, but Curaçao continued to put pressure on them defensively.

In the fourth, shortstop Zha-djir Janga fielded a ground ball and calmly threw to third baseman Ruendrikson Leutera, who tagged out a Nevada runner trying to advance with one out and nobody on base and the team only trailing by two runs.

At the Little Little League World Series, you bat 12. Curaçao had 12 hits by 11 different players, extending a narrative a youth baseball: No one player can carry a team.

On Sunday, they got back Shardijon De Lanoi, who had missed two games when he felt sick. He delivered a single that tied the game 2-2 in the top of the third.

“He said he played the first game and he was sick through the first game but he had a hit and today he came back after two games – he sat on the bench – and he had to do something for his name,” said Faneyte, the interpreter.

De Lanoi’s answer brought laughs and smiles to others at the press table, including Faneyte. “So that’s why the hit came,” the interpreter said.

While Nevada players showed their frustration when things weren’t going well, Curaçao remained calm. Afterward, Gijsbertha said they were going to eat something they didn’t eat here: “McDonald’s! McDonald’s!”

Nevada’s Carsynn Meyer became the first American girl to play in a Little League championship game. She and her teammates finished 4-1 at the tournament.

Their head coach, Cory Edwards, who represented a Paseo Verde Little League team here for the second time in three years, took a long moment to consider how their trip East had played out.

“I just hope that it’s just an experience,” he said. “They’re 12. I hope it’s not the best experience of their entire lives but I’m sure it’s gonna be top 10 or up there. So I hope they take with them that they can conquer and do anything. I hope they learn a lot from this experience. I’m so proud of the different dynamic of what you have to do to get here and then how you have to live when you’re here and, ultimately, you’re put on camera and still told to play baseball and execute well.

“So I think perspective is something they don’t have yet but when they look back and kind of realize what they accomplished and gained from here on out, I hope they shoot me a text or give me a call and just remember that it was a hell of a ride.”

Edwards says he’s going home to coach a 10-year-old club team.

“I think I am due back at practice on Tuesday,” he said. “You just gotta keep signing up. You have to wake up early, you have to get to the field, you have to put the reps in, and if you get enough adults to believe that’s gonna work and push kids to do that, then you end up in a place like this.”

He said if you find the right group with passion, you make lifelong friends who love to around each other.

“And we’re not just the only program doing that,” he said.

He was talking about the state of Nevada, where Summerlin South of Las Vegas won last year’s American championship, but you could see what he was talking about in his opponent Sunday.

That one earned a lot of new followers at the Little League World Series.

“Our team is a great team, and when they ask for a signed ball, we do that, and when they want to be our friends, we become friends with them,” De Lanoi said.

Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He played baseball in high school, rowed in college and spent 10 years coaching his two sons’ baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents to a college and high school baseball player. His Coach Steve column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here.