Good pitching.
WILLEMSTAD--Curaçao’s “Liga P’abou” youth baseball team representing the Caribbean, beat Mexico two-to-one on Thursday afternoon to reach the international final at the Little League World Series (LLWS) in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. There they will meet Chinese Taipei (Asia-Pacific) on Saturday at 12:30pm.
That game will be broadcast live via ABC, with the winner to face the US domestic champion Sunday at 3:30pm for the LLWS 2022 title, also on ABC.
On Thursday evening Curaçao defeated Nicaragua 7-2. Man of the match was again Davey-Jay “Rich” Rijke. Nicaragua had also been beaten earlier in the tournament, then 2-0 with a strongly pitching Rijke.
Offensively, he produced three hits, two runs and a run batted in (RBI). Jay-Dlynn Wiel had a single and a double for two RBIs. Curaçao recorded a total of seven hits compared to four of Nicaragua.
On the hill, Rich was unstoppable. He stood there for a complete game, striking out his last batter and finishing with 88 pitches. Rijke struck out 15 batters without a walk.
“I am very emotional now,” said “Liga P’abou” manager Zaino Everett afterwards. “Davey-jay, I just believe in him. The lads from Latin America are a good team, that’s why Davey-Jay was there. He just needs to throw strikes.”
